.PVSV 


COMMENTARY 


PAU  L'S    EPISTLE 


E  O  M  AN  S. 


AN    INTRbDUCTION 


ON    THE 


LIFE,  TIMES,  WRITINGS  AND  CHARACTER  OF  PAUL 


WM.  S.'PLUMER,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

AUTHOR   OF    "studies   IN   THE   BOOK   OF   PSALMS,"     "THE    LAW   OF   GOD,"     "THE 

GRACE  OF    CHRIST,"    "VITAL    GODLINESS,"    "  JEHOVAH-JIEEH," 

"  THE   ROCK  OF   OUR   SALVATION,"    ETC.,    ETC. 


NEW   YORK: 
ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    CO 

770  BROADWAY,  cor.  of  9th  Street. 
1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congrres'S',  in  the  year  1870,  hy 

Anson  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co., 
In  the  OflSce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


EnwAHt.  O.  Jknkins, 

rniNTKIl  AND   STKREOTYPKn. 

•JO  North  William  Street,  N.  Y. 


INTRODUCTION. 


I.  The  variety  of  Scripture. 

IN  his  unerring  wisdom  God  did  not  give  us  the  Scriptures  in 
one  connected  treatise,  but  in  sixty-six  distinct  books.  Of 
these  thirty-nine  are  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  twenty-seven  in  the 
New.  The  word  of  God  contains  a  number  of  historical  books. 
Others  are  poetical.  Some  are  didactic  ;  others,  polemic.  Some 
are  marked  with  the  best  style  of  proverb ;  others,  with  the  best 
kind  of  parable  and  allegory.  All  Scripture  is  inspired  by  God, 
and  is  profitable. 

The  first  three  books  of  the  New  Testament  contain  sketches 
of  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  fourth  is  evidently  written  chiefly 
to  establish  his  divinity,  and  show  forth  his  glory.  The  fifth 
records  the  early  labors,  successes  and  sufferings  of  the  apostles 
in  planting  churches  throughout  the  world.  The  last  book  of 
Scripture  is  chiefly  prophetical.  Many  things  in  it  foretold  are 
yet  to  be  accomphshed.  The  remaining  twenty-one  books  of  the 
New  Testament  are  strictly  in  the  form  of  Epistles.  Of  these  one 
is  written  by  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,  often  (from  his  stature) 
called  the  Less ;  one  by  Jude  (Judas  not  Iscariot) ;  two  by  Simon 
Peter,  son  of  Jonas  ;  and  three  by  John.  The  remaining  fourteen 
are  written  by  Paul.  Of  these  some  are  addressed  to  churches, 
and  some  to  particular  persons;  some  are  mainly  doctrinal  and 
some  chiefly  practical;  some  are  specially  designed  to  instruct 
Jews ;  and  some.  Gentiles ;  some  teach  the  laity  their  duties  and 
some  give  good  counsels  and  precepts  to  pastors  and  evangelists. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  while  the  Old  Testament  does  not 
contain  one  entire  book,  but  at  the  most  a  few  verses  in  an  episto- 
lary form,  yet  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  chapters  in  the  New 
Testament  one  hundred  and  seventeen  are  in  that  form.  Of  these 
Paul  wrote  eighty-seven  chapters,  containing  two  thousand  and 
nine  verses.  Of  the  PauHne  epistles  the  first  three  contain  more 
matter  than  the  remaining  eleven.  On  the  other  hand,  the  New 
Testament  has  in  it  but  little  poetry,  and  that  quoted  from  heathen 

(3) 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

poets  or  from  Christian  hymns.  Various  reasons  are  assigned  for 
this  abounding  of  epistles  in  the  New  Testament.  The  Holy 
Ghost,  who  inspired  the  writers,  chose  this  form  of  communication, 
and  that  will  satisfy  the  pious  mind.  But  the  state  of  literature 
throughout  the  world  about  the  time  of  the  first  propagation  of 
the  Gospel  greatly  favored  this  style  of  communication.  Long 
treatises  were  written  in  the  epistles  of  learned  men.  We  might 
cite  those  of  Cicero,  Seneca,  Symmachus  and  Pliny,  the  Younger. 
In  fact  both  ancients  and  moderns  have  in  this  way  handled  a  great 
variety  of  topics,  friendship,  art,  science,  politics,  literature  and 
religion.  There  are  a  thousand  ways  of  writing  a  good  letter. 
All  the  peculiarities  of  the  writer's  genius  may  have  full  scope  in 
that  kind  of  composition.  If  he  does  not  rise  to  the  sublime,  or 
the  beautiful,  he  did  not  promise  to  do  so.  If  he  dwells  on  very 
familiar  topics,  that  well  agrees  with  this  kind  of  composition. 
The  best  letters  on  moral  subjects  are  marked  with  clearness, 
brevity  and  plainness,  and  with  constant  allusions  to  things  well 
understood  between  the  writer  and  his  friends.  Because  a  letter 
is  long,  it  is  not  necessarily  tedious.  Many  a  good  letter  has  not 
in  it  an  epigram  or  an  antithesis.  While  epistles  should  not  be 
set  lectures,  they  may  be  solid,  weighty,  and  even  argumentative. 
Easy  and  familiar  as  epistles  may  certainly  be,  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  that  they  be  courteous,  giving  no  just  cause  of  offence. 
No  greater  influence  is  exerted  among  men  than  that  of  epistolary 
correspondence.  Lord  Bacon  says :  "  Such  letters,  as  are  written 
from  wise  men,  are  of  all  the  words  of  man,  in  my  judgnient,  the 
best ;  for  they  are  more  natural  than  orations  and  public  speeches, 
and  more  advised  than  conferences  or  private  ones."  Over  other 
kinds  of  writing  epistles  have  one  advantage  :  they  are  always 
read,  sometimes  often  read.  If  Paul  ever  wrote  anything  but 
epistles,  we  neither  have  it  nor  any  reliable  account  of  it. 

II.  What  we  know  of  Paul's  early  life. 

Our  knowledge  of  Paul  is  derived  chiefly  from  the  account  we 
have  of  him  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  written  by  his  companion, 
Luke,  and  from  his  own  epistles.  By  comparing  "  what  Paul  says 
of  Paul "  with  what  Luke  says  of  him,  we  gain  a  sufficient  insight 
into  his  history.  Most  of  the  unwritten  traditions  respecting  him 
are  wholly  unreliable,  some  are  probable,  and  a  few  are  apparently 
countenanced  by  hints  in  the  Scriptures. 

In  Hebrew  he  was  called  Saul.  The  precise  import  of  this  name 
is  uncertain.  Some  think  it  signifies  a  pit,  the  sepulchre  or  death  ; 
others,  that  it  signifies  lent  or  demanded,  as  if  he  had  been  given  to 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

his  parents  in  answer  to  prayer.  It  is  of  the  less  importance  to 
look  into  this  matter,  as  he  entirely  dropped  this  cognomen  soon 
after  his  conversion,  and  ever  after  bore  the  name  of  Paul.  Some 
think  this  word  means  a  worker ;  but  others  think  it  is  taken  from 
the  Latin,  Pauliis,  which  means  little.  This  is  the  more  probable 
opinion,  and  well  coincides  with  the  lowliness  of  this  apostle  often 
expressed,  and  particularly  where  he  says,  "  I  am  less  than  the 
least  of  all  saints,"  Eph.  3  :  8.  This  is  a  better  explanation  than 
that  which  makes  the  apostle  take  his  name  from  Sergius  Paulus, 
one  of  his  converts.  Acts  8  :  7.  But  Origen,  Tholuck  and  others 
think  that  ^long  with  his  Jewish  name,  this  apostle  in  common 
with  many  Israelites,  who  lived  among  the  Romans,  had  a  Latin 
name,  and  that  there  is  no  special  significancy  in  his  change  of 
name. 

Both  of  Paul's  parents  were  of  the  seed  of  Jacob.  So  that 
phrase,  "  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,"  clearly  teaches.  Like  king 
Saul,  our  apostle  was  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  He  was  a  native 
of  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia,  ''  no  mean  city."  To  all  its  freemen  Augus- 
tus had  given  the  freedom  of  Roman  citizens,  because  of  their 
fidelity  to  his  interests.  The  time  of  Paul's  birth  is  uncertain. 
From  something  said  by  Chrysostom,  in  one  of  his  homilies,  some 
have  inferred  that  Paul  was  born  two  years  before  our  Lord.  But 
this  is  pretty  certainly  a  mistake  ;  for  he  was  still  "  a  young  man  " 
at  Stephen's  martyrdom,  which  occurred  certainly  as  late  as  A.  D. 
33.  And  a  man  from  thirty-five  to  thirty-seven  years  old  would 
not  be  so  spoken  of.  It  is  therefore  highly  probable  that  Paul  was 
considerably  younger  than  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

In  religious  persuasion  and  profession  before  his  conversion 
Paul  was  a  Pharisee  of  "  the  most  straitest  sect."  He  had  remark- 
able advantages  for  '  profiting '  in  his  knowledge  of  his  national 
religion  and  in  the  learning  of  his  times.  The  school  at  Tarsus 
was  well  known  in  the  Roman  empire.  It  furnished  professors 
for  other  famous  seats  of  learning  in  those  days.  At  an  early  age 
Paul  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  that  renowned  doctor  of  the 
law  of  Moses,  Gamaliel,  Acts  22  :  3.  This  school  was  at  Jerusalem. 
In  his  outward  observance  of  the  ritual  and  morals  of  his  religion, 
Paul  was  "  blameless,"  Phil.  3  :  6.  But  he  was  grossly  ignorant 
of  the  holy  and  spiritual  character  of  the  decalogue.  Rom.  7  :  7. 
Nor  had  he  any  knowledge  of  the  great  truth  that  equal  love  to 
man  and  supreme  love  to  God  were  the  sum  of  the  law.  Conse- 
quently when  a  mere  youth,  from  a  wretched  wrong-headedness 
of  conscience,  he  became  a  persecutor  of  the  most  malignant  type. 
He  held  the  clothes  of  the  men,  who  stoned  Stephen,  and  consented 
to  his  cruel  death.     From  that  time  he  was  like  a  ravening  wolf  in 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

the  flock  of  Christ.  He  had  no  mercy,  and  seems  to  have  had  no 
remorse,  unless  that  phrase — "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the 
pricks," — teaches  that  he  had  compunctions.  He  verily  thought 
he  ought  to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  He  therefore  "  made  havoc  "  of  the  church.  He  was 
"  exceeding  mad  "  against  the  Christians.  His  very  breath  stank 
of  blood.  He  "  breathed  out  threatenings  and  slaughter."  How 
long  he  pursued  this  flagitious  course  is  not  certain ;  but  it  was 
probably  for  fifteen  or  twenty  months.  His  zeal  and  bitterness 
at  length  knew  no  bounds.  He  went  unto  "  strange  cities "  in 
quest  of  prey.  But  the  prayer  of  dying  Stephen  and  of  other  holy 
martyrs  for  their  enemy  and  murderer,  and  especially  the  inter- 
cession of  our  great  High  Priest,  prevailed,  and  next  we  read  of 

III.  The  conversion  of  Paul. 

This  great  moral  change  in  his  character  is  thrice  recorded  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  It  is  commonly,  and  with  reason,  sup- 
posed to  have  occurred  about  two  years  after  Christ's  ascension 
from  Olivet.  It  was  attended  with  remarkable  circumstances, 
yet  produced  in  him  no  permanent  effects  but  such  as  were  neces- 
sary to  fit  him  for  his  work,  sufferings  and  triumphs.  Luke,  who 
wrote  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  thus  narrates  this  great  event : 

"  And  Saul,  yet  breathing  out  threatenings  and  slaughter 
against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,  went  unto  the  high  priest,  and 
desired  of  him  letters  to  Damascus  to  the  synagogues,  that  if  he 
found  any  of  this  way,  whether  they  were  men  or  women,  he 
might  bring  them  bound  unto  Jerusalem.  And  as  he  journeyed, 
he  came  near  Damascus :  and  suddenly  there  shined  round  about 
him  a  light  from  heaven,  and  he  fell  to  the  earth,  and  heard  a 
voice  saying  unto  him,  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me? 
And  he  said,  Who  art  thou,  Lord?  And  the  Lord  said,  I  am  Jesus 
whom  thou  persecutest :  it  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the 
pricks.  And  he  trembling  and  astonished,  said.  Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  ?  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Arise,  and  go 
into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do.  And 
the  men  which  journeyed  with  him  stood  speechless,  hearing  a 
voice,  but  seeing  no  man.  And  Saul  arose  from  the  earth,  and 
when  his  eyes  were  opened,  he  saw  no  man  ;  but  they  led  him  by 
the  hand,  and  brought  him  into  Damascus.  And  he  was  three 
days  without  sight,  and  neither  did  eat  nor  drink.  And  there  was 
a  certain  disciple  at  Damascus  named  Ananias ;  and  to  him  said 
the  Lord  in  a  vision,  Ananias.  And  he  said.  Behold,  I  am  here, 
Lord.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Arise,  and  go  into  the  street 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

which  is  called  Straight,  and  inquire  in  the  house  of  Judas  for  one 
called  Saul  of  Tarsus :  for  behold,  he  prayeth,  and  hath  seen  in  a 
vision  a  man  named  Ananias,  coming  in,  and  putting  his  hand  on 
him,  that  he  might  receive  his  sight.  Then  Ananias  answered. 
Lord,  I  have  heard  by  many  of  this  man,  how  much  evil  he  hath 
done  to  thy  saints  at  Jerusalem  :  and  here  he  hath  authority  from 
the  chief  priests,  to  bind  all  that  call  on  thy  name.  But  the  Lord 
said  unto  him.  Go  thy  way :  for  he  is  a  chosen  vessel  unto  me,  to 
bear  my  name  before  the  Gentiles  and  Kings,  and  the  children  of 
Israel.  For  I  will  show  him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for 
my  name's  sake.  And  Ananias  went  his  way,  and  entered  into 
the  house :  and  putting  his  hands  on  him,  said,  Brother  Saul,  the 
Lord  (even  Jesus  that  appeared  unto  thee  in  the  way  as  thou 
camest)  hath  sent  me,  that  thou  mightest  receive  thy  sight,  and  be 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  immediately  there  fell  from  his 
eyes  as  it  had  been  scales :  and  he  received  sight  forthwith,  and 
arose,  and  was  baptized.  And  when  he  had  received  meat,  he 
was  strengthened.  Then  was  Saul  certain  days  with  the  disciples 
which  were  at  Damascus.  And  straightway  he  preached  Christ 
in  the  synagogues,  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God.  But  all  that  heard 
him  were  amazed,  and  said.  Is  not  this  he  that  destroyed  them 
which  called  on  this  name  in  Jerusalem,  and  came  hither  for  that 
intent,  that  he  might  bring  them  bound  unto  the  chief  priests? 
But  Saul  increased  the  more  in  strength,  and  confounded  the 
Jews  which  dwelt  at  Damascus,  proving  that  this  is  very  Christ." 
Acts  9  :  1-22.  This  is  Luke's  account  of  Paul's  conversion.  But 
in  his  history  of  Paul's  life  he  records  two  accounts,  which  Paul 
publicly  gave  of  the  same  great  event.  The  first  of  these  is  found 
in  Acts  22  :  3-21  ;  the  other,  in  Acts  26  :  9-20.  These  narra- 
tives from  the  lips  of  Paul  mention  some  incidents  not  given  in 
Acts  9.  But  there  is  no  disagreement  with  that  narrative,  with 
one  apparent  exception.  In  Luke's  narrative  he  says :  "  The  men 
which  journeyed  with  him  stood  speechless,  hearing  a  voice,  but 
seeing  no  man,"  Acts  9:7;  while  in  Paul's  defence  made  before 
the  chief  captain  he  says :  "  They  that  were  with  me  saw  indeed 
the  light,  and  were  afraid ;  but  they  heard  not  the  voice  of  him 
that  spoke  to  me."  Acts  22  :  9.  This  difficulty  is  only  apparent, 
not  real.  It  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  word  rendered  voice  is 
used  in  two  different  senses.  Often  it  signifies  any  noise  or  sound 
though  it  be  wholly  inarticulate ;  as  in  these  cases :  "  The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  i-^««^  thereof,"  John 
3:8.  In  I  Cor.  14  :  7,  8  it  is  thrice  rendered  sound.  In  Rev.  1:15; 
9:9;  18  :  22  it  is  four  times  rendered  sound;  in  Rev.  6:1  it  is 
rendered  noise.     In  many  places  it  might  be  rendered  sound  or 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

noise,  as  where  we  read  of  "  the  voice  of  many  waters,"  and  "  the 
voice  of  mighty  thunderings."  In  this  sense  of  the  word  Paul's 
attendants  heard  the  voice,  that  is  the  sound  or  noise.  But  the 
same  word  is  used  for  an  articulate  voice,  as  where  it  is  said,  "  The 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord  ;"  and  "  Lo  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying.  This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased,"  and  in  many  other  places.  So 
that  in  this  sense  Paul's  companions  did  not  hear  the  voice,  the 
articulate  sound.  That  Paul  used  it  in  this  sense  is  manifest  from 
the  very  words :  "  they  heard  not  tJie  voice  of  him  that  spake  to  me." 
They  heard  not  the  word  spoken  to  me. 

It  is  evident  that  Paul  always  regarded  his  conversion  as  a 
demonstration  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Nor  was  this  a  fallacy. 
Every  effect  must  have  an  adequate  cause.  When  we  see  a  lion 
turned  into  a  lamb,  a  bird  of  prey  into  a  gentle  dove,  a  blasphemer 
into  a  devout  man,  a  bitter  persecutor  into  an  incomparable 
preacher,  we  ask  for  a  cause.  We  find  none  but  that  assigned  by 
Paul  himself.  Lord  Lyttleton  was  right  when  he  concluded  that 
Paul's  conversion  was  an  unanswerable  proof  of  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  religion.  He  has  given  his  argument  to  the  world.  No 
flaw  in  it  has  yet  been  detected.  As  an  event  Paul's  conversion 
cannot  be  easily  overestimated.  Adolphe  Monod :  "  Grace  came, 
omnipotent  grace,  and  the  rampart  of  that  great  soul  fell  like  the 
walls  of  Jericho ;  the  impregnable  citadel  was  carried  in  an  hour, 
and  all  its  ample  magazines  were  redeemed  for  the  service  of  the 
Lord." 

IV.  The  public  life  of  Paul  the  apostle. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  settle  the  chronological 
order  of  the  leading  events  in  the  life  of  the  great  apostle  to  the 
Gentiles.  The  following  brief  view  is  probably  nearly  correct. 
Paul  was  engaged  in  persecution  a  part  of  a.  d.  34  and  the  whole 
of  35.  In  the  year  36  he  was  converted  and  went  into  Arabia, 
where  he  received  abundance  of  direct  visions  and  revelations. 
In  38  his  life  was  sought  at  Damascus,  but  he  was  let  down  by  the 
wall  in  a  basket,  and  came  to  Jerusalem  and  "  essayed  to  join 
himself  to  the  disciples,  but  they  were  afraid  of  him,"  and  avoided 
him  till  Barn^as  introduced  him.  In  39  Paul  preached  in  Cilicia 
the  faith,  which  he  had  destroyed.  He  was  not  as  yet  known  in 
person  to  the  churches  in  Judea.  In  40  he  preached  in  Syria,  not 
going  to  Antioch  however.  About  41  a  door  of  access  to  the 
Gentiles  was  opened,  and  Paul  entered,  and  labored  and  suffered 
much  for  two  or  three,  years.     In  43  the  persecution  of  Herod 


INTRODUCTION.  'g 

(Agrippa)  began.  In  44  Paul  and  Barnabas  carried  relief  to  the 
suffering  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  and  Mark  joined  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  and  these  last  were  fully  set  apart  to  preach  to  the 
Gentiles.  In  45  Paul  preached  extensively  in  Cyprus  and  in  Pam- 
phylia ;  in  46,  in  Pisidia  and  Lycaonia.  The  next  year  he  and  his 
companions  visited  the  same  churches,  "  confirming  the  souls  of 
the  disciples."  In  48  Paul  had  his  first  great  conflict  with  the 
judaizing  teachers.  In  49  he  and  his  companions  labored  much 
in  Phoenicia  and  Samaria.  The  same  year  he  reported  the 
progress  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Gentiles  to  the  brethren  at 
Jerusalem,  where  the  first  general  council  was  held.  In  50  Paul 
and  Barnabas  separated,  and  Paul  took  to  him  Silas  (or  Silvanus) 
and  Timothy.  He  travelled  extensively  this  year.  He  spent  the 
year  51  at  Philippi,  going  also  to  Amphipolis,  Apollonia,  Thessa- 
lonica  and  Berea.  The  next  year  the  Jews  were  expelled  from  Rome 
by  Claudius,  and  Paul  visited  Athens  and  Corinth,  and  had  a  great 
desire  to  visit  the  church  at  Rome.  In  54  Paul  went  to  Ephesus 
and  Caesarea.  This  year  his  personal  acquaintance  with  Apollos 
probably  began.  In  54  or  55  Paul  began  his  reasonings  in  the 
school  of  Tyrannus  in  Ephesus.  These  lasted  two  years.  In  57 
he  left  Asia  and,  passing  through  Troy,  came  into  Macedonia,  and 
thence  into  Greece.  In  58  he  was  also  at  Philippi,  visited  Jerusa- 
lem, and  made  his  address  before  Ananias,  and  in  Ceesarea  before 
Felix,  who  kept  him  a  prisoner,  hoping  to  receive  a  bribe  for  his 
release.  In  the  year  60  Paul  stood  before  Festus  and  Agrippa, 
and,  by  appeal,  was  sent  to  Rome.  On  his  way  he  was  ship- 
wrecked, but  reached  Rome  pretty  early  in  61.  He  remained  a 
prisoner  for  at  least  two  years,  yet  having  considerable  privileges. 
In  63  he  went  as  far  as  Spain.  In  64  he  went  to  Crete,  thence  to 
Judea,  thence  to  Colosse,  thence  to  Macedonia.  He  spent  the 
winter  of  65  at  Nicopolis ;  thence  he  went  to  Corinth,  and  in  66  to 
Troy.  In  6y  he  came  to  Miletus,  and  thence  voluntarily  to  Rome. 
There  he  was  imprisoned.  He  continued  a  prisoner  till  some  time 
in  68,  when  he  suffered  martyrdom.  This  general  outline  is  as 
nearly  corre'ct,  according  to  our  best  lights,  as  any  that  has  been 
given.     It  is  sober  and  avoids  wild  conjectures. 

Paul  began  his  public  life  under  Tiberius,  who  was  emperor 
eighteen  years  before  Christ's  death,  and  died  in  37,  three  years 
after  Paul  came  on  the  stage.  Tiberius  was  succeeded  by  Calig- 
ula, who  died  in  41,  and  was  succeeded  by  Claudius,  who  died  by 
poison  in  54,  and  was  succeeded  by  Nero,  who  killed  himself  in 
68.  So  that  Paul  acted  a  conspicuous  part  under  four  Roman 
Emperors. 


i6  INTRODUCTION. 

V.  The  order  and  time  of  writing  Paul's  epistles. 

It  is  generally  known  that  in  no  edition  of  the  Bible  are  Paul's 
epistles  arranged  according  to  the  chronological  order,  in  which 
they  were  written.  J.  D.  Michaelis  says  their  present  order  is 
agreed  on  "  according  to  the  supposed  rank  and  importance  of  the 
communities,  or  persons,  to  which  they  were  addressed."  This 
remark  may  indicate  the  state  of  mind  in  those  that  made  up  the 
canon,  but  if  such  a  notion  prevailed  there  was  certainly  some 
misapplication  of  it.  The  order  in  which  the  books  of  Scripture 
are  bound  up  in  no  way  affects  the  doctrines  they  teach,  and  is  at 
best  a  mere  matter  of  taste,  or  personal  preference,  or  general  con- 
venience. It  may  be  satisfactory  to  the  reader,  and  it  may  here- 
after save  time  now  to  state  that  Marcion  and  Michaelis  make 
Paul's  epistle  to  the  Galatians  the  earliest,  the  latter  author  dating 
it  A.  D.  49 ;  while  the  authorized  version,  Eichhorn,  Lardner, 
Lloyd,  Tomhne,  Home,  Pearson,  Hug  and  Scott  all  make  his  ist 
epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  the  earliest,  and  his  2nd  Epistle  to  the 
Thessalonians  the  next  in  order.  But  they  are  not  agreed  as  to 
the  dates  of  these  epistles,  some  making  them  as  early  as  52,  and 
some  two  years  later.  While  Michaelis  regards  the  epistle  to  the 
Galatians  as  Paul's  first,  most  of  those  writers  just  quoted  regard 
it  as  the  third  ;  Lardner,  Tomline,  Home  and  Bagster's  Com- 
prehensive Bible  dating  it  as  early  as  52  or  53;  Scott,  in  56; 
Pearson,  in  57  ;  our  authorized  version  and  Lloyd  as  late  as  58. 

The  ist  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  is  pretty  confidently  sup- 
posed to  come  next  in  order,  though  Schrader  makes  it  the  earliest 
and  Marcion  makes  it  the  second;  Lardner  fixes  it  at  53;  Tom- 
line,  at  56 ;  Michaelis,  Pearson,  Home  and  Bagster,  at  57  ;  Lloyd,  at 
59,  and  the  authorized  version  and  Scott,  at  60.  Though  Marcion 
regards  the  2nd  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  as  the  third  of  Paul's 
writing,  and  Hug  as  the  sixth,  yet  neither  of  these  gives  the 
common  view.  Eichhorn  makes  it  the  fifth.  So  does  Schrader. 
Pearson,  Lardner,  Tomline  and  Bagster  date  it  in  57;  Michaelis 
and  Home,  in  58  ;  the  authorized  version  and  Lloyci,  in  60  ;  and 
Scott,  in  61.  The  epistle  to  the  Romans  was  probably  the  sixth 
in  order,  though  Schrader  makes  it  the  third  ;  Marcion,  the  fourth  ; 
and  Hug,  the  eighth.  Pearson,  Dupin  and  Tomline  date  it  in  57 ; 
Home,  in  57  or  58  ;  Lord  Barrington,  Benson,  Michaelis  and 
Lardner,  in  58 ;  the  authorized  version.  Usher,  Eichhorn  and 
Lloyd,  in  60,  and  Scott,  in  61.^  Schrader  makes  the  epistle  to  the 
Ephesians  the  sixth  of  Paul's  writing ;  Pearson,  the  eighth  ;  Mar- 
cion and  Eichhorn,  the  seventh.  Lardner,  Home,  Tomline  and 
Bagster  date  it  in  61  ;  the  authorized  version,  Lloyd  and  Scott,  in 


INTRODUCTION.  ii 

64;  and  Michaelis,  in  64  or  65.  It  is,  however,  generally  agreed 
that  the  epistles  to  the  Philippians,  Colossians  and  Philemon  were 
written  the  same  year  (at  least  about  the  same  time)  as  that  to  the 
Ephesians,  though  Scott  dates  Philippians  a  year  later  than  the 
other  three.  The  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  probably  comes  next, 
though  Hug  makes  it  the  last  of  all.  Home  and  Bagster  date  it 
in  62  or  6^  ;  Pearson,  Lardner  and  Tomline,  in  63  ;  the  authorized 
version  and  Lloyd,  in  64;  Michaelis,  in  64  or  65,  and  Scott,  in 
65.  The  ist  epistle  to  Timothy  is  very  generally  regarded  as 
the  twelfth  in  order.  Lardner  dates  it  as  early  as  56,  and  Mi- 
chaelis in  58  ;  but  Pearson,  Home  and  Tomline  date  it  in  64;  Le 
Clerc,  L'Enfant,  Cave,  Fabricius,  Mill,  Macknight,  Paley,  Lloyd, 
Scott  and  our  authorized  version,  in  65.  The  epistle  to  Titus 
is  the  thirteenth  in  order,  though  Hug  makes  it  the  third,  and 
Michaelis  dates  it  in  51  or  52,  and  Lardner,  in  56;  but  Home,  Tom- 
line and  Bagster  date  it  in  64 ;  and  the  authorized  version,  Pear- 
son and  Lloyd,  in  65  ;  and  Scott,  in  66.  The  l5,sLJthing  Paul  ever 
wrote  was  his  2nd_epistle  to  Timothy,  though  Lardner  dates  it  in 
61;  but  Home  and  tdmtine,  iiT  65  ;  the  authorized  version,  Mi- 
chaelis and  Lloyd,  in  (>() ;  Benson,  Macknight,  Paley,  Clarke  and 
RosenmuUer,  not  long  before  he  suffered  martyrdom.  Nero  died 
in  June  68,  and  Paul  was  beheaded  under  that  emperor.  It  is 
probable  the  later  dates  given  are  nearer  the  truth  than  the  earlier. 
Scott  dates  it  in  6']  and  Pearson  in  68. 

VI.  The  places  where  Paul's  epistles  were  written. 

It  seems  to  be  pretty  generally  agreed  that  the  epistles  to  the 
Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians,  Philemon  and  the  2nd  to 
Timothy  were  written  from  Rome.  The  subscriptions  to  those 
epistles  say  so,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  countervailing  evidence 
of  any  considerable  force.  The  authorized  version  admits  that 
all  these  were  written  from  the  imperial  city.  To  the  above  some 
add  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Home  thinks  this  is  perhaps 
true.  With  him  agrees  Slade.  The  subscription  says  it  was  from 
Italy.  So  does  the  authorized  version.  The  following  epistles  are 
commonly  supposed  to  have  been  written  from  Corinth,  viz :. 
Romans,  ist  Thessalonians  and  2nd  Thessalonians.  So  say  Horne 
and  Slade.  But  the  subscriptions  to  both  epistles  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians say  they  were  written  from  Athens,  and  the  authorized 
version  adopts  that  statement.  The  subscription  to  the  epistle  to 
the  Galatians  dates  it  from  Rome.  The  authorized  version  follows 
this.  But  Horne  dates  it  from  Corinth,  and  Slade  from  Corinth 
or  Macedonia.     The  subscription  to  the  ist  epistle  to  the  Corin- 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

thians  says  it  was  written  from  Philippi.  With  this  agrees  the 
authorized  version ;  but  Home  and  Slade  correctly  think  it  was 
written  at  Ephesus,  as  is  proven  by  what  Paul  himself  says :  "  I 
will  tarry  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost,"  i  Cor.  i6  :  8.  The  sub- 
scription to  the  2nd  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  says  it  was  written 
at  Philippi.  With  this  agrees  our  authorized  version.  But 
Home  and  Slade  date  it  from  Macedonia,  without  fixing  the  par- 
ticular city.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  epistle  to  Titus  was 
probably  written  from  Macedonia ;  the  subscription  and  the 
authorized  version  say  from  Nicopolis,  which  was  in  Macedonia. 
Home  and  Slade  date  the  ist  epistle  to  Timothy  from  Macedonia, 
though  the  subscription  and  authorized  version  date  it  from 
Laodicea,  which  was  the  capital  of  Phrygia  Pacotiana  in  Asia 
Minor. 

All  Paul's  epistles  in  our  authorized  version  and  in  many  other 
versions  and  editions  have  subscriptions,  that  is,  a  few  words  or 
lines  purporting  to  tell  where  they  were  written,  and  sometimes 
by  whom  they  were  sent.  Having  already  referred  to  these,  it  is 
convenient  here,  once  for  all,  to  say  respecting  them :  i.  They  are 
not  Scripture  They  Avere  not  written  by  Paul,  nor  by  any  one 
imder  his  direction.  They  were  written  by  some  later  writer 
unknown  to  us.  2.  Some  of  them  may  and  perhaps  do  correctly 
give  the  date  of  place ;  but  we  cannot  rely  on  them  unless  sup- 
ported by  evidence  drawn  from  some  other  source.  3.  The  Doway 
Bible,  Guyse,  the  continuators  of  Henry,  Scott  and  others  pay  no 
regard  to  them,  dropping  them  altogether.  4.  It  is  certain  that 
some  of  them  are  erroneous  as  that  to  the  ist  epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, which  the  Doway  Bible  and  respectable  scholars  generally 
admit  was  written  from  Ephesus,  not  from  Philippi,  as  stated  in 
the  subscription.  5.  Several  of  them  are  awkward  and  imperti- 
nent. 

For  these  reasons  they  might  well  be  unnoticed  in  any  con- 
cise work  on  Paul's  epistles.  It  may  be  observed  that  the  doctri- 
nal and  practical  truths  of  Paul's  writings  are  just  the  same 
wherever  or  whenever  written ;  that  no  duty  is  affected  by  our 
views  on  these  points ;  and  that  the  chief  importance  attached  to 
the  date  of  time  or  place  in  any  epistle  arises  from  the  use  that 
may  be  made  of  it  in  an  argument  with  gainsayers  on  questions 
of  criticism.  In  some  cases  possibly  there  may  be  more  point  in 
some  things  said,  if  dated  at  one  time  or  place  rather  than  another, 
but  this  is  doubtful. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

VII.  The  excellence  of  Paul's  writings. 

From  the  death  of  Paul  to  this  day  there  has  not  been  a  Sab- 
bath when  he  was  not  read,  recited  or  quoted  in  the  pubhc  minis- 
trations of  God's  house ;  and  so  it  will  be  to  the  end  of  time. 
Devils  and  wicked  men,  as  well  as  saints  and  angels  still  say, 
"Jesus  I  know  and  Paul  I  know."  The  power  of  Jesus  as  a 
teacher  arose  from  the  fact  that  he  was  the  author  of  truth,  and 
the  embodiment  of  truth,  and  knew  what  was  in  man,  and  spoke 
as  man  never  spoke.  The  secret  of  Paul's  power  as  a  teacher  is 
found,  not  merely  or  chiefly  in  his  genius,  though  that  was  pro- 
digious, nor  in  his  acquaintance  with  Hebrew  and  Grecian  lore, 
though  that  was  vast,  but  in  his  thorough  instruction  by  the 
abundance  of  visions  and  revelations,  which  he  had  from  the  Lord 
Jesus  and  from  the  large  measure  of  God's  Spirit  granted  him 
during  his  whole  Christian  life.  Thus  he  was  able  with  great 
clearness,  directness,  pungency  and  tenderness  to  address  men 
orally  and  by  writing.  Lord  Shaftesbury  says  that  "  the  conceal- 
ment of  order  and  method  in  this  manner  of  writing  (epistolary) 
makes  the  chief  beauty  of  the  work."  If  this  is  a  just  observation, 
one  entire  class  of  objection  to  Paul's  epistles  falls  to  the  ground. 

Augustine  expressed  the  wish  that  he  could  have  seen  "  Christ 
in  the  flesh  and  Paul  in  the  pulpit."  Among  mere  men  Paul  was 
probably  the  prince  of  preachers.  Was  Paul  eloquent?  The 
answer  to  this  question  depends  on  our  definition  of  eloquence. 
If  with  Cecil  we  regard  eloquence  as  "  animated  simplicity  "  in  the 
treatment  of  great  themes ;  or  with  Webster,  as  "  forcible  lan- 
guage, which' gives  utterance  to  deep  emotion ;  "  or  with  Worces- 
ter, as  "  the  art  of  clothing  thoughts  in  such  language,  and  of 
uttering  them  in  such  a  manner,  as  is  adapted  to  produce  convic- 
tion or  persuasion  ;  "  then  was  Paul  eloquent  in  a  high  degree — a 
master  of  the  art.  But  if  by  eloquence  is  meant  what  some  under- 
stand thereby,  "  elegant  language  uttered  with  fluency,"  or 
pleasing  the  ears  and  fancy  of  men  by  high-wrought  but  imaginary 
scenes  of  woe  or  bliss,  then  was  Paul  not  eloquent.  He  inten- 
tionally and  avowedly  rejected  all  flashy  and  meretricious  orna- 
ments both  in  speaking  and  in  writing,     i  Cor.  i  :  17;  2  :  i,  4,  13. 

Surely  Beza  spoke  well :  "  When  I  more  narrowly  consider  the 
whole  genius  and  character  of  Paul's  style,  I  must  confess  I  have 
found  no  such  sublimity  of  speaking  in  Plato  himself;  as  often  as 
the  apostle  is  pleased  to  thunder  out  the  mysteries  of  God  :  no  ex- 
quisiteness  of  vehemence  in  Demosthenes  equal  to  his,  as  often  as 
he  had  a  mind  to  terrify  men  with  a  dread  of  the  Divine  judg- 
ments, or  to  admonish  them  concerning  their  conduct,  or  to  allure 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

them  to  the  contemplation  of  the  Divine  benignity,  or  to  excite 
them  to  the  duties  of  piety  and  morahty.  In  a  word,  not  even  in 
Aristotle,  nor  in  Galen,  though  most  excellent  artists,  do  I  find  a 
more  exact  method  of  teaching."  The  '  method  '  here  referred  to 
is  not  that  of  the  rhetoricians,  but  that  natural  method,  by  which 
great  truths  are  conveyed  in  simple  terms,  and  truths,  unwelcome 
to  the  natural  heart,  are  tenderly  and  ingeniously  insinuated  into 
the  mind,  nothing  in  the  manner  of  communicating  them  naturally 
irritating  or  justly  offending  the  weak  or  the  prejudiced. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  Paul  had  much  higher  aims  than 
ever  entered  the  mind  of  any  Grecian  orator,  moralist  or  poet ; 
that  his  views  penetrated  the  veil  of  endless  duration  ;  that  he  lived 
as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible  ;  that  "  the  sacred  oracles  were  not 
designed  as  works  of  genius,  to  attract  the  admiration  of  the 
learned,  nor  to  set  before  them  a  finished  model  of  fine  writing  for 
their  imitation ;  but  to  turn  mankind  from  sin  to  God ; "  and 
that  every  thing  foreign  from  this  great  object  was  a  grand  im- 
pertinence. 

That  Paul  had  a  high  order  of  eloquence  was  admitted  by  the 
great  critic,  Dionysius  Longinus :  "  Demosthenes,  Lysias,  Aes- 
chines,  Hyperides,  Isocrates,  Antiphon  are  the  glory  of  all  elo- 
quence and  of  Greek  genius ;  to  whom  may  be  added  Paul  of  Tar- 
sus, who,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  the  first  who  did  not  make  use  of 
demonstration."  It  is  true  that  Fabricius  and  Ruhnken  have  ques- 
tioned the  genuineness  of  this  passage ;  but  the  reasons  they  have 
given  are  insufficient.  All  the  usual  signs  of  interpolation  are 
wanting.  We  may,  therefore,  fairly  receive  the  testimony  of  this 
important  critic,  who  belonged  to  a  school  pretty  well  acquainted 
with  the  writings  in  use  among  the  Christians.  Yet  no  one  would 
think  the  less  of  Paul  if  he  should  regard  the  sentence  as  spuri- 
ous ;  just  as  no  one  thinks  the  better  of  Paul  when  he  esteems  it 
genuine. 

In  1588  there  was  born  at  Saumur,  Claudius  Saumaise,  after- 
wards known  to  the  learned  world  by  the  Latin  name  of  Salma- 
sius.  Casaubon  spoke  of  him  as  *  learned  to  a  wonder '  —  "ad 
miraculum  doctus."  He  was  admired  over  all  Europe.  At 
Leyden  he  was  successor  to  Scaliger.  Richelieu  offered  him 
12,000  livres  a  year,  if  he  would  but  live  in  France.  The  judg- 
ment of  no  literary  man  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  in  the  17th 
century  carried  with  it  such  weight  as  did  that  of  Salmasius.  On 
his  death-bed  (at  the  age  of  65),  this  giant  in  every  species  of  solid 
and  polite  learning  said :  "  O,  I  have  lost  a  world  of  time.  If  one 
year  more  were  added  to  my  life,  it  should  be  spent  in  reading 
David's  Psalms  and  Paul's  epistles."     Of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephe- 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

sians  Grotius  says  it  expresses  the  grand  matters  of  which  it  treats 
in  words  "  more  sublime  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  human  lan- 
guage." John  Locke  says  :  "  Paul  is  full  of  the  matter  he  treats  . 
and  writes  with  warmth,  which  usually  neglects  method,  and  those 
partitions  and  pauses,  which  men  educated  in  the  school  of  rhetori- 
cians usually  observe."  Macknight  says :  "  All  who  wish  to  un- 
derstand true  Christianity  ought  to  study  the  epistles  of  this  great 
apostle  with  the  utmost  care."  Pages  might  easily  be  filled  with 
high  commendations  of  Paul's  writings,  gathered  from  all  sorts  of 
respectable  writers  for  the  last  sixteen  hundred  years.  What 
doctrine  did  he  ever  handle  but  with  great  profit  to  the  humble  } 
What  hard  question  did  he  ever  blink  or  fail  therein  to  give  repose 
to  honest  hearts  and  tender  consciences  ?  What  duty  did  he  fail 
to  make  plain  and  show  the  urgent  reasons  for  its  performance  ? 
What  case  of  distress  did  he  overlook  or  slight  ?  When  did  he 
come  short  of  presenting  adequate  considerations  to  sustain  the 
meek  and  lowly  believer?  Then  all  he  says  is  so  practical,  so 
•  wisely  presented  and  so  tenderly  urged,  that  simple-hearted  men 
feel  that  Paul  understood  their  case,  while  the  greatest  minds  have 
ielt  no  need  of  lessons  more  elevating  than  they  found  in  his 
writings.  Above  most  men  Paul  was  thoroughly  practical.  Of 
him  Chrysostom  well  says :  "  Like  a  wall  of  adamant,  his  writings 
form  a  bulwark  around  all  the  churches  of  the  world,  while  him- 
self, as  some  mighty  champion  stands  even  now  in  the  midst,  cast- 
ing down  every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  bringing  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ."  Adolphe  Monod  says  :  "  Should  any  one 
ask  me  to  name  the  man,  who,  of  all  others,  has  been  the  greatest 
benefactor  of  our  race,  I  should  say,  without  hesitation,  the  Apostle 
Paul.  His  name  is  the  type  of  human  activity,  the  most  endless, 
and  at  the  same  time,  the  most  useful  that  history  has  cared  to 
preserve." 

VIIL  Is  Paul  hard  to  be  understood? 

The  correct  answer  to  this  question  is  given  by  Peter :  "  In  all 
his  [Paul's]  epistles  speaking  in  them  of  these  things ;  in  which 
are  some  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which  they  that  are  un- 
learned and  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the  other  Scriptures, 
unto  their  own  destruction."  2  Pet.  3  :  16.  In  this  language  of 
the  Apostle  of  the  circumcision  there  is  both  caution  and  candor. 
I.  He  says  that  before  men  can  get  harm  from  Paul's  epistles, 
they  must  '  wrest,'  wrench,  turn  awry,  violently  pervert  things. 
Whose  language  can  bear  unfair  dealing,  uncandid  distorting? 


i6  INTRODUCTION. 

We  know  who,  and  whose  type  he  was  that  said :  "  Every  day 
they  wrest  my  words."  "  The  Scripture  is  so  penned  that  they, 
who  have  a  mind  to  know,  may  know ;  they  who  have  a  mind  to 
wrangle  may  take  occasion  enough  of  offence,  and  justly  perish 
by  the  rebellion  of  their  own  minds ;  for  God  never  intended  to 
satisfy  men  of  stubborn  and  perverse  spirits."  All  this  is  but  say- 
ing that  the  Bible  is  profitable  to  those  only  who  have  candor, 
humility,  docility  and  the  love  of  the  truth.  2.  Peter  tells  us  who 
they  are,  that  thus  pervert  things.  First,  they  are  *  unlearned^  or 
uninstructed,  those  who  are  unsettled  in  the  elements  of  truth. 
Then  they  are  '  unstable^  not  steadfast.  They  have  no  true  and 
fixed  first  principles,  but  are  driven  like  waves  by  every  wind. 
Such  people  are  ever  bewildered,  and  liable  to  be  '  bewitched,'  as 
the  Galatians  were.  3.  The  obscurity  is  not  so  much  in  Paul's  man- 
ner of  discussing  these  subjects,  as  in  the  subjects  themselves  ;  for 
the  '  which '  refers  not  to  the  epistles  but  to  *  these  things,'  of 
which  he  had  been  speaking.  No  writer  can  overcome  difficulties 
inherent  in  a  subject  itself.  Paul  by  the  Spirit  was  led  to  discuss  , 
the  sublimest  mysteries  in  the  nature  and  providence  of  God,  and  ■ 
in  the  experience  of  men,  as  well  as  the  knottiest  questions  in 
casuistry.  The  Christian  world  has  ever  been  thankful  for  the 
light  thus  given,  but  the  unlearned  and  unstable,  who  have  no 
spiritual  wisdom,  abuse  such  discussions.  The  fault  is  their  OAvn. 
4.  This  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  the  same  men  *  wrest  also  the 
other  Scriptures.'  No  part  of  God's  word  is  duly  received  by 
them.     5.  They  are  bad  men  on  their  way  to  "destruction." 

It  is  freely  admitted  also  that  to  us  the  ancient  Greek,  in 
which  Paul  wrote,  is  a  dead  language ;  that  Paul's  education 
led  him  to  use  many  forms  of  speech  borrowedj  rom  the  He- 
brew ;  that  he  did  not  always  use  pure  classical  Greek,  but 
that  which  is  often  called  Alexandrian,  the  Greek  of  the  Septua- 
gint,  then  somewhat  modified  and  modernized.  Cornelius  a 
Lapide  says  :  "  The  apostle  wrote  in  Greek  and  often  grecianized ; 
but  because  he  was  a  Hebrew,  he  often  hebraized."  When  we  add 
to  this  that  the  language  of  mortals  is  very  inadequate  to  convey 
heavenly  ideas ;  that  all  men  are  naturally  blind  in  spiritual  things, 
and  that  in  conveying  spiritual  conceptions  it  is  necessary  to  use 
terms  in  a  sense  very  different  from  that  which  they  have  when 
our  discourse  is  of  carnal  things,  the  reader  will  not  wonder  that 
it  is  not  easy  for  us  at  this  distance  of  time  and  place  from  the 
apostle's  age  and  country  always,  even  after  careful  study,  to  tell 
certainly  what  is  the  precise  shade  of  idea  which  he  would  convey 
to  us.  It  is  therefore  for  a  joy  that  God  hears  prayer,  and  opens 
his  ear  to  the  cry  of  all  who  search  for  knowledge  as  for  hid  trea- 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

sure.  The  devout  mind  makes  most  progrese  in  discovering  the 
true  nature  and  uses  of  all  the  teachings  of  God's  word.  "  If  any 
man  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  who  giveth  to  all  men  liber- 
ally and  upbraideth  not." 

'  IX.  The  state  of  the  world  during  Paul's  public  life. 

Paul  was  acting  a  public  part,  as  early  as  some  time  in  A.  D.  34. 
He  was  converted  in  36.     If  he  was  beheaded   in  68,  he  Avas  a 
Christian  teacher  for  thirty-two  years,  and  lived  till  within  (about) 
two  years  of  the   destruction  of  Jerusalem.     That  is,  he  was  a 
prominent  and  stirring  actor  thirty-four  out  of  the  last  thirty-six 
years  of  the  national  existence  of  the  Jews.     In  the  Roman  empire 
he  was  cotemporary  with  Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius  and  Nero. 
The  liberties  of  the  Jews  were  gone,  they  being  lorded  over  by 
Roman  governors  and  other  officials.     The  liberties  of  Greece  had 
very  much  perished  in  the  same  way,  as  also  by  factions.     And 
the   liberties   of  Roman  citizens  had  well   nigh   become  extinct 
through  the  cruelties  of  the  emperors,  and  the  rapacity  of  their 
subordinates.     The  state  of  religion  was  low.     The  Jews,  who  still 
adhered  to  their  ritual,  were  to  a  fearful  extent  heartless  hypo- 
crites, utterly  denying  the  power  of  godliness,  and  greatly  given 
to  forms  and  fables.     By  their  unbelief  they  justified  their  nation 
in  crucifying  the  Redeemer,  and  were  anew  crying :  '  His  blood 
be  upon 'us  and  upon  our  children.'     Upon  them  was  soon  to  be 
visited  the  blood  of  all  the  holy  prophets,  from  the  blood  of  Abel 
to  that  of  Zecharias,  that  perished  between  the  altar  and  the  tem- 
ple.    The  Greeks  had  long  been  steeped  in  abominable  idolatries. 
Devil  worship  (such  is  all  idolatry,  i    Cor.  10  :  20,  21)  never  did 
elevate  a  people ;  though  some  forms  and  stages  of  it  are  more 
debasing  than  others.     The  Athenians  were  worshipping  all  the 
gods  of  which  their  poets  had  sung,  or  their  fathers  had  told  ;  and 
then,  lest  there  should  be  some  failure,  they  had  erected  an  altar 
to  The  unknown  God.     At  Rome  the  Pantheon  was  crowded 
with  representations  of  the  idols  worshipped   in   the  provinces. 
But  with  all  this  show,  religious  obligation  was  every  where  de- 
spised.    Venality,  cruelty,  meanness,    hypocrisy  and    corruption 
terribly    prevailed.     Skepticism    swayed    large   masses   of    men.. 
The  schools  of  philosophy,  never  potential  for  real  good,  now 
taught  frivolities,  or  brutal  coarseness,  or  chilling  insensibility,  or 
senseless  refinements.     An  oath  by  any  god  had  very  much  lost 
its  sacredness.     There  was  not  a  rty  of  hope  for  the  world  but 
that  emanating  from  the  cross  of  Calvary  ;  and  to  the  great  mass 
of  the  jews  that  cross  was  an  offence,  and  to  the  great  mass  of 


i8  INTRODUCTION. 

pagans  it  was  foolishness.  Men  bitterly  scorned  or  with  curled 
lip  smiled  at  the  idea  of  being  saved  by  one,  who,  they  said,  was 
not  able  to  save  himself  from  the  ignominy  of  crucifixion. 

Yet  there  were  present  advantages  for  spreading  the  truth.  The 
Greek  language  was  spoken  by  many,  and  read  and  understood  by 
more.  The  Greek  schoolmasters  had  been  abroad,  and  vast  numbers 
of  their  pupils  in  Italy  and  elsewhere  were  capable  of  enjoying  any 
thing  written  in  the  original  language  of  the  New  Testament. 
This  is  abundantly  proven  by  Juvenal,  Ovid  and  Tacitus.  This  was 
true  in  many  parts  of  Africa,  as  well  as  in  Europe  and  Asia, 
Then  the  Romans  by  their  conquests  had  made  the  most  populous 
portions  -of  Western  Asia,  Northern  Africa  and  Southern  and 
Central  Europe  accessible  to  travellers  on  any  errand  of  com- 
merce, philosophy  or  religion.  Had  the  Christian  doctrine  only 
asked  for  a  place  among  sister  systems  of  religion  ;  had  it  tolerated 
idols  and  bad  morals ;  had  it  merely  told  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus 
without  stating  what  they  proved  ;  and  had  it  humbly  asked  that 
the  statue  of  Jesus  might  be  placed  in  the  Pantheon  alongside  of 
almost  any  of  the  many  gods  there  represented  ;  it  is  not  probable 
it  would  have  awakened  either  considerable  notice  or  violent  op- 
position. But  when  it  came  condemning  all  the  darling  vices  of 
mankind,  uprooting  hoary  systems  of  superstition,  denouncing 
heaven's  wrath  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness,  and 
commanding  men,  on  pain  of  jeternal  damnation,  to  cease  from 
idols,  from  human  wisdom,  from  self-will,  self-esteem  and  ^  self- 
righteousness,  and  to  rest  all  their  hopes  of  happiness  for  the  next 
world  on  the  person,  the  sacrifice,  the  intercession  and  the  author- 
ity of  him,  who  bled  and  died  in  the  midst  of  malefactors;  Jew 
and  Gentile,  Stoic  and  Platonist  rose  up  in  a  rage,  and  said,  Away 
with  so  unsocial  and  accursed  a  form  of  superstition  ;  and  they 
soon  began  to  persecute  it. 

X.  Paul  the  very  sort  of  man  for  this  state  of  things. 

In  Greek  and  Hebrew  learning,  in  an  acquaintance  with  Jewish 
prophets  and  heathen  poets,  in  acuteness  and  discrimination,  in 
power  of  reasoning  and  persuasion,  in  address  and  intrepidity 
Paul  was  the  very  sort  of  man  to  enter  into  this  state  of  things, 
and  fight  a  great  battle  for  the  truth.  Naturally  inclined  to  ex- 
tremes, his  conversion  and  subsequent  discipline  had  taught  him 
all  the  rules  of  a  just  moderation.  Hug :  "  Formerly  hasty  and 
irritable,  now  only  spirited  and  resolved  ;  formerly  violent,  now 
full  of  energy  and  enterprising :  once  ungovernably  refractory 
against  every  thing  which  obstructed  him,  now  only  persever- 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

ing ;  once  fanatical  and  morose,  now  only  serious  ;  once  cruel, 
now  only  severe  ;  once  a  harsh  zealot,  now  fearing  God  ; 
formerly  unrelenting,  deaf  to  sympathy  and  commiseration, 
now  himself  acquainted  with  tears,  which  he  had  seen  with- 
out effect  in  others.  Formerly  the  friend  of  none,  noAv  the 
brother  of  mankind,  well-meaning,  compassionate,  sympathiz- 
ing ;  yet  never  weak,  always  great,  in  the  midst  of  sadness  and 
sorrow  manly  and  noble  ;  .  .  in  the  midst  of  pain  full  of  dignity." 
He  was  as  bold  as  Peter,  as  tender  as  John,  as  seraphic  as  Isaiah. 
He  gave  all ;  he  suffered  all ;  he  sacrificed  all ;  he  gained  all.  He 
was  meek,  never  tame ;  humble,  never  mean  ;  giving  no  needless 
offence,  yet  never  yielding  Christian  liberty ;  averse  to  strife,  yet 
never  forgetting  that  he  was  set  for  the  defence  of  the  Gospel ; 
bold  when  the  truth  was  in  peril,  yet  gentle  as  a  nurse  among  her 
children ;  not  counting  his  own  life  dear,  yet  tenderly  regarding 
the  feelings  and  comfort  of  others;  writing  epistles  full  of  just  and 
terrible  rebuke  to  the  heady,  and  as  full  of  tenderness  to  the  peni- 
tent and  sorrowful ;  despising  all  the  arts  of  effeminacy,  yet  in  the 
best  sense  an  honorable  gentleman  ;  detesting  voluntary  humility 
and  all  affectation,  yet  working  at  his  trade,  tent-making ;  carry- 
ing about  in  his  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  but  finally 
winning  and  eternally  wearing  a  martyr's  crown.  Blessed,  in- 
comparable man !  raised  up  by  the  adorable  head  of  the  church  to 
be  to  the  end  of  the  world  a  pattern  of  what  grace,  and  courage, 
and  diligence,  and  faith,  and  gentleness  can  do. 

XI.   In  writing  his  fourteen  epistles   Paul  was  divinely 

INSPIRED. 

It  is  proof  of  the  intense  jealousy  of  the  early  church  in  admit- 
ting to  the  canon  of  Scripture  any  book,  that  at  first  some  of  the 
epistles,  which  bear  Paul's  name  were  doubted,  and  their  genuine- 
ness suspected.  It  is  no  less  proof  of  the  abundant  evidence  of 
their  divine  inspiration  that  long  since  all  hesitancy  in  receiving 
them  was  removed,  and  that  for  ages  the  Christian  world,  divided 
on  many  other  matters,  has  been  harmonious  in  receiving  all  he 
has  written,  not  as  the  word  of  man,  but,  as  it  is  indeed,  the 
word  of  God.  And  all  but  neologists  and  semi-infidels  as 
freely  admit  that  his  inspiration  was  plenary,  infallibly  pre- 
serving him  from  error,  and  verbal,  leading  him  to  use  "  words 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  The  apocryphal  books  of 
the  New  Testament  are  peculiarly  unworthy  of  respect.  Even 
the  church  of  Rome  rejects  them  from  the  canon.  Hodge :  *'  A 
comparison  of  the  genuine  apostolic  writings  with   the  spurious 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

productions  of  the  first  and  second  centuries,  affords  one  of  the 
strongest  collateral  evidences  of  the  authenticity  and  inspiration 
of  the  former."  But  it  is  not  intended  here  to  argue  at  length,  but 
only  to  declare  the  inspiration  of  Paul's  epistles.  They  are  and 
ought  to  be  received  and  treated  as  the  words  of  Jehovah.  They 
bind  and  ought  to  bind  the  conscience.  The  scope  for  criticism 
and  interpretation  is  and  ought  to  be  strictly  limited  to  finding  out 
the  true  text  and  the  true  meaning  of  these  writings ;  the  very 
words  used  and  the  sense  in  which  they  were  used.  But  the 
highest  claim  of  divine  inspiration  neither  denies  nor  discourages 
the  idea  that  the  Lord  employed  the  turn  of  mind  and  mode  of 
thinking  peculiar  to  any  sacred  penman,  and  made  use  of  them  for 
the  instruction  of  mankind.  Inspiration  did  not  metamorphose 
the  mind,  but  it  divinely  guided  it  into  the  way  of  truth.  Holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

XII.   TRANSLATIONS   OR  VERSIONS   OF   PaUL'S   EPISTLES. 

These  are  almost  countless.  Besides  such  as  are  parts  of  the 
entire  word  of  God,  large  numbers  of  persons,  scholiasts  or  com- 
mentators on  particular  epistles,  have  given  us  amended,  improved 
or  new  translations.  Some  of  these  were  obviously  made  for 
strictly  sectarian  or  heretical  purposes.  Such  have  almost  uni- 
formly fallen  into  disuse  or  oblivion  after  a  short  and  ignoble 
notoriety.  They  claim  no  special  notice  from  us.  Others  hav- 
ing no  marked  merits,  have  yet  cast  light  on  some  few  texts. 
Others  have  been  in  a  high'  degree  scholarly  and  refreshing.  Some 
of  the  older  English  versions  from  quaintness,  if  not  from  ele- 
gance, do  often  give  the  sense  in  a  striking  way.  But  none  have, 
as  a  whole,  been  comparable  to  the  authorized  English  version. 
Its  amazing  mastery  of  our  mother  tongue,  its  pure  Anglo-Saxon 
diction  and  its  very  careful  rendering  of  the  true  idea  of  the 
author  still  place  it  far  above  all  competition.  The  reader  will 
therefore  expect  no  new  translation  in  this  work.  Where  a  refer- 
ence to  the  original  will  aid  us  in  getting  the  sense,  it  will  be 
freely  made,  and  where  other  versions,  than  that  in  common  use, 
give  a  good  hint,  it  will  be  freely  used.  But  in  interpreting  any 
one  of  Paul's  epistles,  besides  being  governed  as  in  other  books 
by  the  meaning  of  words,  the  context,  the  grammatical  construc- 
tion .of  sentences  and  the  analogy  of  faith,  we  must  look  very 
much  to  what  he  has  said  in  other  epistles,  and  particularly  to 
what  we  learn  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  This  has  been  so 
justly  and  so  fully  illustrated  in  many  particulars  by  Paley  in  his 
Horae  Paulinae,  that  a  simple  reference  to  that  work  renders  un- 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

necessary  extended  remarks.  It  should  never  be  forgotten  that 
Paul's  apostleship  was  entirely  independent  of  that  of  others.  So 
he  often  asserts,  and  so  the  history  shows,  i  Cor.  1 1  :  23  ;  2  Cor. 
12  :  1-7;  Gal.  I  :  12,  17. 

XIII.  Did  Paul  write  all  the  epistles  ascribed  to  him  ? 

Much  time  need  not  here  be  spent'  in  discussing  this  matter, 
because  there  is  at  present  and  for  a  long  time  has  been  so  general 
an  agreement  on  the  subject  among  all  that  class  of  persons,  to 
whom  the  religious  world  looks  .with  deference ;  and  because  the 
subject  has  been  so  fully  and  ably  discussed  by  learned  men. 
There  has  been  more  doubt  respecting  Paul's  writing  the  epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  than  any  other  ascribed  to  him.  That  he  was  the 
author  of  that  book  has  been  now  almost  universally  conceded. 
The  argument  on  the  subject  is  very  conclusive  ;  but  it  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  design  of  this  work  to  encumber  it  with  so  long 
a  disquisition  as  would  be  necessary  in  order  fully  and  fairly  to 
state  it  here.  It  may  be  gathered  from  Carpzov,  Bengel,  Whitby, 
Hales,  Rosenmuller,  Home,  Townsend,  Macknight  and  many 
others.  Very  few,  if  any,  who  admit  that  Paul  wrote  the  epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  deny  his  authorship  of  any  of  the  other  thirteen 
epistles  commonly  ascribed  to  him.  And  here  the  general  ques- 
tion of  authorship  may  rest.  But  nothing  here  said  is  intended  to 
deny  that  Paul  often  employed  an  amanuensis,  as  Tertius  in  writ- 
ing Romans  (Rom.  16  :  22) ;  Timothy  in  writing  more  than  one 
epistle,  etc.,  etc. 

XIV.  Did  Paul  write  epistles,  which  are  not  now  extant? 

Paul  was  a  man  of  loving  heart,  formed  warm  friendships  and 
had  very  tender  affection  for  those,  whom  he  had  begotten  in  the 
Gospel,  and  for  all  the  churches.  It  would  be  very  remarkable 
that  such  a  man,  with  his  literary  tastes,,  should  have  written, 
during  a  ministry  of  such  length,  nothing  but  the  fourteen  epistles 
now  in  our  hands.  This  does  not  concede  that  any  of  his  epistles 
designed  for  the  edification  of  the  church  in  all  coming  ages  have 
been  lost. 

Nor  would  it  at  all  impair  the  authenticity  and  canonical 
anathority  of  the  books  we  have,  if  it  could  be  proven  that  some 
given  by  divine  inspiration  have  perished.  It  is  not  absurd  to  say 
that  some  of  Paul's  writings  may  have  been  designed  to  answer  a 
purpose,  like  that  of  the  apostolic  office,  and  then  pass  away. 
Michaelis :  "  As  Divine  Providence  has  thought  proper,  that  only 


22  .     INTRODUCTION. 

fourteen  [of  Paul's  epistles]  should  descend  to  posterity,  we  have 
no  more  reason  to  complain  of  the  loss  of  his  other  epistles,  than 
that  several  of  Christ's  speeches,  all  of  which  contained  the  words 
of  God,  were  not  committed  to  writing."      That  may  all  be  so. 
But  when  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  some  portions  of  God's 
word,  designed  for  the  edification  of  believers  in  all  coming  time, 
have  not  been  preserved,  we  solemnly  pause  and  ask  for  more 
weighty  reasons  than  are  'drawn  from  i  Cor.  5  :  9,  or  from  2  Pet. 
3:15.     The  view  of  F.  Stosch  and  Lardner  is  far  more  probable, 
and  is  sustained  by  far  better  considerations.     They  maintain  that 
we  have  all  Paul's  epistles  ever  written  for  the  churches.     In- 
deed, their  language  is  even  stronger  than  that.     On  this  matter 
Lardner  is  very  forcible ;  perhaps  the  reader  will  say,  conclusive : 
"  We  have  only  four  genuine  Gospels,  and  only  one  history  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles:  and  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
more  Gospels,  or  more  ecclesiastical  histories  were  written  by 
apostles,  or  apostolic  men."     Why  then  should  we  suppose  that 
more  epistles,  besides  the  twenty-one  now  in  the  canon,  were 
designed  to  have  a  place  there  ?     This  argument  is  fair  and  very 
powerful.     Again  :  "  If  more  epistles  had  been  written,  the  apos- 
tle or  apostles,  who  wrote  them,  would  have  taken  care  that  they 
should  be  preserved,  and  transmitted  to  posterity,  as  well  as  those 
which  have  actually  descended  to  us."     The  whole  history  of  the 
formation  of  the  canon  of  Scripture  clearly  evinces  two  things — 
great  caution  in  admitting  any  writing  to  a  place  among  the  sacred 
books,  and  great  care  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  those  which  had 
been  thus  received.     Moreover,  such  has  been  the  wonderful  pro- 
vidence of  God  in  preserving  for  our  use  the  sacred  books  we 
have,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  made  to  destroy  them,  that  no 
more  vigilance  of  the  all-seeing  eye  was  necessary  to  preserve  any 
others,  had  they  been  written  by  inspired  men,  and  designed  for 
our  use.     The  church  of  God,  especially  the  more  pious  and  intel- 
ligent part  of  it,  will  never  yield  the  point  that  God's  care  in  pre- 
serving to  us  entire  hie  holy  word  is  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
proofs  of  his  providence  and  of  his  love  for  Zion.     On  this  matter 
the  faith  of  the  better  sort  of  Christians  is  very  settled.     Again  : 
*'  No  Christian  community,  which  had  received  an  epistle  from  an 
apostle,  would  have  suffered  that  epistle  to  be  lost."     Why  should 
they  ?     Piety  would  have  perpetuated  it.     Even  lower  considera- 
tions than  ought  to  govern  men,  would  not  have  been   without 
their  power  to  dispose  the  early  Christians  to  hold  fast  their  sacred 
books.     Josephus,  though  with  the  Roman  army  besieging  the 
holy  city,  made  a  successful  effort  to  save  the  writings  of  the 
prophets.     It  has  been  estimated  that  at  the  close  of  the  I.   Cen- 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

tury  there  were  some  thousands  of  copies  (some  say  as  many  as 
five  thousand  copies)  of  God's  word  in  the  world ;  and  all  these 
were  most  probably  in  the  hands  of  the  friends  of  Christ.  It  is 
hardly  credible  that  any  part  of  the  canon  of  Scripture  has 
perished.  And  it  is  wholly  incredible  that  any  sacred  book  of  the 
Christians  should  have  ceased  to  be  found  on  earth ;  and  yet  we 
have  no  respectable  history  or  credible  tradition  of  such  a  dis- 
aster. Moreover,  all  serious  and  intelligent  Christians  admit  that 
there  is  no  duty  or  sin,  of  which  we  have  not  full  information^  or 
warning  in  the  books  now  found  in  the  canon  of  Scripture. 

XV.  The  New  Testament  was  all  originally  written  in 

Greek. 

Judicious  writers  regard  the  evidence  as  conclusive  that  the 
original  of  the  entire  New  Testament  was  Greek.  Where  doubt 
has  been  expressed,  it  has  commonly  been  unsupported  by  evi- 
dence. Bellarmine  goes  so  far  as  to  hold  that  the  epistle  to  the 
Romans  was  first  written  in  Latin.  But  the  Doway  Bible  says 
it  was  written  in  Greek.  Bertholdt  says  that  all  Paul's  epistles 
were  written  in  Hebrew,  popularly  so  called,  Aramaic  as  scholars 
usually  call  it.  But  there  is  no  evidence  to  support  these  opin- 
ions. There  has  been  more  doubt  respecting  the  original  of  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew  and  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Some  have 
contended  that  our  Greek  copy  of  Matthew  is  only  a  translation 
from  the  Hebrew.  It  may,  without  any  prejudice  to  the  argu- 
ment, be  admitted  that  Matthew  or  some  one  under  his  direction 
early  gave  to  those  who  spoke  the  vernacular  of  his  country  a  ver- 
sion of  his  Gospel.  That  is  all  that  has  as  yet  been  made  probable. 
But  that  the  original  was  in  Greek  has  been  made  very  clear  by 
many.    A  sufficient  statement  of  the  proof  will  be  found  in  Whitby. 

We  are  more  immediately  concerned  with  the  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  Jerome,  J.  D.  Mi- 
chaelis  and  others  have  decidedly  favored  the  opinion  that  it  was 
originally  written  in  Hebrew.  Tho^e,  who  thus  maintain,  sup- 
pose, or  leave  us  to  suppose,  that  it  was  afterwards  translated  into 
Greek  by  Luke,  Barnabas,  or  Clement.  But  this  hypothesis  is 
encumbered  with  difficulties.  The  quotations  from  the  Old  Tes- 
tament found  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  are  generally  made 
from  the  Septuagint,  not  from  the  Hebrew,  even  when,  they  widely 
differ  from  the  Hebrew.  This  would  surely  not  be  done  in  writing 
to  those  who  were  most  familiar  with  the  Jewish  Scriptures  in  the 
original.  If  it  were  written  in  Hebrew,  why  should  the  words 
Melchisedek  and  Salem  be  translated  ?     No  Hebrew  needed  to  be 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

told  that  the  latter  signified  peace  ;  the  former,  king  of  righteousness. 
In  it  many  things  of  this  kind  are  found.  There  are  also  in  it 
several  paronomasias  on  Greek  words,  which 'would  not  be  possi- 
ble in  a  translation  from  Hebrew.  Then  it  reads  like  an  original. 
It  is  free,  flowing,  not  cramped,  riot  strained.  Moreover  the 
Greek  was  well  known  in  Judea,  as  might  be  argued  from  Luke 
23  :  38,  and  as  is  proven  by  much  historical  evidence.  That  the 
Greek  was  much  esteemed  by  the  Jews  in  the  first  century  is 
established  by  the  fact  that  Josephus  and  Philo  both  wrote  in 
Greek.  Philo  was  sometimes  called  the  Jewish  Plato.  He 
adopted  his  philosophy  and  wrote  elegantly  in  his  language. 
There  were  probably  more  Hebrews  residing  elsewhere  than  in 
Judea.  Nor  is  this  all.  There  is  extant  no  copy  of  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  in  the  mother  tongue  of  the  Hebrews  of  the  first 
century,  which  can  be  shown  to  have  existed  at  that  time.  Nor  is 
there  any  history  or  tradition,  on  which  we  can  at  all  rely,  to  the 
contrary  of  the  views  here  maintained. 

If  neither  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  nor  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews was  originally  written  in  Hebrew,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
prove  that  no  other  book  of  the  New  Testament,  and  in  particu- 
lar that  none  of  the  remaining  thirteen  epistles  of  Paul  were  orig- 
inally written  in  any  other  language  than  the  Greek.  On  this 
matter  the  learned  reader  will  find  very  lucid  discussion  in 
Carpzov. 

XVI.  Quotations  in  this  work. 

Any  remark  or  sentence  in  this  work,  which  the  author  has 
found  to  be  the  literary  property  of  any  one  person,  has  been  fully 
credited.  But  nearly  all  pious  and  sensible  writers  of  any  one 
class  of  commentators  on  God'sword  say  things  which  have  been 
said  by  many  others.  Thousands  of  such  truths  lie  on  the  very 
surface  of  Scripture.  In  such  cases  a  formal  quotation  would  be 
mere  pedantry.  It  would  make  a  false  impression,  ascribing  to 
one  what  was  common  to  many.  There  is  a  very  large  range  of 
thought,  which  is  fairly  common  property  to  all  learned  and 
devout  students  of  Paul's  writings.  Let  every  man  avail  himself 
of  it.  It  is  as  fairly  his,  as  the  light  or  air  of  heaven.  It  is  the 
setting  up  of  an  exclusive  or  original  claim  to  this  great  and  com- 
mon fund,  that  makes  some  sciolists  both  ridiculous  and  odious. 
The  annotator  of  Bagster's  Comprehensive  Bible  speaking  of  his 
labors  says :  "  From  the  alteration,  abridgment  and  condensation, 
and  frequently  from  the  blending  together  of  the  observations  of 
two  or  more  writers,  as  well  as  from  want  of  room,  it  was  foun- 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

impossible  to  specify  the  name  of  the  author  or  authors  from 
which  they  (the  remarks)  are  derived."  He  truthfully  adds: 
"  No  class  of  writers  borrow  from  each  other  more  freely  without 
acknowledgment  than  Biblical  critics  and  commentators,  and,  in 
many  instances,  the  substance  of  the  information  belongs  to  the 
common  stock  of  Biblical  criticism,  and  could  not,  with  propriety, 
be  assigned  as  the  property  of  any  individual."  Nevertheless 
eve^  thing  due  to  any  author  is  in  this  work  carefully  acknowl- 
edg-id,  so  far  as  known.  If  there  is  any  exception,  it  is  by  fnistake 
or  oversight,  and  not  willingly.  Yet  where  an  author's  name  is 
given,  and  a  word,  a  phrase,  or  a  sentence  immediately  follows, 
quotation  marks  are  not  used,  giving  the  name  of  the  author  being 
thought  sufficient.  But  this  never  extends  beyond  a  single 
sentence. 

XVII.  Syriac,  Arabic  and  Ethiopic  versions. 

The  author  has  no  acquaintance  with  Syriac.  His  quotations 
from  the  Peshito  version  are  made  chiefly  on  the  authority  of 
Murdock's  translation  of  that  venerable  monument  of  antiquity. 
Nor  does  he  know  either  Arabic  or  Ethiopic,  but  relies  on  the 
Latin  translation  in  Walton's  Polyglot  as  giving  the  sense  of  those 
versions.  In  other  cases  he  has  generally  resorted  to  the  original 
versions,  from  which  he  has  quoted. 

XVIII.  Some  notice  of  commentators  on  Paul's  epistles. 

The  authors  who  have  attempted  to  elucidate  Paul's  writings 
are  almost  countless.  No  complete  catalogue  of  them  has  yet 
been  given  to  the  world.  In  the  III.  century  we  have  Origen  ;  in 
the  IV.  Chrysostom  ;  in  the  V.  Augustine,  Theodoret  and  Pelagius ; 
m  the  X.  QEcumenius ;  in  the  XI.  Theophylact ;  in  the  XII.  Hugo 
a  Sancto  Victore;  in  the  XIII.  Thomas  Aquinas;  in  the  XVI. 
Luther,  Zwingle,  Melancthon,  Erasmus,  Salmeron,  Bellarmine, 
Calvin,  Bugenhagen  and  Bucer ;  in  the  XVII.  Beza,  Hunnius, 
the  Assembly's  Annotations,  the  Dutch  Annotations,  Ferme,  Mel- 
ville, Justinian,  Diodati,  Baldwin,  Schlichting,  Burkitt,  Cornelius 
a  Lapide,  Grotius,  Piscator,  Fabricius,  Calov,  S.  Schmidt,  Cocceius, 
Hammond,  John  Brown  of  Wamphray,  Pool  and  Henry's  continu- 
ators;  in  the  XVIII.  Limborch,  Wetstein,  J.  Alphonsus  Turrettin, 
Bengel,  Rosenmuller,  Guyse,  Benson,  Baumgarten,  C.  Schmidt, 
Wolf,  Heumann,  Carpzov,  Koppe,  Gill,  Doddridge,  John  Brown 
of  Haddington,  Macknight  ;  in  the  XIX.  J.  F.  Flatt,  Tholuck, 
Hawker,  Haldane,  Scott,  Clarke,  Stuart,  Hodge,  Williams,  Cobbin, 


26  INTRODUCTION, 

Barnes,  Sampson,  Slade,  Olshausen,  Conybeare  and  Howson, 
Chalmers,  and  many  others.  Some  of  these  have  written  on  all 
Paul's  epistles,  some  on  several,  some  on  two,  a  few  on  one  and  no 
more.  A  large  number  of  authors  have  written  Introductions  to 
the  New  Testament,  in  which  they  give  much  attention  to  Paul's 
epistles.  Then  we  have  many  disquisitions  on  particular  parts  of 
these  epistles  either  in  separate  treatises  or  embodied  in  works  on 
Systematic  Divinity.  We  might  name  the  writings  of  T.  i^am, 
Kohlbrugge,  Dickinson,  Wardlaw  and  many  others.  In  this  .:;,;ork 
where  a  sentence  or  more  is  credited  to  "  Brown,"  it  means  John 
Brown  of  Wamphray,  unless  otherwise  stated. 

XIX.  Reasons  for  writing  this  book. 

The  author  with  pleasure  acknowledges  the  goodness  of  God 
in  giving  to  the  church  many  valuable  expositions  of  his  word — 
of  Paul's  writings  in  particular.  Of  these  some  are  very  costly, 
some  are  in  Latin,  some  abound  in  discussions  of  no  special  interest 
to  the  masses  of  this  generation,  and  some  are  so  voluminous  that 
but  few  have  time  to  read  them.  Yet  in  most  of  them  are  thoughts, 
which  ought  to  be  perpetuated.  The  author  of  this  work  under- 
took it  for  many  reasons:  i.  He  knew  no  law  against  it.  The 
field  was  open  to  enter  in  and  reap.  It  is  open  to  all.  No  man 
can  forbid.  2.  Many  judicious  persons,  learned  and  plain,  having 
read  the  author's  work  on  the  Psalms,  have  greatly  encouraged 
him  to  write  on  other  portions  of  Scripture.  This  has  been  done 
in  public  print  and  in  private  letters,  especially  by  such  persons, 
as  never  had  given  him  bad  counsel.  3.  He  hoped  that  many 
would  find  in  it  things  which  the  press  of  business  would  not  allow 
them  to  search  for  in  large  and  rare  works.  4.  This  work  fell  in 
with  the  author's  course  of  studies.  Paul's  epistles  in  Greek,  Latin, 
and  English  have  long  been  his  delight.  For  years  hfe  seldom  took 
a  journey  without  some  volume  on  the  epistles  in  his  hand.  For 
some  time  he  has  been  teaching  classes  in  some  of  these  epistles, 
and  often  referring  to  all  of  them,  and  expounding  large  portions 
of  them.  5.  All  evangelical  people  put  a  high  estimate  on  Paul's 
writings.  In  them  they  find  great  refreshment.  Their  spiritual 
life  is  not  a  little  supported  by  the  doctrines  and  encouragements 
found  in  them.  The  author  would  fain  aid  such  in  their  attempts 
to  know  the  mind  of  God  as  here  revealed.  6.  He  found  his  heart 
drawn  to  this  work.  He  loved  the  study  of  these  epistles  of  truth 
and  love.  Except  when  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  perishing, 
or  teaching  candidates  for  the  ministry,  he  never  was  happier 
than  when  searching  to  find  out  what  the  Spirit  of  Christ  did  sig- 


INTRODUCTION. 


27 


nify  when  he  spoke  by  Paul.  7.  He  found  himself  very  much 
fonfined,  during  most  of  the  year,  to  his  duties  as  a  teacher  of 
theology,  commonly  with  a  few  hours  each  day  at  his  disposal, 
and  remembered  that  he  was  accountable  for  the  use  or  abuse  of 
this  precious  time.  He  dared  not  waste  it.  He  knew  it  wa^  a 
price  put  into  his  hands  to  glorify  God.  He  hoped  best  to  do  so 
in  preparing  this  volume.  8.  He  remembered  that  the  night 
come;th  when  no  man  can  work,  and  that  blessed  is  he,  who  soweth 
beside  all  water  courses,  ai)d  so  does  all  the  good  he  can.  No 
well-intentioned  publication  of  saving  truth  shall  fail  to  meet  a 
divine  reward. 

XX.  Recent  works  on  Romans. 

Since  the  plan  of  this  work  was  formed,  and  a  good  part 
of  it  executed,  several  commentaries  on  this  epistle  have  appeared. 
No  notice  of  them  appears  in  this  volume,  and  that  for  several 
reasons:  i.  The  author  wished  these  works  to  stand  on  their  own 
merits  before  the  public  without  any  unfriendly  notice  from  him. 
2.  He  did  not  wish  to  impart  to  this  work  any  semblance  of  the 
spirit  of  controversy  with  his  cotemporaries,  as  he  must  have  done, 
if  he  had  quoted  freely  from  some  of  them.  3.  To  have  taken  any 
extended  notice  of  them  would  have  somewhat  modified  the  plan 
of  this  volume,  and  he  thought  it  best  to  make  no  considerable 
change  in  that  respect.  4.  So  far  as  he  has  looked  into  them,  he 
thinks  the  main  objects  contemplated  in  this  volume  are  as  well 
secured  without  dwelling  on  the  new  forms  or  phases  of  discus- 
sion introduced  by  these  authors,  as  in  any  other  way. 


THE 


EPISTLE  OF  PAUL,  THE  APOSTLE, 


TO  THE 


K  O  M  A  N  S. 


FOR  date  of  time  and  place  of  this  Epistle  see  Introduction  §§ 
V.  &  VI.  Of  the  state  of  the  world  at  the  time  when  it  was 
written  see  Introduction  §  IX. 

On  the  day  of  Pentecost  among-  Peter's  hearers  were  strangers 
of  Rome.  Acts  2  :  lo.  Some  of  these  at  once  embraced  the  Gos- 
pel. Acts  2  :  41.  It  is  highly  probable  that  some  of  them  very  soon 
returned  to  the  imperial  city,  and,  being  full  of  zeal,  persuaded 
others  to  embrace  Christ,  and  thus  the  nucleus  of  a  Christian  church 
was  formed.  It  early  became  a  famous  church,  so  that  its  "  faith 
was  spoken  of  throughout  the  world."  Rom.  i  :  8.  There  is  not 
the  slightest  evidence  that  it  was  founded  by  Peter  and  Paul,  or 
by  either  of  them.  Paul  had  not  even  visited  them  when  he  wrote 
this  epistle,  though  he  had  long  desired  to  do  so.  Rom.  15  :  23.  It 
cannot  be  proven  beyond  doubt  that  Peter  was  ever  in  Rome, 
though  the  tradition  that  he  was  there  long  after  the  formation  of 
the  Roman  church  amounts  to  a  reasonable  historic  probability. 
But  it  is  entirely  clear  that  he  was  not  there  and  had  not  been 
there  when  this  epistle  was  written. 

From  all  we  can  learn  of  the  church  at  Rome  it  was  at  an  early 
day  composed  both  of  Jews  and  Gentiles.  This  is  evident  from 
many  things  in  this  epistle  itself,  chap.  1:13;  4:1;  7:1;  ii:i; 
15:15,  16,  as  well  as  from  other  sources  of  information,  especially 
from  the  book  of  Acts.  How  persistent  and  urgent  the  Judaizers 
were  is  proclaimed  by  the  united  voice  ot  antiquity.  Indeed  not 
a  few  of  them  boldly  said  :  ''  Except  ye  be  circumcised  a  fter  the 
manner  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be  saved."  Acts  15:1.  As  a  class 
they  were  very  troublesome. 

The  epistle,  which  we  are  now  to  study,  is  excelled  by  no  por- 
tion of  God's  word  in  the  weight   and   excellence  of  its  matter. 

(^9) 


30  .    EPISTLE    TO    THE  ROMANS. 

Macknight  calls  it  "  a  writing,  which,  for  sublimity  and  truth  of 
sentiment,  for  brevity  and  strength  of  expression,  for  regularity  in 
its  structure,  but  above  all,  for  the  unspeakable  importance  of  the 
discoveries  which  it  contains,  stands  unrivalled  by  any  mere  human 
composition,  and  as  far  exceeds  the  most  celebrated  productions 
of  the  learned  Greeks  and  Romans,  as  the  shining  of  the  sun 
exceedeth  the  twinkling  of  the  stars."  Scott :  "  The  epistle  itself 
is  one  of  the  longest,  and  most  comprehensive,  of  all  that  were 
written  by  the  apostle."  Olshausen  :  "  Every  thing  in  the  epistle 
wears  strongly  the  impress  of  the  greatest  originality,  liveliness, 
and  freshness  of  experience."  The  Dutch  Annotations :  "  This 
epistle  is  rightly  accounted  a  key  for  the  right  understanding  of 
all  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  especially  for  the  right  understand- 
ing of  the  fulfilling  of  the  promise  made  to  the  people  of  Israel 
by  Moses  and  the  prophets,  for  salvation  both  of  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles." Hodge  :  "  There  is  no  book  in  the  Bible,  and  there  is  no 
ancient  book  in  the  world,  of  which  the  authenticity  is  more  cer- 
tain than  that  of  this  epistle." 


CHAPTER  I. 

VERSES    1-7. 
THE   INSCRIPTION  AND   SALUTATION. 


Paul,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  called  to  be  an  apostle,  separated  unto  the  gospel 
of  God. 

2  (Which  he  had  promised  afore  by  his  prophets  in  the  holy  Scriptures,) 

3  Concerning  his   Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  which  was  made  of  the  seed  of 
David  according  to  the  flesh  ; 

4  And  declared  to  be   the  Son  of  God  with  power,  according   to  the   Spirit  of 
holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead  : 

5  By  whom  we   have  received  grace  and  apostleship,  for  obedience  to  the  faith 
among  all  nations,  for  his  name  : 

6  Among  whom  are  ye  also  the  called  of  Jesus  Christ  • 

7  To  all  that  be  in  Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints  :   Grace  to  you, 
and  peace,  from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

1PAUL,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  caUed  to  be  an  apostle,  sepa- 
,  rated  ujito  the  gospel  of  God.  Paul,  on  this  name  see  Intro- 
duction §  1.  Paul  practised  no  concealment ;  he  boldly  gave  his 
name.  A  servant,  not  the  word  rendered  hired  servant,  Luke 
15  :  17,  19,  but  a  word,  which  when  referring  to  the  civil  condition 
of  men,  means  the  opposite  oi  free ;  in  Eph.  6:  8,  Col.  3:11,  Rev. 
13  :  16  rendered  bond.  Conybeare  and  Howson  :  a  bondsman.  Mac- 
knight :  The  original  word  properly  signifies  a  slave.  Taylor: 
The  word  may  be  taken  in  its  strict  and  primary  sense,  as  signify- 
ing a  servant  who  is  the  absolute  property  of  the  master  and  bound 
to  him  for  life.  Wetstein:  But  as  a  servant  of  a  king  is  a  name  of 
dignity ;  so  also  is  a  servant  of  Messias.  It  is  a  favorite  title  of 
Christian  ministers,  Gal.  i  :  10;  4  :  12;    Phil.  i. :  i  ;  2  Tim.  2  :  24; 

Jas.  1:1;  '2  Pet.  1:1;  Jude  i  ;  Rev.  1:1.  In  both  Testaments  it 
often  denotes  any  true  friend  of  God.  Hodge :  It  is  a  general  offi- 
cial designation.     Paul  is  a  servant  of  no  common  master,  but  of 

Jesus  Christ.  Jesus  is  the  proper  name  of  our  Saviour,  the  Greek 
form  of  the  Hebrew  Jo§hua.  Heb.  4  :  8.  Yet  this  name  was  not 
given  him  without  reference  to  the  salvation  he  should  effect  for 

(?0 


32  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  i. 

his  people.  Matt,  i  :  21.  Christ,  corresponding  to  the  Hebrew 
Messias,  meaning  anointed,  the  official  name  of  our  Lord.  His 
anointing  was  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  had  the  spirit  without  meas- 
ure, John  3  :  34.  Called  to  be  an  apostle.  Here  the  authorised  ver- 
sion follows  that  of  Tyndale,  Geneva,  Jtnd  Rheims.  Cranmer ; 
called  to  the  office  of  an  apostle  ;  Peshito :  called  and  sent ;  Wic- 
lif:  clepid  an  apostle;  Dutch  Annotations  and  Macknight:  a 
called  apostle ;  Stuart :  a  chosen  apostle  ;  Turrettin  :  an  "apostle  by 
divine  vocation;  Beza:  an  apostle  by  the  call  of  God.  The  word 
is  often  found  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is  not  once  in  the  author- 
ized version  rendered  chosen,  but  always  called,  or  a  few  times  bidden 
in  the  sense  of  called.  It  is  more  than  once  found  in  the  same 
verse  as  the  word  chosen,  and  in  a  sense  different  from  it.  Many 
are  called,  but  few  chosen,  Matt.  20  :  16 ;  22  :  14.  They  that  are  with 
him  are  called,  and  chosen,  and  faithful,  Rev.  17:  14.  In  Rom. 
8 :  30  it  is  carefully  distinguished  from  the  purpose  of  God : 
Whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also  called,  and  whom  he 
called,  them  he  also  justified.  We  have  the  same  word  in  vs. 
6,  7.  As  many  questioned  Paul's  right  to  teach  and  act  with 
apostolic  authority,  he  often  alleged  his  divine  call  to  that  office. 
An  apostle,  one  sent;  in  i  Cor.  8:23,  rendered  messoiger ;  the 
Peshito  here  and  elsewhere  has  legate.  In  Heb.  3:1  it  is  applied 
to  Christ ;  but  in  almost  every  other  case  where  the  title  is  con- 
ceded, it  designates  the  office  of  those  thirteen  men,  who  had  seen 
the  Lord  Jesus,  were  witnesses  that  he  had  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  had  authority  from  Him  to  reveal  his  will  to  the  churches. 
If  any  man  has  not  been  an  eye-witness  of  Christ's  resurrection, 
he  cannot  be  an  apostle,  so  say  the  Scriptures;  they* no  less 
.declare  that  Paul  had  seen  him.  Acts  i  :  8,  22  ;  2  :  32  ;  3:15;  4  :  33  ; 
22  :  14,  15  ;  26  :  16  ;  i  Cor.  9:1;  15  :  8,  15.  Whateley  justly  says  : 
Successors  to  the  apostles  there  are  none.  There  never  has  been 
an  apostle  on  earth  since  the  death  of  John.  Paul  was  separated 
unto  the  Gospel.  Separated,  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan :  put 
apart ;  Stewart,  Conybeare  and  Howson  :  set  apart ;  Beza,  Dodd- 
ridge, Macknight:  separated.  The  word  may  mean  chosen,  se- 
lected, as  Hesychius  shows.  In  some  of  its  forms  the  word 
occurs  ten  times  in  the  Nev/  Testament  and  always  has  the  sense 
of  separate,  though  in  Matt.  13  :  49  we  read  the  angels  shall  "  sever 
the  wicked  from  among  the  just."  In  Matt.  25  :  32  it  is  for 
euphony  variously  rendered  :  "  He  shall  separate  them  from  one 
another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats."  There 
are  several  interpretations.  One  is  that  Paul  alludes  to  his  having 
been  a  pharisee,  which  means  separatist ,.\\'\\e'!\  he  had  been  sepa- 
rated from  all  ceremonial  defilement  and  from  the  mass  of  the  com- 


Ch.  I.,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  33 

mon  people ;  so  now  he  was  separated,  distinguished  from  the 
mass  of  men  to  preach  the  gospel.  This  is  the  view  taken  by 
Drusius  and  Whitby*  Olshausen  wholly  rejects  this  as  a  mere 
play  upon  words.  Others  think  it  finds  its  best  interpretation  in 
Acts  13:2.  "The  Holy  Ghost  said,  Separate  me  Barnabas  and 
Saul,  for  the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them."  This  is  the 
view  of  Theodoret,  Turrettin  and  Olshausen.  The  same  word  is 
used  in  Acts  13:2,  as  in  our  verse.  But  Paul  is  here  asserting 
his  plenary  apostolic  power,  and  not  that  he  in  common  with 
Barnabas  had  a  special  designation  to  go  to  the  heathen.  Another 
interpretation  refers  the  separation  to  the  divine  purpose.  This  is 
the  sense  given  to  the  word  by  Luther  in  Gal.  i  :  15,  by  the  Dutch 
Annotations,  by  Guyse  and  Stuart.  This  word  in  no  instance 
has  the  sense  of  sanctified  or  consecrated.  Some  make  it  explana- 
tory of  the  word  called.  All  that  can  fairly  be  gotten  from  the 
two  words  called  and  separated  is  that  Paul  was  selected,  effec- 
tually called  and  divinely  appointed  to  his  work.  Ferme  :  The 
calling  is  the  separation  of  the  person  called.  Calvin  :  I  cannot 
agree  with  those  who  refer  the  call  of  which  he  speaks  to  the 
eternal  election  of  God.     He  was  separated 

Unto  the  gospel  of  God.  Gospel ;  Conybeare  &  Howson,  Glad 
tidings.  The  word  is  derived  from  God,  good,  and  spel,  or  spell, 
word  or  speech.  Gospel  very  precisely  conveys  the  sense  of  the 
Greek.  It  is  called  the  gospel  of  salvation,  because  it  shows  that 
salvation  is  possible,  and  in  what  way.  It  is  called  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  because  it  is  the  fruit  of  Christ's  grace  and  compassion  to 
men,  and  because  Christ's  person,  work,  sufferings,  death,  exalta- 
tion and  glory  constitute  the  sum  of  it.  Without  Christ  there 
would  have  been  no  good  news  to  sinners.  It  is  called  here  the 
gospel  of  God,  because  God  is  its  author.  It  is  the  '  good  tidings  ' 
sent  by  God. 

2.  Which  he  had  promised  afore  by  his  prophets  in  the- holy  Scrip- 
tures. This  verse  is  clearly  parenthetical,  and  is  so  put  in  most 
editions  of  the  English  version.  How  fully  the  gospel  was  prom- 
ised in  the  Old  Testament  appears  more  and  more  as  we  piously 
study  it.  It  was  preached  in  Eden,  Gen.  3:15;  and  to  Abraham, 
Gal.  3  :  8.  When  we  read  David,  Isaiah  and  Zechariah  it  some- 
times seems  as  if  we  were  reading  one  of  the  Gospels.  Both 
Jesus  and  his  apostles  often  insisted  that  they  proposed  nothing 
contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  prophets,  and  nothing  which  the 
prophets  had  not  led  the  church  to  expect.  John  i  :  45  ;  5  :  46 ; 
8  :  56;  12  :  16;  Luke  24:  27,  44;  Acts  3  :  21-24;  10  :  43 ;  and  often 
in  this  epistle.  In  the  holy  Scriptures ;  literally  in  holy  writings; 
the  article  is  wanting;  Wiclif:  in  holi  scripturis.  There  was 
3 


34  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  3. 

but  one  set  of  holy  Avritings,  received  by  the  Jewish  church. 
To  those,  to  whom  Paul  wrote,  this  designation  was  clear.  The 
New  Testament  writers  use  scripture  or  scriptures,  singular  or  plu- 
ral, indiscriminately  to  designate  the  word  of  God  ;  so  Paul  in  this 
epistle.  God  is  the  author  of  the  gospel,  yet  the  great  subject 
matter  of  it  is 

3.  Concerning  his  son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  which  was  made  of 
the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh.  He,  who  is  substantially 
right  respecting  the  person,  work  and  glory-  of  Christ,  has  the 
substance  of  the  gospel ;  he,  who  here  errs  fundamentally,  errs 
fatally.  If  Jesus  Christ  is  truly  the  Son  of  God,  equal  with  God, 
having  the  same  nature  with  the  Father,  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,  then  he  is  fit  to  be  02ir  Lord,  the  absolute  proprietor  of  our 
persons,  worthy  to  receive  all  the  homage  and  service  we  can  pOvS- 
sibly  offer.  The  word  here  rendered  Lord  has  a  long  history  and 
interesting.  It  is  the  word  used  in  the  Septuagint  to  translate  the 
words  Jehovah  and  Adonai ;  the  former  denoting  the  self-existent, 
independent,  eternal  and  unchangeable  I  am  ;  the  latter  express- 
ing his  authority  and  sovereignty  over  us.  It  is  a  title  given  in 
the  New  Testament  to  our  Saviour  hundreds  of  times.  In  a  few 
cases  it  is  rendered  Master,  as  "  Your  Master  also  is  in  heaven." 
Eph.  6  :  9.  No  man  in  the  true  sense  of  terms  can  say  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  i  Cor.  12:3.  He  is  Lord 
and  we  should  so  confess ;  it  is  to  the  glory  of  the  Father,  and  not 
in  derogation  of  it.  Phil.  2  :  11.  He  is  no  less  the  Son  of  God  and 
our  Lord  because  he  was  made  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the 
flesh.  For  made  Tyndale  has  begotten/  Peshito,  Cranmer,  Mac- 
knight,  Hodge,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  born  ;  Dutch  Annotations, 
became.  In  Rom.  3  :  19;  4  :  18 ;  7  :  13  it  is  rendered  become;  in 
Rom.  2  :  25  ;  10  :  20;  11:9  made,  and  often  was,  hath  been,  etc. 
Seed,  a  word  rendered  with  absolute  uniformity  in  the  authorized 
version.  When  Christ  is  said  to  be  of  the  seed  of  David,  the 
meaning  is,  he  is  of  the  house  and  lineage  of  David,  he  is  of 
David's  posterity,  he  is  of  that  royal  line.  According  to  the  flesh, 
as  to  his  human  nature,  or  so  far  as  he  was  a  man.  Had  he  not 
been  the  son  of  man  and  the  seed  of  David  he  would  not  have 
met  the  demands  of  prophecy.  2  Sam.  7  :  16;  Isa.  11  :  i.  One 
evangelist  fitly  traces  his  genealogy  to  the  first  pair  to  prove  that 
he  was  the  seed  of  the  woman  ;  another  to  David,  thus  shewinsf 
how  completely  he  met  the  requirements  of  the  Old  Testament 
And  all  this  was  settled  by  a  legal  process 'before  his  birth — by 
the  very  process  by  which  the  titles  to  the  lands  of  the  country 
were  determined. 

4.  And  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  tvith  poiver,  according  to  the 


Ch.  I.,  V.  4-]  THE  ROMANS.  35 

spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.  Declared,  this 
word  is  preferred  by  Chrysostom,  Theodoret,  Tyndale,  Cranmer, 
the  Genevan,  Calvin,  Beza,  Diodati,  Brown  of  Wamphray, 
Tholuck  and  Hodge.  The  Assembly's  Annotations  and  J.  Owen 
follow  the  margin  and  read,  determined  ;  Le  Clerc,  Eisner,  Dodd- 
ridge, Conybeare  and  Howson,  marked  out ;  Origen,  Cyril  and 
Boothroyd,  proved ;  Macknight,  made  to  appear  what  he  is ; 
Ferme,  Burkitt,  Whitby  and  Cox,  demonstrated  ;  Peshito,  made 
known  as.  All  these  substantially  agree.  There  is  no  good  rea- 
son for  rendering  the  word  predestinated,  as  do  Irenaeus,  Epi- 
phanius,  Augustine,  Vulgate,  Doway  and  Rheims.  It  is  mourn- 
ful to  find  Stuart  rendering  it  constituted,  and  contending  for  it 
at  great  length.  The  verb  signifies  to  mark  off,  bound,  define, 
and  so  to  declare,  or  determine.  He  was  declared  to  be  the  Son 
of  God  ivith  power.  On  the  phrase  Son  of  God  see  on  v.  3. 
The  phrase  with  power  [or  in  power']  has  been  variously  explained. 
The  larger  number  connect  it  with  declared.  Guyse  paraphrases 
the  whole  thus — determinately  avowed,  openly  proclaimed  and 
convincingly  demonstrated  ;  Burkitt,  mightily  and  powerfully 
demonstrated  ;  Doddridge,  determinately,  and  in  the  most  con- 
vincing manner  marked  out  as  the  Son  of  God,  with  the  most 
astonishing  display  of  divine  power ;  Macknight,  declared,  with 
great  power  of  evidence ;  Genevan,  declared  mightily ;  Hodge, 
clearly  declared.  It  is  best  to  connect  the  words  declared  and 
with  power.  All  this  was  done  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness. 
Wiclif :  bi  the  spirit  of  halowynge  ;  Tyndale :  with  power  of 
the  holy  goost  that  sanctifieth  ;  Cranmer :  after  the  sprete  that 
sanctyfyeth ;  Genevan :  touching  the  Spirite  that  sanctifieth  ; 
Rheims  :  according  to  the  spirit  of  sanctification  ;  Peshito  :  by  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  Beza  agrees  with  the  authorized  version  ;  Ferme  : 
his  own  sanctifying  spirit ;  Stuart :  as  to  his  holy  spiritual  nature- 
Three  methods  have  been  adopted  for  explaining  this  phrase,  i. 
Some  think  it  points  to  our  Lord's  personal  sanctity  as  a  man. 
This  was  indeed  perfect ;  but  where  do  we  learn  that  the  phrase 
spirit  of  holiness  simply  denotes  personal  purity  ?  2.  Others  ex- 
plain it  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity.  This 
is  admissible  ;  as  Paul  often  uses  such  Hebrew  forms  of  speech. 
This  gives  a  good  sense,  according  to  the  teachings  of  other  parts 
of  God's  word.  Christ  said  that  the  Comforter,  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  should  testify  of  him.  John  15  :  26.  He  did  so  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost.  The  same  truth  is  elsewhere  declared,  Heb.  2  :  3, 
4.  In  creation,  in  providence,  in  raising  Jesus  from  the  dead,  and 
in  the  resurrection  of  the  saints  at  the  last  day,  the  Scriptures 
teach  a  concurrence  of  all  the  persons  of  the  Godhead.     Speaking 


36  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  4. 

of  our  Lord,  Paul  once  says  God  the  Father  raised  him  up,  Gal. 
1:1.  Jesus  claimed  and  exercised  the  power  to  raise  his  own 
body,  John  2  :  19 ;  10  :  18.  The  Scriptures  no  less  clearly  say 
that  the  body  of  Christ  was  raised,  and  that  the  bodies  of  the  saints 
shall  be  raised  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Rom.  8:11.  Just 
so  we  acknowledge  God  the  Father  Almighty  as  Maker  of  heaven 
and  earth,  yet  without  the  Word  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was 
made,  and  God's  Spirit  garnished  the  heavens,  moved  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep,  and  filled  it  with  living  things.  3.  Others  explain 
the  phrase  of  the  divine  nature  of  our  Lord. 

In  favor  of  the  second  of  these  explanations  we  have  Calvin, 
Burkitt,  Doddridge,  Scott,  Williams  and  others ;  in  favor  of  the 
third,  Diodati,  Beza,  Pool,  Hammond,  Ferme,  Guyse,  the  Dutch 
Annotations,  the  Assembly's  Annotations,  Locke,  Alford,  Olshau- 
sen,  Stuart,  Haldane  and  Hodge.  Several  of  these  cite  in  proof 
I  Tim.  3:  16;  Heb.  9  :  14;  and  i  Pet.  3  :  18;  and  Haldane  quotes 
I  Cor."  1 5  :  45,  and  2  Cor.  3  :  17  to  show  that  Christ  is  explicitly 
called  a  Spirit.  Gill  regards  either  the  second  or  the  third  view 
as  admissible.  The  great  argument  for  the  third  view  is  taken  from 
the  apparent  antithesis  between  the  flesh  and  the  spirit  in  vs.  3,  4. 
If  this  contrast  was  intended  by  the  apostle,  the  argument  is  con- 
clusive. Certainly  in  some  other  places  the  same  form  of  words 
indicates  intended  antithesis.  Matt.  12  :  32  ;  Rom. 4  :  4;  8  :  1,4,  5. 
This  view  is  therefore  preferred.  By  the  resurrection  from  the  dead; 
Peshito :  who  rose  from  the  dead,  Jesus  Messiah,  our  Lord  ;  Cov- 
erdale,Tyndale,  and  Cranmer  render  the  clause,  since  the  time  that 
he  rose,  &c.  Theodoret,  Luther,  Grotius  :  from  and  after ;  Stuart : 
after;  Hammond:  after,  and  through,  and  by.  The  great  mass 
of  commentators  agree  with  the  authorized  version.  The  latter 
phrase  in  the  clause  is  literally  the  resurrection  of  the  dead ;  but 
this  phrase  more  than  once  means  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  i  Cor.  15  :  42  ;  Heb.  6  :  2.  The  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
settles  his  divine  sonship  in  the  clearest  manner,  i.  It  was  a  very 
remarkable  display  of  the  power  of  God,  and  so  the  Scriptures 
speak  of  it.  Eph.  i  :  19,  20.  2.  Jesus  Christ  had  foretold  that  he 
would  arise  by  his  own  power ;  so  that  his  omnipotence  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Father.  3.  Jesus  Christ  was  the  surety  of  his 
people,  and  eternal  justice  would  not  have  released  him  till  his 
humiliation  was  completed.  4.  During  his  ministry  our  Lord  had 
said  and  done  many  things  contrary  to  the  notions  of  the  masses 
of  men,  and  had  set  up  the  highest  claims  to  reverence,  worship 
and  obedience  from  men.  If  he  were  not  truly  and  properly 
divine,  all  these  claims  were  those  of  a  deceiver.  But  his  resur- 
rection confirmed  them  every  one.     5.  So  great  was  the  import- 


Ch.  I.,  vs.  5,  6.]  THE  ROMANS,  37 

ance  of  the  event  and  such  was  its  connection  with  all  that  is  vital 
in  religion  that  our  justification  and  indeed  our  whole  hope  of 
salvation  are  in  Scripture  made  to  depend  upon  it.  Rom.  4  :  25  ; 
I  Pet.  I  :  3. 

5.  By  whom  we  have  received  grace  and  apostle  ship,  for  obedience  to 
the  faith  among  all  nations,  for  his  name.  Whom  refers  to  Jesus  Christ, 
and  we,  to  the  apostles,  his  ministers.  Grace,  a  word  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  the  Scriptures.  It  may  relate  to  disposition,  speech 
or  act,  and  mean's  favor,  good-will,  kindness  undeserved,  unbought 
love.  It  is  often  used  very  much  in  the  sense  of  mercy ;  yet  is 
perhaps  the  stronger  word.  Both  words  imply  compassion  to  the 
miserable  ;  but  mercy  may  be  to  the  unfortunate,  whereas,  strictly 
speaking,  grace  is  to  the  guilty,  favor  to  the  undeserving.  The 
gospel  is  itself  a  grace — an  undeserved  favor — to  men.  2  Cor.  6 : 
I,'  Titus  2:11.  So  the  authority  to  preach  the  gospel  is  an  un- 
merited privilege,  and  is  so  confessed  by  Paul  himself.  Eph.  3  :  8. 
No  man  deserves  to  be  a  minister  of  Christ.  'Salvation  from  first 
to  last  is  of  grace.  No  man  deserves  pardon,  acceptance,  renewal 
or  eternal  life,  i  Cor.  15  :  10;  Eph.  i  :  7;  2:5;  Rom. 4  :  16.  On 
apostlcsJiip  see  v.  i.  Grace  and  apostleship  point  to  more  than  a 
'  gracious  apostleship.'  They  include  not  only  the  office  and  its 
miraculous  gifts  but  all  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  necessai^  to  pre- 
pare the  apostle  for  his  office  and  for  salvation.  The  rest  of  the 
verse  is  more  difficult.  Wiclif :  to  obeie  to  the  faith  in  all  folkis 
for  his  name  ;  Coverdale :  amonge  all  heythen,  to  set  up  the  obe- 
dience of  faith  under  his  name  ;  Tyndale :  to  bring  all  maner 
hethen  people  unto  obedience  of  the  faith  that  is  in  his  name  ; 
Cranmer :  that  obedience  might  be  geven  unto  the  faith  in  his 
name  among  all  heithen  ;  Stuart :  in  order  to  promote  the  obedi- 
ence of  faith  among  all  nations,  for  his  name's  sake ;  Alford :  in 
order  to  bring  about  obedience  to  the  faith  among  all  (the)  nations. 
For  obedience  is  best  understood  as  unto  obedience,  i.  e.  to  the  end 
that  obedience  maybe  secured.  The  faith  may  mean  either  the 
grace  of  saving  faith  in  the  Redeemer,  as  often  it  does  ;  or  it  may 
mean  the  essential  creed  of  the  saints,  the  gospel,  the  sum  of  the 
things  necessary  to  be  believed.  In  this  Case  the  result  reached 
is  the  same  whichsoever  explanation  be  given.  But  see  Acts  6:  y  ; 
Rom.  16:  26  and  many  parallel  passages.  For  his  name  is  best 
und^stood  to  the  glory  of  his  name,  so  Turrettin  ;  or  for  the  pur- 
pose of  magnifying  his  name,  as  Chalmers,  though  some  connect 
it  with  apostleship,  and  some  with  faith. 

6.  Among  ivhom  are  ye  also  the  called  of  Jesus  Christ.  Whom  re- 
fers to  nations  [or  Gentiles,  as  we  often  render  the  word.]  On  the 
other  words  of  this  clause  see  above  on  v.  i.     The  called  of  Jesus 


38  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  7. 

Christ  means  more  than  that  they  were  invited  by  Jesus  Christ. 
It  declares  that  they  had  been  effectually  called,  and  were  now  the 
friends  of  the  Redeemer,  and  joint  heirs  with  him.  The  perti- 
nency of  this  verse  is  to  let  the  Roman  Christians  know  that  Paul's 
commission  embraced  them,  first  as  they  were  among  the  Gentiles 
to  whom  the  gospel  was  sent,  and  then  as  they  were  God's  people 
by  effectual  calling. 

7.   To  all  that  be  in  Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints  : 
Grace  to  you  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jestcs  Christ. 
All  includes  Jew  and  Gentile,  established  Christians  and  young 
converts.     The  mind  and  heart  of  the  apostle  delighted  in  over- 
leaping all  personal,  sectional  and  national  distinctions,  and  em- 
bracing all   believers.     His  affectionate  regards  extended  to  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  God's  people.     And  well  they  might, 
for  they  were  beloved  of  God.     No  word  in  the  New  Testament 
expresses  more  kindness  than  beloved,  sometimes  rendered  well- 
beloved,   Mark   12:6;    Rom.    16:5;    3  John    i;    and  sometimes 
dearly  beloved,  i  Cor.  10  :  14;  2  Cor.  7  :  i  ;  i  Tim.  1:2;    Philemon 
I.     Wiclif :     derlyngis   [darlings]  of  God.     And  then  they  were 
called  to  be  saints,  the  same  form  of  expression  as  in  v.  i.      Called, 
not  merely  denominated,  but  effectually  called  and  so  made  to  be 
saints,  or  holy  ones,  holy  unto  the  Lord,  in  heart  and  life  devoted 
to  God.     Coverdale :    sayntes  by  callynge ;    Tyndale :  sanctes  by 
callinge  ;  Genevan  :  sanctes  by  callyng  ;  Cranmer :  called  sayntes  ; 
Peshito  :    called  and  sanctified  ;    Arabic  :  called   saints  ;    Syriac  : 
called  and  holy;  Stuart:  chosen  saints.     Grace ;  see  on  v.  5.    The 
cognate  verb  was  commonly  employed  by  the  Greeks  in  saluta- 
tion.    Peace ;  the  Latin  form  of  salutation.     In  Hebrew  we  have 
the  same  word  for  peace  and  lor  prosperity.     Those,  to  whom  Paul 
was  writing  were  familiar  with  both  forms  of  address.     Both  were 
expressions  of  good-will.      In  each  the  speaker,   if  sincere,    de- 
sired his  friend  to  receive  all  good  things  for  time  and  eternity. 
Paul  would  go  beyond  what  good  manners  required.     Civility  he 
would  convert  into  hearty  Christian  love,  and  he  would  tell  them 
whence  he  desired  grace  and  peace  to  come — even  from  God  our 
Father,   and  the  Lord  'Jesus  Christ,  who  were   able   to   make   all 
good  things  abound  to  them,  and  who  had  unsearchable  riches  to 
bestow  on  the  faithful.     This  form  of  salutation  without  change 
(except  that  in  Galatians  we  have  God  the  Father  instead  o||God 
our  Father)  is  found  in  eleven  out  of  Paul's  fourteen  epistles.      In 
the  pastoral  epistles — ist  Timothy,  2d  Timothy  and  Titus — there 
is  added   the    Hebrew  form  of  salutation — Mercy  be  unto  you  ; 
q.  d.     Whatever  form  of  expressing  good-will  and  hearty  kind- 
ness you  are  familiar  with,  I  adopt  toward  you ;  and  L  tell  you 


Ch.  I.,  V.  I.]  THE  ROMANS.  39 

whence  alone  I  expect  so  great  blessings  on  you,  even  from  God 
our  Father  and  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  We  can  never  too  much  admire  and  adore  the  wisdom  and 
mercy  of  God  in  taking  the  gifted,  learned,  bitter  persecutor  of 
Tarsus,  changing  his  heart,  sending  him  to  preach  to  the  nations, 
and  inspiring  him  to  write  for  the  edification  of  the  church  in  all 
future  ages  the  epistles  he  has  left  us,  and  in  particular  this  great 
doctrinal  discussion,  which  more  lucidly  and  logically  than  any 
other  one  book  of  Scripture  shows  to  men  the  way  of  salvation. 

2.  The  greatest  honor  to  which  any  man  can  attain  on  earth  is 
to  be  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  v.  i.  Such  is  every  one  that  loves 
the  Saviour,  and  lives  for  him.  He  may  be  poor,  despised,  for- 
saken of  men ;  but  he  shall  reign  with  Christ. 

3.  Approved  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  Christ's  servants  in 
the  best  senses,  v.  i.  They  act  and  suffer  from  a  pure  regard  to 
the  honor  of  their  Master.  They  think  it  a  small  matter  whether 
they  are  sick  or  well,  applauded  or  despised,  provided  he  is  duly 
honored.  They  hope  to  glorify  him  even  in  reproaches,  and  in 
the  fiery  furnace.  They  dare  not  preach  themselves  but  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord,  nor  deliver  any  message  but  that  which  they  have 
received  from  him.  They  expect  to  give  account  to  him.  Nor 
do  they  serve  and  suffer  for  him  grudgingly.  They  glory  in 
tribulations  for  his  sake  and  in  his  cause.  They  think  it  honor 
enough  to  serve  in  his  houje.  They  know  they  serve  a  good 
Master.     Their  reward  is  sure. 

4.  But  then  all  Christ's  ministers  must  be  called  of  God.  v.  i. 
They  must  be  effectually  called,  soundly  converted.  Ps.  50  :  16. 
Then  they  must  be  divinely  called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
All  the  ecclesiastics  on  earth  cannot  give  authority  to  minister  in 
God's  house.  The  utmost  the  church  can  do  is  to  recognize  a 
call  given  by  her  Divine  Head.  God's  real  servants  in  the  minis- 
try get  their  commission  from  heaven,  not  from  men  ;  from  Jesus 
Christ,  not  from  the  church.  Nor  is  it  wrong  for  such  to  avow 
and  defend  their  call.  Nor  is  it  assumptive  in  God's  people  to  ex- 
amine the  call  of  any  and  all,  who  say  they  are  sent  of  God.  i  John 
4:1;  Rev.  2:2. 

5.  It  is  no  small  grace  in  God  to  send  us  his  servants;  and 
therefore  when  we  find  such  duly  called  of  God,  we  ought  gravely 
to  consider  our  relation  to  them,  and  their's  to  us.  The  people 
owe  a  solemn  duty  to  God's  ministers,  to  hear  the  word  of  God 


40  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  i,  2. 

which  they  preach,  candidly  to  compare  their  discourses  with 
Scripture,  and  heartily  to  receive  and  practise  all  the  truth,  which 
they  deliver.  Mai.  2:7;  Acts  17  :  11  ;  Ezek.  33  :  32,  The  people 
owe  to  Christ's  servants  high  esteem,  temporal  support,  hearty 
prayer  for  their  success,  and  obedience  to  them  in  the  Lord. 
I  Thess.  5:13;  Gal.  6  :  6 ;  2  Thess.  3:1;  Heb.  13:7. 

6.  Since  the  death  of  John  there  have  been  no  apostles  on 
earth.  Paul  was  the  last,  whom  Jesus  invested  with  that  office. 
His  personal  call  was  necessary.  John  20  :  21.  To  all  the  apostles 
was  promised  plenary  inspiration.  John  16:  13.  They  had  all  seen 
the  Lord.  They  all  were  miraculously  endowed,  and  had  the 
signs  of  an  apostle.  Although  a  man  might  have  some  of  these 
things  and  not  be  an  apostle ;  yet  he  could  not  be  an  apostle  with- 
out having  all  these  things.  All  the  pretences  of  moderns  to  the 
apostolic  office  are  both  absurd  and  wicked. 

7.  As  all  genuine  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  separated  by  God 
to  their  good  work,  they  ought  to  bestir  themselves  in  it,  be  in- 
stant in  season  and  out  of  season,  and  give  themselves  wholly  to 
it.  Acts  6:4;!  Tim.  4  :  15  ;  2  Tim.  2  :  4.  No  calling  is  so  honora- 
able  ;  none  is  so  important ;  none  is  so  responsible. 

8.  When  ministers  so  present  religious  truth  as  to  make  it  ap- 
pear sad  tidings  to  meek  and  penitent  souls,  they  mightily  distort 
and  pervert  it ;  for  they  are  sent  to  preach  the  gospel,  glad  news, 
good  tidings  unto  the  meek,  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to 
proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to 
them  that  are  bound.  We  do  as  sadly  err  when  we  smite  and 
wound  those  whom  God  would  comfort,  as  when  we  comfort 
those  whom  the  Lord  condemns. 

9.  Yet  no  man  may  forget  that  the  message  which  ministers 
bear  to  men  is  of  awful  authority — it  is  the  gospel  of  God.  v.  i. 
It  is  not  glad  tidings,  which  we  may  hear  or  not,  consider  or  not, 
obey  or  not,  and  still  be  safe.  It  may  be  preached  by  a  very 
modest,  humble,  ordinary  man ;  yet  even  then  it  is  accompanied 
with  awful  sanctions  and  responsibilities.  Matt.  11  :  15;  10:40; 
John  10  :  20;  12  '.48;  I  Thess.  2  :  13. 

10.  Nor  is  the  gospel  any  novelty,  v.  2.  It  was  preached  in 
Eden.  A  long  line  of  righteous  men  from  Abel  down  to  Simeon  by 
faith  received  it.  Take  from  the  types,  promises  and  prophecies  of 
the  Old  Testament  their  evangelical  character,  and  there  is  notiiing 
left  in  them  to  light  the  soul  to.  God  or  happiness.  True,  the 
light  was  not  bright,  for  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory 
that  is  now  revealed  were  but  dimly  shadowed  forth ;  but  they 
were  shadowed  forth,  and  faith  did  receive  them.  Rom.  3:21; 
Gal.  3  :  8,  23;    Heb.   11:2;    i  Pet.  10  :  11.      It  is  great  folly  and 


Ch.  I,  vs.  2-4.]  THE  ROMANS.  41 

wickedness  lightly  to  esteem  Moses  and  the  prophets.     If  they 
speak  not  the  truth,  neither  do  the  evangelists  and  apostles. 

11.  For  thousands  of  years  there  have  been  in  the  world  rolls, 
or  parchments,  or  books,  which  have  been  known  by  various 
names  as  the  law,  the  Psalms  and  the  prophets,  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  the  Scripture,  the  Scriptures  and  the  holy  Scriptures,  v.  2. 
These  contain  a  vast  store  of  divine  knowledge.  They  have  long 
been  the  rejoicing  of  good  men's  hearts.  They  sufficiently  account 
for  the  vast  differences  discovered  between  men  and  nations. 
These  books  claim  to  be  and  they  are  God's  word  to  men.  They 
claim  to  be  and  they  are  a  revelation  from  heaven.  They  claim 
to  be  and  they  are  holy  writings ;  for  they  teach  holiness,  encour- 
age holiness,  and  abound  in  holy  doctrines  and  precepts.  It  is  one 
of  God  s  great  mercies  to  men  that  they  have  his  written  word. 

12.  Those  best  read  both  Testaments,  who  most  happily  find 
Christ  in  each  of  them.  v.  2.  He  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the 
life.  He  is  all  and  in  all.  Take  from  any  book  of  Scripture  the 
portion  that  concerns  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  residue  is  of  no  value  to 
men  as  sinners.  He  has  no  names  or  titles,  he  fills  no  offices,  sus- 
tains no  characters  and  teaches  no  lessons  that  are  not  dear  and 
of  priceless  value  to  his  people.  He  is  their  Lord,  the  absolute 
proprietor  of  their  persons. 

13.  The  Scripture  cannot  be  broken.  All  that  was  written  in 
the  prophets  has  been  or  shall  be  surely  accomplished,  v.  2. 

14.  There  is  nothing  in  the  plan  of  redemption  and  in  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ  that  may  not  well  fill  us  with  wonder.  But  which 
part  of  the  amazing  history  is  the  most  astonishing,  none  can  say. 
Yet  many  sober  writers  speak  as  if  they  regarded  Christ's  being 
made  of  the  seed  of  David  as  unsurpassed  in  condescension,  v.  3. 
Perhaps  it  is.  Surely  the  Incarnation  was  an  expression  of  infinite 
love  and  pity. 

15.  He,  who  slights  Jesus  Christ,  slights  the  Son  of  God ;  and 
only  he,  who  hopes  in  him  as  the  Son  of  God,  has  any  interest  in 
his  salvation,  v.  4.  God  is  indeed  one  in  essence,  but  he  is  not 
one  in  person.  We  adore  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  The 
Father  is  of  none,  neither  begotten  nor  proceeding.  The  Holy 
Ghost  proceeds.  The  Son  is  begotten,  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father.  The  Father  doth  eternally  communicate  to  the  Son  his 
own  divine  essence,  though  in  a  manner  to  us  inconceivable  and 
ineffable.  So  that  although  the  Son  was  for  us  incarnate,  yet  is 
he  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  and  the  express  image  of 
his  person.  The  Son  of  God  becoming  man  did  not  become  two 
persons,  but  in  his  two  natures  is  one  person  for  ever,  the  two 
natures  being  united,  not  confused,  nor  mixed,  but  united,  neither 


42  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  1-5. 

nature  being  absorbed,  so  that  we  have  one  Christ,  and  not  two, 
one  Lord  Jesus  and  but  one  Lord  Jesus. 

16.  Christians  seldom,  perhaps  never,  lay  too  much  stress  on 
the  fact  and  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  resurrection.  The  Scriptures 
fully  admit  that  it  is  essential,  fundamental,  v.  4.  i  Cor.  15  :  14-18. 
Without  it,  Christ's  servants  are  of  all  men  most  miserable. 
Without  it,  they  would  all  go  sadly  through  life,  like  the  two  dis- 
ciples, saying,  "  We  trusted  that  it  had  been  he,  which  should 
have  redeemed  Israel."  Luke  24  :  21.  If  Christ  rose  not,  then  his 
people  will  not  rise,  and  so  it  is  all  over  with  them,  and  their 
pleasing  anticipations.  Christ's  resurrection  is  here  introduced  to 
establish  his  Sonship  with  God.  It  makes  one  sad  to  find  Stuart 
saying :  "  How  could  the  resurrection  declare,  in  any  special  man- 
ner, that  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God  ?  Was  not  Lazarus  raised 
from  the  dead  ?  Were  not  others  raised  from  the  dead,  by  Christ, 
by  the  apostles,  by  Elijah,  and  by  the  bones  of  Elisha  ?  And  yet 
was  their  resurrection  proof  that  they  were  the  Sons  of  God?" 
The  answer  to  these  vain  questions  is  obvious  and  simple,  and  has 
been  given  a  thousand  times.  Slade  :  "  Jesus  having  been  put  to 
death  as  a  blasphemer  for  calling  himself  '  Christ  the  Son  of  the 
blessed,'  God  would  not  have  raised  him  from  the  dead,  if  he  had 
been  an  impostor :  His  resurrection  therefore  was  a  public  testi- 
mony, borne  by  God  himself,  to  the  truth  of  our  Lord's  preten- 
sions." The  same  is  found  almost  verbatim  in  Macknight.  Nor 
is  this  all.  So  truly  did  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwell  in  him 
bodily  that  incontestably  and  gloriously  the  power  of  his  own 
divinity,  his  own  omnipotence,  appeared  not  only  during  his  life 
in  raising  the  dead,  in  his  own  name,  but  after  he  was  dead  he 
raised  his  own  body  by  the  same  irresistible  energy  according  to 
his  own  predictions.  If  such  great  facts  do  not  establish  all  claims 
set  forth  by  the  Saviour,  nothing  can. 

17.  Blessed  gospel!  blessed  ministry,  vs.  i,  5.  O  how  men 
ought  to  preach.  O  how  they  ought  to  hear.  The  stupor,  with 
which  many  proclaim  and  listen  to  the  word  of  God,  is  strong 
proof  that  by  nature  they  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  The  most 
animated  preaching  falls  far  below  the  zeal,  which  the  glory  of  our 
theme  would  warrant.  Often  the  best  preaching  is  but  shouting 
in  dead  men's  ears. 

18.  The  great  end  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  is  not  gained 
until  men  yield  the  obedience  of  faith,  v.  5.  The  mercy  shown  to 
us  poor  sinners  of  the  Gentiles,  in  making  known  to  us  the  word 
of  life,  deserves  perpetual  eucharistic  offerings.  Who  loves  as  he 
ought?  Paul  claims  special  interest  in  all  Gentiles,  and  they 
ought  to  respond  to  his  kind  calls. 


Ch.  I.,  vs.  5-7.]  THE  ROMANS.  43 

19.  Missions  ought  to  find  favor  with  all  converted  men,  v.  5. 
The  man,  who  has  no  desire  to  see  all  nations  brought  to  a  saving 
acquaintance  with  Christ,  does  not  love  either  Christ  or  his  neigh- 
bor. Scott :  "  The  end  of  the  gospel-ministry  is  to  bring  sinners, 
of  all  nations,  to  obey  the  commands  of  God,  by  believing  in  his 
Son,  and  submitting  to  his  authority  ;  that  his  name  may  be  glori- 
fied in  their  salvation,  and  that  they  may  become  a  peculiar  people 
to  shew  forth  his  praises."  Men  must  know  and  believe  the  truth. 
There  is  no  way  by  which  Christ  may  receive  his  promised  reward 
but  by  the  wide  propagation  and  hearty  reception  of  his  gospel. 
Isa.  49  :  6;  53  :  10-12. 

20.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  us  to  get  a  true  apprehension  oi grace, 
and  to  remember  that  every  good  and  perfect  gift  comes  down 
from  God.  Let  us  hold  fast  the  doctrine  of  divine  gratuity, 
especially  in  the  whole  matter  of  salvation,  in  the  conversion  of 
the  soul,  the  establishment  of  a  church,  and  the  ordination  of  the 
ministry. 

21.  The  whole  scheme  of  the  gospel  supposes  that  Christ  is 
glorified  by  the  salvation  of  men,  so  that  all  the  progress  of  the 
saving  truth  is  for  his  name,  i.  e.  to  his  honor,  and  therefore  we  are 
bound  to  receive  that  gospel  ourselves,  and  make  it  known  to 
others.  Haldane :  "Men  are  very  unwilling  to  admit  that  God 
should  have  any  end  with  respect  to  them  greater  than  their  happi- 
ness. But  his  own  glory  is  everywhere  in  the  Scripture  repre- 
sented as  the  chief  end  of  man's  existence,  and  of  the  existence  of 
all  things." 

22.  If  men  are  ever  to  know  the  saving  power  of  Christ's  grace, 
it  must  be  by  a  holy  and  effectual  -calling,  vs.  6,  7.  Something 
quite  beyond  a  mere  outward  invitation  or  persuasion  is  necessary 
to  move  the  dead  soul.  To  some,  such  a  doctrine  is  discouraging. 
To  those  taught  from  heaven,  it  gives  all  the  encouragement  they 
have,  and  all  they  need.  If  Ezekiel  must  prophesy  over  the  dry 
bones,  let  him  go  at  it  in  good  earnest,  for  God  is  able  to  make 
them  stand  up  a  great  army. 

23.  What  a  sad  change  has  come  over  the  church  of  Rome. 
"  The  Lord's  beginning  a  good  work  in  any  place  will  not  tye  him 
to  keep  up  the  candlestick  there  in  all  time  coming ;  for  Rome, 
that  then  was  famous  for  saints  in  it,  is  now  become  the  seat  of  the 
beast." 

24.  It  far  more  than  compensates  the  saints  for  all  the  ill  will  and 
ill  treatment  they  receive  from  men  that  they  are  beloved  of  God, 
V.  7.  God  loved  them  with  compassion  and  good  will  even  when 
they  were  his  enemies  by  wicked  works.  "  It  is  the  greatest  love 
that  God  can  show  to  man,  being  everlasting  love,  which  originates 


44  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  I.,  V.  7. 

with  himself."     It  is  because  God  thus  loves  his  people  that  he 
brings  them  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  himself.  Jer.  31:3. 

25.  Men  are  never  the  servants  of  God  indeed  and  in  truth,  so 
as  to  secure  to  them  the  divine  favor,  until  they  are  saints,  or  holy 
ones,  V.  7.  Without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.  Only 
that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.  God  hath  not  called  us 
to  uncleanness,  but  to  holiness.  This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your 
sanctification. 

26.  The  best  manners  flow  from  pious  affections.  "  True  polite- 
ness is  genuine  kindness,  kindly  expressed."  Even  in  saluting 
people  that  he  never  saw,  Paul  uses  endearing  terms,  and  sends  to 
them  the  best  wishes  respecting  both  their  souls  and  bodies. 
Dutch  Annotations :  "  By  the  word  grace  is  understood  the  original 
or  fountain  of  all  God's  benefits  towards  us,  and  by  the  wor^  peace, 
the  fruits  and  sense  thereof."  It  is  much  to  be  lamented  that  some 
good  people,  who  really  feel  kindly,  seem  to  have  •  so  strange  an 
aversion  to  any  proper  expression  of  the  real  state  of  their  hearts. 
Beyond  cold  civility,  you  get  little  or  nothing  from  them.  Such 
follow  neither  apostolic  example,  nor  apostolic  precept. 

27.  God's  people  are  abundantly  provided  with  all  good  things. 
They  have  grace  and  peace.  Scott :  "  Without  grace  there  can  be 
no  substantial  peace :  in  proportion  as  grace  is  communicated, 
peace  may  be  expected ;  and  when  grace  shall  ripen  into  perfect 
holiness,  peace  will  become  complete  fruition." 

28.  All  believers  have  one  God  and  Father,  as  well  as  one  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  v.  7. 

29.  It  is  impossible  to  give  a  satisfactory  explanation  to  even 
the  forms  of  apostolic  salutation  without  admitting  that  there  is 
more  than  one  person  in  the  Godhead.  The  form  of  baptism  given 
in  the  Gospel,  and  the  form  of  benediction  in  2  Cor.  13 :  14,  deter- 
mine the  number  of  persons  in  the  Godhead  to  be  three  ;  but  verse 
7  as  clearly  determines  that  there  is  more  than  one  person,  from 
whom  grace  and  mercy  may  be  sought  by  prayer  and  supplication 
for  ourselves  and  our  friends. 


CHAPTER    I. 

VERSES   8-17. 
THE   INTRODUCTION   AND   THEME. 


8  First,  I  thank  my  God  through  Jesus  Christ  for  you  all,  that  your  faith  is 
spoken  of  throughout  the  whole  world. 

9  For  God  is  my  witness,  whom  I  serve  with  my  spirit  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son, 
that  without  ceasing  I  make  mention  of  you  always  in  my  prayers ; 

10  Making  request,  if  by  any  means  now  at  length  I  might  have  a  prosperous 
journey  by  the  will  of  God  to  come  unto  you. 

1 1  For  I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may  impart  unto  you  some  spiritual  gift,  to  the 
end  ye  may  be  established  ; 

12  That  is,  that  I  may  be  comforted  together  with  you  by  the  mutual  faith  both 
of  you  and  me. 

13  Now  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  that  oftentimes  I  purposed  to 
come  unto  you,  (but  was  let  hitherto,)  that  I  might  have  some  fruit  among  you  also, 
even  as  among  other  Gentiles. 

14  I  am  debtor  both  to  the  Greeks,  and  to  the  Barbarians;  both  to  the  wise, 
and  to  the  unwise. 

15  So,  as  much  as  in  me  is,  I  am  ready  to  preach  the  gospel  to  you  that  are  at 
Rome  also. 

16  For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  :  for  it  is  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth ;   to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek. 

1 7  For  therein  is  the  righteousness  of  God  revealed  from  faith  to  faith  :  as  it  is 
written,  The  just  shall  live  by  faith. 

8  FIRST,  I  thank  my  God  through  Jesus  Christ  for  you  all,  that 
,  your  faith  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole  world.  First: 
Peshito  and  Ferme :  In  the  first  place.  It  ordinarily  marks  the 
order  of  time,  though  in  Matt.  6  :  33  and  in  not  a  few  other  cases 
it  includes  the  order  of  importance.  In  Rom.  3  :  2  it  is  rendered 
chiefly.  Here  it  is  equivalent  to,  I  begin  by  saying ;  Tholuck : 
Before  I  proceed  to  other  matters.  /  thank  my  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  for  you  all.  In  this  as  in  many  other  places  the  author- 
ized version  and  most  versions  take  no  notice  of  the  Greek 
particle,  often  rendered  truly,  indeed.  Yet  Tyndale,  Cranmer 
and  the  Genevan  read,   Verely  I  thanke  etc.     My  God.     It  is  a 


46  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  8,  9. 

declaration  of  an  appropriating  faith.  Through  Jesus  Christ  may 
qualify  either  part  of  the  clause,  so  as  to  make  the  apostle  say 
that  Jehovah  is  his  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  or  that  he  offers  his 
thanks  through  Jesus  Christ.  For  you  all,  because  of  you  all,  on 
account  of  you  all;  Rheims:  for  al  you.  That  your  faith  is 
spoken  of.  It  is  a  meager  exposition  given  by  Macknight :  "  The 
faith  of  the  Romans,  which  occasioned  so  much  discourse,  was 
their  turning  from  idols,"  He  might  as  well  have  said  it  was  their 
turning  from  theft,  or  lying,  or  uncleanness.  The  faith  of  the 
Romans  was  a  mighty  principle.  It  turned  them  from  all  sorts  of 
sin.  It  made  them  love  all  the  commandments.  It  specially 
regarded  Jesus  Christ,  and  there  in  the  imperial  city  set  up  the 
banner  of  the  cross,  and  in  so  public  and  fearless  a  manner  that 
the  church  of  Rome  was  already  a  city  set  on  a  hill  that  could  not 
be  hid,  but  her  faith  was  spoken  of  over  the  Roman  empire,  which 
now  embraced  Western  Asia  and  Northern  Africa,  as  well  as 
nearly  all  Europe.  In  Luke  2  :  i  the  phrase  all  the  world  is  so 
used,  though  the  Greek  terms  are  not  the  same  in  the  two  places ; 
but  they  mean  the  same  thing.  Beza  paraphrases  these  words : 
Every  where  by  all  the  churches. 

9.  For  God  is  my  ivitness,  whom  I  serve  with  my  spirit  ifi  the  Gos- 
pel of  his  Son,  that  without  ceasing  I  make  mention  of  you  always  in 
'my  prayers.  Paul  justly  felt  the  importance  of  fully  gaining  the 
confidence  of  the  brethren  at  Rome,  and  therefore  uses  all  fair 
means  to  accomplish  his  object.  He  had  before  asserted  his  divine 
mission  and  his  thanks  for  the  grace  granted  to  the  church  of 
Rome.  He  now  avows  in  the  strongest  terms  his  lively  and  affec- 
tionate interest  in  them.  God  is  my  ivitness.  Alford  :  There  could 
be  no  other  witness  to  his  practice  in  his  secret  prayer,  but  God. 
This  was  no  vain  use  of  God's  name.  The  occasion  justified  a 
solemn  appeal  to  the  searcher  of  hearts,  involving  the  nature 
of  an  oath.  Paul  often  makes  such,  but  never  frivolously. 
2  Cor.  1:23;  11:31;  Gal.  1:20;  Phil.  1:8;  i  Thess.  2:5, 
10.  Serve;  we  have  the  cognate  noun  in  Rom.  9:4;  12:1. 
The  verb  is  rendered  worship ;  Acts  7  :  42 ;  24  :  14;  Phil.  3:3; 
and  even  where  rendered  serve,  it  commonly  denotes  worship,  or 
religious  service.  We  have  it  again  in  v.  25,  where  it  denotes 
religious  service  offered  to  idols.  Paul's  service  unto  God  was 
not  only  outward  but  with  his  spirit ;  not  merely  by  rites  but  with 
his  heart.  Ferme  reads  :  cheerfully,  with  my  whole  soul,  and  un- 
feignedly.  Compare  John  4  ;  23,  24.  This  service  was  rendered 
in  the  gospel,  either  in  publishing  the  gospel,  or  in  accordance  with 
its  requirements.  The  former  is  the  better;  each  gives  a  good 
sense,  and  both  are  true.     In  v.  i  the  gospel  is  called  the  gospel 


Ch.  I.,  vs.  10,  II.]  THE  ROMANS.  47. 

of  God ;  in  this  verse  it  is  called  the  gospel  of  his  Son.  Both 
phrases  are  just  and  true.  Each  explains  the  other.  Christ  is  the 
substance  of  the  gospel,  as  well  as  its  revealer  and  author.  That 
zuithotit  ceasing;  in  the  Greek  one  word,  an  adverb.  It  occurs  also 
in  I  Thess.  1:3;  2:13;  5:17;  and  is  uniformly  rendered,  as, 
Pray  tvithout  ceasing.  It  is  of  course  not  to  be  taken  literally,  but 
as  a  hyperbole.  Bretschneider  renders  it,  assiduously  ;  Ferme : 
always  ;  Macknight :  continually  ;  Cobbin  :  constantly  ;  equiva- 
lent to  day  and  night  among  the  Hebrews.  Ps.  1:2.  /  make  men- 
tion of  you  always  in  my  prayers.  Wiclif :  I  make  mynde  of  you 
ever  in  my  preiers,  Paul  had  given  thanks  for  the  grace  granted 
them.     He  had  long  and  earnestly  prayed  for  them. 

10.  Making  request,  if  by  any  means  now  at  length  I  might  have  a 
prosperous  journey  by  the  will  of  God  to  come  unto  you.  Now  at  length  ; 
Tyndale  :  at  one  tyme  or  another  ;  Peshito  :  hereafter  ;  i.  e.  at 
last,  after  so  long  time,  or,  at  some  time.  /  might  have  a  prosperous 
journey;  the  Greek  is  one  word.  Wiclif:  I  haue  a  spedi  way; 
Peshito :  a  door  may  be  opened  to  me.      The  word   occurs  in 

1  Cor.  16:2  and  twice  in  3  John  2  ;  in  those  cases  it  is  rendered 
prosper.  The  will  of  God ;  is  a  phrase  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
the  New  Testament,  and  has  a  uniform  significance.  See  Matt. 
6  :  10;  12  :  50;  Rom.  2  :  18  ;  12  :  2  ;  15  :  32  ;  in  Rev.  4:11  it  is  ren- 
dered pleasure. 

1 1 .  For  I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may  impart  unto  you  some  spiritual 
gift,  to  the  end  ye  may  be  established.  Long ;  elsewhere  rendered  earn- 
estly desire,  greatly  desire,  2  Cor.  5  :  2  ;  2  Tim.  i  :  4.  The  cognate 
noun  occurs  twice  and  is  rendered  earnest  desire,  vehement  desire, 

2  Cor.  J  :.7,  11.  This  desire  did  not  spring  from  vanity,  curiosity  or 
any  fleeting  cause,  but  from  permanent  and  pure  good  will  to 
them.  Impart,  twice  rendered  give,  and  thrice  impart.  Gift ;  in 
Rom.  5  :  15,  16  rendered  free  gift,  that  is  a  pure  or  unbought  gift. 
This  idea  always  belongs  to  the  word  whether  it  is  expressed  or 
not.  Wiclif  reads  grace.  Spiritual  gifts  are  gifts  from  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  are  of  two  kinds,  extraordinary,  or  miraculous,  and 
ordinary,  or  such  as  are  granted  to  the  church  from  age  to  age. 
There  is  nothing  in  this  verse  or  in  the  context  to  confine  our  ideas 
exclusively  to  either  class  of  spiritual  endowments.  Verses  12,  13 
show  that  the  ordinary  gifts  of  the  Spirit  were  not  out  of  the  mind 
of  the  apostle,  and  the  fact  that  up  to  this  time  no  apostle  had,  so 
far  as  we  know,  visited  Rome  makes  it  probable  that  few  extraor- 
dinary gifts  had  been  as  yet  received  by  the  church  of  that  city. 
Yet  chapter  12  :  6-8  shows  that  even  then  this  church  had  gifts. 
Paul  would  impart  both  kinds  of  these  gifts.  The  words  rendered 
spiritual  gifts  are  not  found  together  in  any  other  verse  of  the 


48  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  12,  13. 

Greek  Testament,  though  it  is  pretty  certain  the  word  gifts  is 
understood  in  i  Cor.  12:1;  14  :  i.  The  authorized  version,  Tyn- 
dale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  in  each  of  those  cases  supply  the  word 
gifts,  and  so  do  the  Peshito  and  Doway  in  i  Cor.  14  :  i  ;  though 
the  Vulgate,  Wiclif  and  others  read  spiritual  things.  The  end 
sought  by  Paul  was  that  the  church  at  Rome  might  be  established, 
or  strengthened,  fixed,  or  set  steadfastly.  Luke  9  :  51  ;  16  :  26; 
22  :  32. 

12.  That  is,  that  I  may  be  comforted  together  with  you  by  the 
mutual  faith  both  of  you  ajid  me.  All  the  old  English  versions 
retain  tJiat  is,  but  the  Peshito,  Ethiopic  and  Stuart  have  and  or  also. 
This  verse  is  an  amplification  of  the  preceding.  That  I  may  be 
comforted  together  is  the  rendering  of  one  Greek  verb,  found  here 
only  in  the  New  Testament ;  Castelio :  That  we  may  be  together 
refreshed  ;  Beza :  In  order  to  receive  common  exhortation.  The 
verb  of  which  this  is  compounded  often  occurs,  and  is  rendered 
comforted,  besought,  exhorted,  intreated,  and  is  cognate  to  the 
noun,  which  we  render  comforter  in  John  14  :  16-26  and  elsewhere. 
Paul  very  modestly  and  justly  expected  to  receive  as  well  as  to  com- 
municate comfort  and  edification.  He  was  not  above  the  humblest 
disciple.  He  condescended  to  men  of  low  estate.  If  they  but  had 
faith,  they  Avere  dear  to  him.  In  all  the  Scriptures  there  is  not  a 
word,  which  it  more  behooves  us  to  understand  than  the  word 
faith,  yet  we  never  learn  its  true  nature  by  metaphysical  refine- 
ments. See  above  on  v.  8.  True  faith  consists  in  taking  God  at 
his  word  ;  it  is  such  a  persuasion  of  the  truth  as  enables  us  heartily 
to  embrace  it  and  obey  it ;  it  is  a  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  disposing  us 
to  receive  Christ  and  rest  on  him  alone  as  our  Mediator ;  it 
includes  the  assent  of  the  mind  and  the  consent  of  the  heart  to  the 
testimony  God  has  given,  particularly  that  respecting  his  Son. 
Reliance  on  the  testimony  of  God  and  on  the  person  of  Christ  is 
of  the  very  essence  of  faith  ;  and  though  we  are  bound  to  labor  for 
full  assurance  of  faith,  yet  the  feeblest  faith  may  be  as  genuine  as 
the  strongest. 

13.  Now  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  that  oftentimes 
I  purposed  to  come  unto  you,  {but  was  let  hitherto,)  that  I  might  have 
some  fruit  among  you  also,  even  as  among  other  Gentiles.  The  ren- 
dering of  these  words  in  the  various  English  versions  is  remark- 
ably uniform.  Indeed  the  translations  of  it  are  very  harmonious. 
Purposed,  a  verb  quite  expressive  of  a  settled  determination.  It  is 
found  twice  more  in  the  New  Testament;  once  in  Rom.  3  :  25, 
where  it  is  rendered  set  forth,  and  in  Eph.  i  :  9,  where  it  is  applied 
to  the  unalterable  plan  of  God,  and  is  rendered  hath  purposed.  It 
is  cognate  to  the  noun  rendered  purpose  in  Acts  11  :  23  ;   Rom. 


Ch.  I.,  vs.  14,  1 5-]  THE  ROMANS.  49 

8  :  28 ;  9  :  ii  ;  Eph.  i  :  11  ;  3  :  ii  ;  2  Tim.  i  :  9.  Was  let ;  Wiclif, 
lettid ;  Peshito  &  Ferme :  prevented ;  Macknight,  Stuart,  Cony- 
beare  &  Howson :  hindered.  The  intelligent  reader  need  not  be 
told  that  the  best  old  English  classics  often  use  let  in  the  sense  of 
hinder.  In  Luke  11:52  and  Acts  8  :  36,  the  same  word  is  rendered 
hindered.  The  more  common  rendering  of  the  verb  however  is 
forbidden.  This  probably  gives  the  true  meaning  here,  viz.  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  bound  his  spirit  hitherto  to  labor  elsewhere.  It 
is  another  word  rendered  hindered  in  Rom.  15  :  22,  and  in  i  Thess. 
2:18.  He  desired  to  visit  this  church  that  he  might  have  some 
fruit  among  them.  This  is  a  favorite  conception  of  Paul.  The 
Greek  word  is  the  same  so  often  found  in  the  sermons  of  our  Lord. 
In  this  place  the  word  does  not,  as  in  Rom.  6  :  22,  signify  profit  or 
advantage  to  one's  self,  but  fruit  of  his  ministry,  fruit  unto  God. 
Calvin :  "  He  no  doubt  speaks  of  that  fruit,  for  the  gathering  of 
which  the  Lord  sent  his  apostles."  John  15  :  16.  Doddridge: 
"  Some  fruit  of  my  ministerial  and  apostolic  labors."  Among  you 
also,  even  as  among  other  Gejitiles.  A  large  part  of  the  world  had 
already  been  visited  by  the  apostle.  Almost  everywhere  he  had 
planted  or  visited  churches ;  but  as  yet  Italy  was  an  exception. 
Abundant  had  been  the  fruit  he  had  gathered  in  many  places. 

14.  I  am  debtor  both  to  the  Greeks.^  and  to  the  Barbarians  ;  both  to 
the  wise,  and  to  the  unwise.  A  debtor  is  one  who  is  truly  and  firmly 
bound.  Gal.  5:3.  So  was  Paul  bound  by  the  love  Christ  had 
showed  him,  by  the  commission  he  held,  by  the  revelations  he  had 
received  and  by  the  law  of  love  to  perishing  men  to  do  all  he  could 
for  all  classes  of  men,  however  esteemed  or  denominated.  The 
Peshito,  Arabic  and  Ethiopic  render  these  words  just  as  the 
authorized  version ;  but  Tyndale :  To  the  Grekes  and  to  them 
which  are  no  Grekes,  unto  the  learned  and  also  unto  the  un- 
learned. This  is  virtually  followed  by  Cranmer  and  Genevan. 
Erasmus  and  Doddridge  have,  learned  and  ignorant.  Macknight's 
paraphrase  is  "  to  the  Greeks,  however  intelligent,  and  to  the  barbar- 
ians, both  to  the  philosophers,  and  to  the  common  people.  All  these 
terms  denote  or  describe  the  people  who  are  in  v.  1 3  called  Gen- 
tiles. Stuart :  "  In  classic  usage,  barbarians  means  all  who  spoke 
a  language  foreign  to  the  Greek."  Hodge :  "  Properly  it  means 
a  foreigner,  one  of  another  language."  In  i  Cor.  14:11  it  is  twice 
used  in  this  sense.  Wise  and  unwise  do  not  correspond  to  Greeks 
and  barbarians,  but  describe  persons  found  both  in  and  out  of 
Greece. 

15.  So,  as  much  as  in  me  is,  T  am  ready  to  preach  the  gospel  to  you 
that  are  at  Rome  also.  Ready,  in  Matt.  26  :  41  willing  ;  the  cognate 
noun  is  rendered  readiness,  readiness  of  mind,  ready  mind,  willing 


50  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  i6. 

mind,  forwardness  of  mind,  Acts  17  :  ii  ;  2  Cor.  8  :  11,  12,  19; 
9  :  2.  To  preach  the  gospel,  in  the  Greek  one  word.  There  are  sev- 
eral words  in  the  Greek  Testament,  all  of  which  are  sometimes 
rendered /r^«^^.  One  means  to  tell  or  to  speak,  Acts. 8  :  25  ;  11  : 
19;  13:42.  Another  means  to  declare  or  announce  fully,  Luke 
9  :  60.  Another,  cognate  to  the  last  preceding,  means  to  publish, 
or  bring  a  message.  Acts  4:12;  13:5;  Phil,  i  :  16.  In  Rom.  i  : 
8  it  is  rendered  spoken  of.  Another  means  to  herald,  as  a  crier, 
to  announce  publicly.  Matt.  3:1;  Acts  8:5;  Rom.  2  :  21.  The 
other  is  that  used  in  our  verse  and  means  to  bring  good  news,  to 
publish  glad  tidings,  Acts  13  :  32  ;  Rom.  10  :  15  ;  i  Thess.  3  :  6. 
It  is  the  verb  from  which  our  word  evangelize  comes,  and  is  found 
in  the  New  Testament  more  than  fifty  times.  Paul's  necessary 
delay  had  not  extinguished  his  desire  to  visit  and  serve  the  church 
at  Rome. 

16.  For  I  am  not  asha^ned  of  the  gospel  of  Christ :  for  it  is  the 
poiver  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth  ;  to  the  Jew 
first y  and  also  to  the  Greek.  Ashamed,  a  word  uniformly  rendered 
in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  same  word  used  by  our  Lord  in 
Mark  8  :  38  ;  Luke  9  :  26.  He  says  less  than  he  means — I  am  not 
ashamed,  i.  e.  I  glory.  Gospel  of  Christ ;  see  on  v.  i.  //  is  the 
power  of  God.  We  have  several  Greek  words  which  in  the  New 
Testament  are  rendered  power.  One  of  these  signifies  authority 
and  is  often  so  rendered  ;  in  Luke  23  :  7  it  is  rendered  jurisdic- 
tion ;  in  John  i  :  10,  power  ;  in  Rev.  22  :  14,  right.  Then  we  have 
another  word  from  which  we  get  our  word  energy  ;  in  Eph.  i  :  19 
rendered  working  ;  in  Col.  2:12  operation  ;  in  Eph.  3  :  7  effectual 
working.  We  have  also  a  word,  which  in  Mark  12  :  30  is  rendered 
strength  ;  in  Eph.  6  :  10  might;  in  2  Thess.  i  :  9  power ;  in  i  Pet. 
4:  II  ability.  But  we  have  )''et  another  word  rendered  power. 
It  is  that  from  which  our  word  dynamics  comes.  We  had  it  in 
V.  4.  It  occurs  again  in  v.  20  and  often  elsewhere.  In  Col.  i  :  1 1 
it  is  rendered  might ;  in  Eph.  3  :  20  power ;  in  Matt.  25  :  15  abil- 
ity ;  in  2  Cor.  i  :  8  strength  ;  in  Heb.  1 1  :  34  violence.  Because'' 
it  is  very  expressive  of  might,  it  is  in  the  plural  rendered  miracles,  . 
mighty  deeds,  etc.  i  Cor.  12  :  10,  28  ;  2  Cor.  12  :  12.  This  is  the 
word  found  in  our  verse.  Alford  :  "  Not  only  is  the  gospel  the 
great  example  of  divine  Power ;  it  is  the  field  of  agency  of  the 
power  of  God,  working  in  it,  and  interpenetrating  it  throughout." 
Compare  i  Cor.  i  :  18,  24.  So  mighty  is  the  power  of  the  gospeP 
that  it  is  u7tto  salvation.  As  to  us  nothing  can  go  beyond  salva- 
tion. Nor  does  worship  ever  rise  higher  than  when  it  ascribes 
salvation  unto  God.  Ps.  37  :  39 ;  Luke  i  :  46,  47,  68-71  ;  Rev.  7  : 
10;  19  :  I.     The  original  word  primarily  means  safety,  then  wel- 


Ch.  I.,  V.  i;.]  THE  ROMANS.  51 

fare,  then  deliverance  and  eternal  blessedness  by  a  Reedeemer. 
The  word  is  uniformly  rendered,  except  in  Acts  27  :  34,  where  it 
is  health  ;  and  in  Acts  7:25,  where  it  is  applied  to  the  deliverance 
of  Israel  from  Egypt.  Except  the  names  given  to  God  and  our 
Saviour,  there  is  no  sweeter  word  than  salvation.  The  rendering 
of  the  verse  by  Wiclif  is  :  For  I  schame  not  the  gospel,  for  it  is 
the  vertu  of  god  into  heelthe  to  eche  man  that  belieued,  etc.  The 
Gospel  is  thus  '  the  highest  and  holiest  vehicle  of  the  divine 
Power  '  to  every  one  that  believeth.  Hodge  :  "  Emphasis  must  be 
laid  upon  both  members  of  this  clause.  The  gospel  is  thus  effica- 
cious to  every  one,  without  distinction  between  Jew  and  Gentile ;  and 
to  every  one  that  believeth,  not  who  is  circumcised,  or  who  obeys 
the  law,  or  who  does  this  or  that,  or  any  other  thing,  but  who 
believes,  i.  e.  receives  and  confides  in  Jesus  Christ  in  all  the  char- 
acters, and  for  all  the  purposes  in  which  he  is  represented  in  the 
gospel."  To  the  Jew  first,  artd  also  to  the  Greek.  First,  see  above 
on  V.  8.  Nothing  beyond  the  order  of  naming  these  people,  or 
the  order  of  time  can  here  be  intended.  Thus  much  the  Scrip- 
tures teach.  Luke  24  :  47  ;  Acts  3  :  26  ;  13  :  46.  The  same  particu- 
larity and  order  are  observed  in  Rom.  2:9,  10.  But  the  Scrip- 
tures are  careful  to  let  us  know  that  there  is  no  adaptation  of  the 
gospel  peculiar  to  any  one  people  or  nation  ;  and  that  in  Christ 
one  tribe  of  men  is  as  welcome  and  as  well  provided  for  as  another. 
Simeon,  who  was  divinely  inspired,  named  the  Gentiles  first  and 
Israel  afterwards.  Luke  2  :  27-32.  A  child  of  Abraham  as  much 
needs  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  as  a  sinner  of  the  Gentiles. 

17.  For  tJierein  is  the  righteousness  of  God  revealed  from  faith  to 
faith  :  as  it  is  written,  The  just  shall  live  by  faith.  The  preceding 
verse  speaks  of  (^^/2>z//«^/  \k{\^,  oi  faith.  The  noun  and  verb  are 
cognate.  See  above  on  vs.  5,  8,  12.  The  doctrine  of  faith  is  thus 
urged  upon  our  attention,  and  with  it  the  doctrine  of  righteous- 
ness. The  faith  in  Christ  and  the  gospel  method  of  becoming^ 
righteous  are  the  great  themes  of  this  epistle.  They  are  here  so 
introduced  to  us.  Faith  and  righteousness  are  here  and  else- 
where fitly  joined  together.  Several  kinds  of  faith  are  not  saving — 
do  not  secure  to  us  righteousness.  Devils  have  an  awful  and  fixed 
persuasion  of  the  truths  of  religion,  so  that  they  believe  and  trem- 
ble, but  are  neither  made  pure  nor  just  thereby.  Jas.  2-:  19.  The 
stony  ground  hearers  had  a  temporary  faith,  which  led  them  for  a 
time  to  receive  the  word  of  God  with  joy,  but  all  passed  away 
without  any  thorough  change  of  heart.  Matt.  13  :  20,  21,  Some 
have  a  historical  faith,  by  which  they  are  so  far  persuaded  of  the 
truths  of  God's  word,  that  they  have  not  an  intellectual  doubt  of 
them.     Still  they  obey  them  not,  nor  are  changed  by  them.     Such 


52  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  17. 

was  the  faith  of  Agrippa.  Acts  26  :  27.  Then  there  is  the  faith  of 
miracles,  whereby  one  is  persuaded  that  by  him  or  for  him  God 
will  suspend  the  laws  of  nature,  Acts  14  :  9  ;  i  Cor.  13:2.  One 
may  have  any  or  all  of  these  kinds  of  faith,  and  yet  remain  under 
condemnation.  But  saving  faith  not  only  historically  credits  the 
truths  of  God,  but  with  the  heart  beHeves  them.  Rom.  10  :  10. 
Such  faith  receives  God's  witness  concerning  the  divine  nature 
and  law,  concerning  man's  sinful  and  guilty  condition,  and  espe- 
cially concerning  Jesus  Christ  as  the  sole  author  of  eternal  salva- 
tion, and  so  it  receives  and  rests  upon  Christ,  as  the  way,  the  truth 
and  the  life,  the  one  blessed  Mediator  between  God  and  man.  By 
this  faith  we  are  engrafted  into  Christ,  and  derive  our  fatness 
and  fruitfulness  from  him.  This  is  the  faith  of  God's  elect.  It 
purifies  the  heart,  Acts  15:9;  it  works  by  love.  Gal.  5:9;  it 
overcomes  the  world,  i  John  5  :  4,  5  ;  it  successfully  resists  temp- 
tation, Eph.  6  :  16.  This  faith  abides  in  God's  children,  Eph.  3  : 
17  ;  it  justifies  all  who  have  it,  Rom.  5:1;  and  it  is  a  mighty  oper- 
ative principle,  James  2  :  22.  This  is  the  faith  spoken  of  in  our 
verse. 

The  term  righteousness  is  also  one  of  great  importance  in  the 
right  understanding  of  this  verse  and  of  this  and  other  epistles  of 
Paul.  The  word  so  rendered  occurs  more  than  ninety  times  in 
the  Greek  Testament,  and  in  the  authorized  version  is  uniformly 
rendered  righteousness  ;  so  also  in  the  old  English  versions  ;  but 
in  the  Doway  it  is  uniformly  rendered  justice.  Our  English  Bible 
employs  the  terms  just  and  righteous  interchangeably.  Justice 
and  righteousness  are  the  same  thing.  The  only  advantage  in  the 
word  righteousness  is  that  its  theological  meaning  is  better  under- 
stood than  that  of  justice.  The  righteousness  of  God  sometimes 
in  the  Old  Testament,  though  never  in  the  New,  seems  to  be  put 
by  metonomy  for  the  whole  moral  excellence  of  God,  including 
his  goodness,  mercy  and  faithfulness.  Isa.  41  :  8  ;  42  :  6.  Then  in 
both  Testaments  it  points  to  that  attribute  of  his  nature  whereby 
he  is  infallibly  led  to  give  to  every  one.  his  due,  Ps.  9:8;  Rom. 
3:5;  Rev.  19  :  II.  This  is  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  out  of 
which  the  fitness  of  the  use  of  the  term  in  other  senses  grows. 
Besides  these  two  meanings  of  the  phrase,  the  righteousness  of 
God  means  the  righteousness  which  God  has  provided  ;  the  Father 
having  devised  and  demanded  it ;  the  Son  having  fulfilled  it,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  applying  it.  It  may  also  be  called  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  because  it  is  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God,  the  only 
righteousness  which  God  will  own  as  the  ground  of  a  sinner's  ac- 
ceptance. So  the  sacrifices  of  God  in  Ps.  51  :  17  are  the  sacrifices 
which  please  God,  the  sacrifices  which  he  prefers  above  all  others. 


Ch.  I.,  V.  17.]  THE  ROMA  NS.  53 

Sometimes  in  Hebrew  the  addition  of  God  denotes  the  greatness 
of  anything,  as  the  trees  of  God  are  the  great  trees  ;  the  river  of 
God  the  great  river,  etc.  And  as  Paul's  writings  abound  in  He- 
braisms, this  idea  may  not  have  been  wholly  out  of  his  mind.  The 
righteousness  of  God  is  the  great  righteousness.  It  is  a  glorious 
righteousness.  'This  righteousness,  so  highly  approved  of  God, 
is  that  which  makes  a  believing  sinner  righteous  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth.  It  is  called  the  righteousness  of  the  law, 
because  it  is  fully  commensurate  with  all  the  demands  of  the  law, 
Rom.  8:4.  It  is  called  the  righteousness  of  faith,  or  by  fa^h, 
because  it  is  received  by  faith  and  not  wrought  out  by  personal 
obedience  to  law,  Rom.  3  :  22  ;  4  :  13.  It  is  called  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ  because  it  consists  of  his  merits,  is  made  up  of  what 
he  did  and  suffered  for  us ;  so  that  he  is  the  Lord  our  Righteous- 
ness, Jer.  23  :  6.  It  is  called  imputed  righteousness  because  it  is 
ours,  not  by  our  own  deserving,  nor  by  being  imparted  to  us,  but 
by  being  reckoned,  counted,  imputed  to  us  by  God.  Rom.  4  :  5, 
6.  So  that  when  we  believe  in  Jesus  we  are  righteous  before 
God  or  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  avails  to  all  the  ends  and  pur- 
poses of  a  complete  justification./  This  is  so  manifestly  the  mean- 
ing of  the  term  righteousness,  that  some  have  proposed  to  render 
it  in  this  and  some  other  places  justification,  or  method  of  justifica- 
tion.    But  this  makes  confusion. 

Christ's  righteousness  made  ours  is  God's  plan  of  salvation  for'^ 
lost  men.  It  is  righteousness  without  merit  in  the  creature.  It 
is  righteousness  without  the  deeds  of  the  law.  This  sense  might 
be  powerfully  argued  from  the  cognate  verb,  rendered  in  the 
authorized  version  and  even  in  the  Doway  justify^.  See  Stuart  on 
this  place.  Whitby  :  "  This  phrase  {the  righteousness  of  God)  in  St. 
Paul's  stile,  doth  always  signifie  the  Righteousness  of  Faith  in  Christ 
Jesus,  dying,  or  shedding  his  blood  for  us." 

In  our  verse  this  righteousness  is  said  to  be  revealed ;  a  word 
uniformly  rendered  in  the  authorized  version.  It  is  cognate  to 
the  noun  given  as  a  name  to  the  last  book  of  Scripture  and  means 
manifested,  made  known,  made  clear,  brought  to  light. 

And  this  righteousness  is  revealed  from  faith  to  faith.  The 
various  versions  and  translations  cast  no  light  on  this  clause.  The 
two  prepositions  of  and  to  are  evidently  in  antithesis.  The  best  ex- 
planation of  the  former  in  this  place  is  by,  or  by  means  of.  It  has  this 
sense  in  the  last  clause  of  this  verse,  and  often.  Luke  16  :  9  ;  John 
3  :  5;  9 : 6 ;  Heb.  11:35;  R^jv.  3:18.  The  best  rendering  of  the  latter 
is  that  of  the  authorized  version  to,  or  unto,  for,  in  order  to,  for  the 
purpose  of.  In  gaining  the  true  sense  we  have  no  right  to  separate 
the  words  rendered  faith  further  than  is  required.     It  cannot  be 


54  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  L,  v.  17 

denied  that  there  is  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  exact  meaning  of 
Paul.  The  opinions  presented  are  very  various.  Augustine  gives 
two  interpretations.  One  is  that  God's  righteousness  is  revealed 
from  the  faith  of  preachers  to  the  faith  of  hearers ;  the  other,  from 
an  obscure  faith  to  a  clear  vision  in  the  heavens.  Origen, 
Theodoret  and  others  make  the  first  relate  to  faith  in  the 
Old  Testament;  the  second  to  faith  in  the  New  Testament. 
Others  explain  the  first  as  referring  to  a  general  belief  of  the 
gospel  out  of  which  comes  a  special  faith.  But  none  of  these 
vitws  are  admissible.  It  will  not  do  to  use  the  word  faith  in  two 
senses  so  different  as  in  this  last  case,  nor  does  the  phrase  from 
faith  to  faith  denote  things  so  separate  as  the  faith  of  preachers  and 
that  of  hearers,  or  a  weak  faith  and  the  beatific  vision,  or  faith  in 
different  portions  of  Scripture.  Others  explain  it  of  the  gradual 
apprehension  of  the  truth  first  by  a  weak  and  afterwards  by  a 
strong  faith.  So  says  Theophylact :  "  It  does  not  suffice  to  have 
at  first  believed  ;  we  must  rise  from  an  incipient  to  a  more  finished 
faith."  This  is  evidently  the  substance  of  the  interpretation  of 
Beza,  Tholuck  and  others.  Gill  seems  to  prefer  it.  Diodati  men- 
tions it  approvingly.  The  Dutch  Annotations  also  explain  the 
phrase  as  equivalent  to  daily  increase  and  strengthening  in  faith. 
But  this  method  of  explaining  like  phrases  would  hardly  be  ap- 
proved. Compare  Rom.  6  :  19  ;  2  Cor.  2  :  16  ;  3  :  18  ;  4  :  17.  It 
should  be  remembered  too  that  the  least  genuine  faith  because  it 
really  unites  the  soul  to  Christ,  does  as  truly  receive  the  right- 
eousness of  God,  as  the  strongest  possible  faith  ;  and  that  the  weak 
believer  is  as  fully  justified  as  the  strong.  Some  have  thought 
that  the  apostle  teaches  that  the  righteousness  of  God  is  revealed 
from  the  faithfulness  of  God  in  his  word,  to  thQ  faith  of  the 
believer.  Although  the  doctrine  thus  taught  is  true,  yet  surely 
the  word  faith  is  not  here  used  in  senses  so  different.  Whitby  : 
"  The  righteousness  of  God,  which  is  by  faith,  is  revealed  in  the 
gospel  to  beget  faith  in  men."  Barnes  :  "  God's  plan  of  justifying 
men  is  revealed  in  the  gospel,  which  plan  is  by  faith,  and  the 
benefits  of  which  plan  shall  be  extended  to  all  that  have  faith  or 
believe."  Haldane  :  "  The  meaning  is,  the  righteousness,  which 
is  by  faith,  is  revealed  to  faith,  or  in  order  to  be  believed."  Chal- 
mers gives  the  weight  of  his  judgment  in  the  same  direction. 
Conybeare  &  Howson  :  "  Therein  God's  righteousness  is  revealed, 
a  righteousness  which  springs  from  Faith,  and  which  Faith  re- 
ceives." Others  take  the  same  view,  nor  is  there  any  doctrinal 
error  in  the  sense  thus  given. 

There  is  still  another  way  of  explaining  these  words.     Locke 
thinks  that  the  meaning  of  the  apostle  is  that  in  the  gospel  the 


Ch.  I.,  V.  8.]  THE  ROMANS.  55 

righteousness  of  God  is  "  all  through,  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
founded  in  faith."  Mace  also  says  it  is  "  wholly  by  faith."  Scott : 
"  This  righteousness  is  altogether  of  faith,  from  first  to  last,  and 
without  any  respect  to  other  distinctions."  Pool :  "  He  saith  not, 
from  faith  to  works,  or  from  works  to  faith  ;  h\xt  from  faith  to  faith, 
i.  e.  only  by  faith."  Hodge  :  "  The  most  natural  interpretation  of 
these  words  is  that,  which  makes  the  repetition  entirely  intensive — 
from  faith  to  faith — entirely  of  faith,  in  which  works  have  no  part." 
Either  of  the  last  two  explanations  is  to  be  preferred  to  any  of 
those  that  preceded  them,  and  the  very  last  is  incumbered  with 
fewer  difficulties  than  any  that  preceded  it,  though  either  of  the 
last  two  teaches  doctrine  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith,  and 
is  admissible. 

As  it  is  written,  The  Just  shall  live  by  faith.  This  passage  is 
found  in  four  places  :  Hab.  2:4;  Rom.  1:17;  Gal.  3:11;  Heb. 
10  :  38.  Various  renderings  and  punctuations  of  it  are  given  : 
Cobbin  :  The  righteous  by  faith  shall  live  ;  Hodge  :  The  just  by 
faith,  shall  live,  or.  The  just,  by  faith  shall  live  ;  Peshito  :  The 
righteous  by  faith,  shall  live  ;  The  Hebrew  in  Habakkuk  is  liter- 
ally :  The  just,  by  his  faith  shall  live  ;  Knapp  and  Macknight  : 
The  just  by  faith,  shall  live  ;  Ferme  :  The  righteous  from  faith 
shall  live  ;  Conbyeare  &  Howson  :  By  faith  shall  the  righteous 
live.  These  variations  do  not  change  the  doctrine  or  materially 
modify  the  sense.  The  quotation  contains  a  general  truth,  per- 
vading God's  kingdom  in  all  ages.  All  true  faith  is  one  and  not 
many.  One  of  the  peculiarities  of  a  Scriptural  principle  is  its 
wide  scope  and  unexpected  applicability  to  new  cases  and  princi- 
ples. Shall  live  ;  live,  and  not  be  under  sentence  of  death ;  live, 
and  enjoy  the  favor  of  God  ;  live,  and  not  fall  into  spiritual  decay 
ending  in  spiritual  death ;  live,  and  be  happy ;  wearing  the  divine 
image,  quickened  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  greatly  refreshed  and  com- 
forted, having  grace  here  and  a  sure  pledge  of  glory  hereafter. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  It  is  not  sinful  adulation  to  acknowledge  the  gifts  or  graces 
of  God  to  men  or  in  men.  We  ought  with  pleasure  to  own  the 
worth  of  others,  v.  8.  The  truth  itself  is  always  sufficiently  dis- 
pleasing to  the  carnal  or  to  the  partially  sanctified  heart,  without 
our  making  it  more  so  by  our  manner  of  presenting  it.  Rudeness 
and  harshness  are  not  fidelity. 

2.  We  ought  to  thank  God  a  great  deal,  for  we  have  a  great 
deal  to  thank  him  for.  v.  8.  We  are  as  truly  bound  to  give  thanks 
for  God's  goodness  to  our  brethren  as  to  ourselves ;  and  lively 


56  EPIS  TLB    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  8,  9. 

saints  are  ready  to  say  so.     Every  good  gift  is  from  the  Father  of 
lights.     To  him  let  our  praises  ascend. 

3.  It  is  a  blessed  attainment  to  be  able  in  all  boldness  and 
humility  to  claim  covenant  relations  with  Jehovah,  and  to  say  my 
God.  V.  8.  He  is  the  God  of  particular  saints.  He  is  the  God  of 
Abraham,  of  Isaac  and  of  Jacob,  Matt.  22  :  32  ;  the  God  of  Elijah, 
2  Ki.  2  :  14;  the  God  of  Daniel,  Dan.  6  :  26;  and  he  is  frequently 
called  the  God  of  Israel.  Often  do  individual  saints  call  him  my 
God,  and  bodies  of  believers,  our  God.  Let  each  man  pray  that  his 
appropriating  faith  may  be  so  strengthened,  that  he  may  be  able 
to  say,  my  Lord  and  my  God. 

4.  All  religious  worship,  thanksgiving  in  particular,  should  be 
offered  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  v.  8.  It  is  as  great  an  error 
to  have  many  mediators  as  to  have  many  gods,  i  Tim.  2  :  5. 
Some,  who  fail  not  to  mention  that  blessed  name  in  supplication, 
seem  to  forget  that  eucharistic  services  are  never  accepted  but 
through  a  Mediator.  On  this  point  the  Scripture  is  both  full  and 
explicit.  Col.  3  :  17;  Heb.  13  :  15. 

5.  We  are  specially  bound  to  give  thanks  to  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  for  grace  manifested  to  others  in  saving  their  souls, 
and  granting  them  large  measures  of  strength  and  courage,  v.  8. 
Our  Lord  gives  two  reasons  for  joy  in  abundant  fruitfulness — i.  it 
glorifies  God;  2.  it  establishes  discipleship.  John  15  :  8.  Else- 
where our  apostle  expresses  like  gratitude  for  similar  blessings 
bestowed  on  other  churches.  Phil,  i  :  3-5  ;  Col.  i  :  3-6 ;  i  Thess. 
I  :  2,  3  ;  2  Thess.  i  :  3. 

6.  How  can  any  deny  that  faith  is  the  gift  of  God,  since  Paul 
gives  thanks  to  God  for  it?  v.  8.  The  same  thing  is  elsewhere 
taught  abundantly,  Matt.  16  :  17;  Lu.  17  :  5  ;  Acts  11  :  21  ;  13  :  48 ; 
16 :  14 ;  Rom.  12:3;  Gal.  5:22;  Eph.  2:8;  Phil,  i  :  29 ;  Col.  2:13. 

7.  It  is  impossible  so  to  conceal  the  good  works  and  lively 
graces  of  God's  people  that  they  shall  not  be  known  and  spoken 
of.  V.  8.  A  good  tree  will  bring  forth  good  fruit.  They  in  whom 
Christ  is  formed  will  show  it.  See  Matt.  5  :  14,  15  ;  i  Tim.  5  :  25, 
and  many  other  places.  The  hypocrite  acts  his  part  to  be  seen  of 
men.  The  righteous  acts  his  part  to  please  God ;  but  sooner  or 
later  his  course  will  be  known  to  men. 

8.  Loving  ministers  of  Christ  should  be  loved,  listened  to,  and 
confided  in,  v.  9.  Paul  truly  declared  his  tender  affection  for  this 
church  of  Rome.  He  would  fain  win  them  more  fully  to  his  mes- 
sage and  his  Master.  Their  reputation  as  Christians  bound  them 
to  receive  him  kindly.  Brown :  "  Folks  profession  should  lay 
bonds  on  them  to  welcome  truths  from  the  hands  of  God's  mes- 
sengers." 


Ch.  L,  vs.  9,  lo.]  THE  ROMANS.  57 

9.  In  a  world  of  deception,  suspicion  and  falsehood,  the  best 
men  may  find  it  necessary  and  useful,  in  a  solemn  manner,  to  call 
God  to  witness  the  truth  of  their  declarations,  v.  9.  An  oath  for 
confirmation  is  to  men  an  end  of  all  strife.  Heb.  6  :  17.  Calvin: 
"  An  oath  is  a  needful  remedy,  whenever  a  declaration,  which 
ought  to  be  received  as  true  and  indubitable,  vacillates  through 
uncertainty."  The  oath  should  in  all  cases  be  solemnly  and  not 
lightly  taken.  It  is  against  profane  oaths  or  oaths  in  common 
conversation  that  Christ  and  his  kinsman  apostle  speak,  Matt.  5  : 
34-37;  James  5  :  12.     Against  such  we  cannot  be  too  guarded. 

10.  When  men,  the  tenor  of  whose  lives  proves  them  sincere 
and  upright,  offer  us  their  oath  or  affirmation,  we  should  receive 
their  statement,  and  act  upon  it  as  true.  Even,  if  such  may  possi- 
bly be  deceived,  or,  if  in  some  cases  those  of  good  repute  may 
speak  untruly,  we  ought  so  far  to  credit  what  is  said  as  not  to  be 
filled  with  suspicion.  It  is  better  to  be  deceived  sometimes  than 
to  suspect  every  body.  Brown  :  "  When  men  dare  hazard  their 
souls,  in  calling  God  to  witness  in  any  particular,  it  is  our  duty  to 
believe  it  as  truth,  and  not  to  question  it  any  more." 

11.  It  is  most  reasonably  required  of  us  that  we  should  serve 
and  worship  God,  v.  9.  He  is  a  fit  object  of  such  obedience  and 
adoration  as  we  can  render,  even  the  highest.  Reader,  dost  thou 
live  to  please  God  ? 

12.  Then  do  we  serve  God  aright,  when  we  serve  him  in  our 
hearts,  and  in  the  way  pointed  out  by  the  gospel  of  his  Son.  v.  9. 
Compare  Phil.  3  : 3.  Doddridge :  "  Happy  is  the  church  of 
Christ,  when  its  ministers  are  thus  conscious  of  the  excellency  of 
the  gospel,  and  thus  earnestly  desirous,  in  the  midst  of  reproach, 
persecution  and  danger,  to  extend  its  triumphs."  In  Christ's  peo- 
ple and  ministers  there  is  no  substitute  for  godly  sincerity.  Lack- 
ing that,  men  serve  themselves,  not  the  Lord. 

13.  Good  men  ought  to  pray  for  each  other,  v.  9 — ministers 
for  the  people,  and  the  people  for  ministers.  Compare  2  Thess. 
3:3.  The  great  want  of  the  church  in  our  day  is  the  want  of 
more,  fervent,  persevering  prayer.  Inconstancy  is  our  great 
error.  Luke  18  :  i  ;  21  :  36;  Rom.  12  :  12;  i  Thess.  5  :  17. 

14.  It  is  a  privilege,  worth  praying  for  with  earnestness,  to  be 
allowed  to  extend  our  Christian  acquaintance  and  our  ministerial 
usefulness  in  the  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Blessed  is  he  that 
soweth  beside  all  watercourses.  He  that  reapeth  receiveth  wages 
and  gathereth  fruit  unto  life  eternal. 

15.  Like  other  things,  journeys  are  prosperous  or  adverse,  as 
the  Lord  vouchsafes  or  withholds  his  favor  and  blessing,  v.  10. 
And  we  should  acknowledge  his  hand  in  the  commonest  affairs 


58  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  11-13. 

of  life.  One  of  the  most  mischievous  practical  errors  among 
even  real  Christians  is  that  when  the  duty  is  comparatively  easy, 
and  the  burden  comparatively  light,  they  attempt  to  go  on  in 
their  own  strength.  Thus  they  often  fail — sadly  fail.  Whereas, 
if  they  had  humbly  looked  to  God,  they  would  have  found  favor 
and  good  success. 

16.  Ministers  and  Christians  ought  to  seek  to  make  their  jour- 
neys and  visits  useful,  imparting  some  useful  hint,  example,  in- 
struction or  encouragement  to  others,  v.  11.  Let  men  go  about, 
but  let  them  go  about  doing  good. 

17.  Doing  good  is  one  of  the  best  ways  of  getting  good.  And 
it  is  mere  vanity  and  intolerable  pride  in  any  man,  however  great 
his  acquiremements,  to  think  that  plain,  humble,  private  Christians 
cannot  add  anything  to  his  strength  and  comfort,  ^f.  12.  Calvin: 
"  There  is  no  one  so  void  of  gifts  in  the  church  of  Christ,  as  not 
to  be  able  to  contribute  something  to  our  benefit."  Brown  :  "  The 
best  way  for  pastors,  or  others,  to  prevent  the  discouragement 
that  young  beginners  are  obnoxious  unto,  is  not  to  harp  too  much 
upon  their  weakness  and  infirmities,  but  rather  to  be  putting 
themselves  in  the  same  case  and  condition  with  them,  as  needing 
the  same  supply  and  help  that  they  stand  in  need  of." 

18.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  established,  v.  11.  We  all  need  it. 
The  strongest  follower  of  Christ  is  as  weak  as  water,  except  as 
his  ways  and  principles  are  confirmed  and  strengthened  by  divine 
truth  and  all-sufficient  grace  constantly  ministered  to  him.  Let 
no  man  glory  in  his  wisdom,  or  strength,  or  sufficiency,  but  only 
in  the  Lord. 

19.  Preachers  of  the  gospel  must  obey  the  directions  of  Provi- 
dence respecting  their  fields  of  labor,  and  not  consult  their  ease, 
their  pleasure  or  their  emolument,  in  deciding  where  they  shall 
exercise  their  ministry,  v.  13.  Compare  Acts  19  :  21.  Even 
Satan  and  wicked  men  are  often  let  loose  upon  us  by  the  Lord  to 
hinder  us  from  carrying  out  our  plans  respecting  the  field  we 
seek  or  occupy,  i  Thess.  2:18. 

20.  The  end  of  sowing  is  reaping,  v.  13.  '^  Fruit ! ''  what  a 
blessed  word.  How  rich  is  the  grace  that  allows  us  poor  crea- 
tures to  gather  fruit  unto  life  eternal.  Let  us  be  intent  on  our 
work  and  give  ourselves  wholly  to  it.  Brown  :  "  All  such,  whom 
the  Lord  employeth  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  are  not  to  look 
upon  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  thereby  the  gaining  of 
souls,  as  an  arbitrary  and  indifferent  thing,  which  they  may  set 
about,  when  and  how  they  please,  and  leave  off  again,  as  they 
think  good." 

21.  Insatiable  is  the  holy  desire  of  a  right-minded  man  to  do 


Ch.  I.,  vs.  13-16.]  THE  ROMANS.  59 

good  and  lead  souls  to  Christ,  v.  13.  Already  had  Paul  planted 
or  visited  and  edified  numerous  and  famous  churches ;  but  he 
would  not  rest  till  he  could  do  something  for  Rome  also.  It  is 
mentioned  in  the  life  of  Rev.  William  Graham  that  when  the 
great  revival  began  in  his  church,  he  thought  if  some  few  precious 
youths  were  brought  in,  he  would  be  satisfied.  But  when  the 
Lord  was  pleased  to  bring  them  to  hope  in  Christ,  his  desires 
increased  indefinitely.  Because  insatiable,  desires  are  not  neces- 
sarily wicked. 

22.  Ministers  and  Christians  are  bound  to  do  good  to  all  classes 
of  men,  v.  14.  They  have  no  right  to  except  any.  Differences 
in  nation,  in  origin,  in  politics,  in  social  ideas,  can  never  release 
us  from  the  obligation  to  convey  to  men  a  knowledge  of  God's 
greatest  blessing  to  man — a  pure  gospel.  Such  is  the  deplorable 
condition  of  man  by  nature,  that  without  the  salvation  of  Christ 
he  is  for  ever  undone.  All  men  need  the  gospel.  It  suits  the 
wants  of  all.  We  are  commanded  to  preach  it  to  every  creature. 
Some  slight  the  poor.  Some  avoid  the  rich.  Some  neglect  the 
ignorant.  Some  are  afraid  of  the  learned.  Some  are  offended 
with  splendor.  Some  are  driven  away  by  squalid  wretchedness. 
But  in  all  these  cases  we  err. 

23.  Let  the  measure  of  our  ability  be  the  measure  of  our  duty, 

V.   15- 

24.  Godly  and  industrious  ministers  need  not  fear  that  they  will 
ever  run  out  of  work.  If  all  the  wise  are  wise  unto  salvation, 
there  are  still  the  iimvise.  If  the  Greeks  know  God,  the  Barba- 
rians are  perhaps  still  ignorant.  If  Jerusalem,  and  Antioch,  and 
Ephesus,  and  Corinth  have  embraced  Christ,  Rome  may  still  need 
a  more  full  instruction  and  discipline  in  the  Gospel,  vs.  14,  15. 

25.  It  is  incontestable  proof  of  the  deep  depravity  of  man  that 
he  should  be  ashamed  of  the  most  glorious  things— the  gospel  and 
the  Saviour,  v.  16.  Could  a  greater  perversion  exist?  Can  any 
thing  be  more  absurd  than  that  men  should  blush  to  own  their 
greatest  and  most  needful  blessings  ?  It  is  true  the  taunts  of  un- 
godly men  are  very  bitter  and  very  scornful ;  but  they  are  wholly 
harmless,  except  as  we  yield  to  them.  Yet  many  do  yield  to 
them,  and  will  finally  and  awfully  perish.  Mark  8  :  38  ;  Luke  9  :  26 ; 
compared  with  Matt.  10 :  33  ;  Luke  12:9;  2  Tim.  1:8;  2:12. 

26.  There  have  been  many  good  discourses  and  essays  written  ^ 
on  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  bless  and  save  and  comfort  man- 
kind ;  but  none  of  them  have  exhausted  the  subject  or  even  risen 
to  the  full  height  of  the  argument.  Paul  calls  it  the  pozver  of  God, 
V.  16 ;  and  in  i  Cor.  i  :  24  he  says  that  Christ,  who  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  gospel  is  both  "  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom 


6o  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  L,  v.  i6, 

of  God."  Calvin  :  "  That  the  gospel  is  the  savor  of  death  to  the 
ungodly,  does  not  proceed  from  what  it  is,  but  from  their  own 
wickedness."     The  annals  of  this  world  tell  us  not  of  one  instance 

/  where  a  sinner  was  converted,  sanctified,  filled  with  pious  hopes, 
made  willing  to  suffer  in  the  cause  of  God,  and  enabled  mightily  to 
triumph  over  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil ;  over  fears,  temp- 
tations and  death  itself,  except  by  the  gospel  of  Christ.  It  alone  is 
mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.  2  Cor.  lo  :  4.  This 
word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful.  Heb.  4:12.  Nothing  should 
dishearten  or  discourage  God's  people  and  particularly  his  minis- 
ters from  making  known  the  blessed  truths  of  salvation.  All  those 
are  ashamed  of  the  gospel,  who,  as  Gill  says  ,"  hide  and  conceal  it, 
who  have  abilities  to  preach  it,  and  do  not ;  or  who  preach,  but 
not  the  gospel ;  or  who  preach  the  gospel  only  in  part,  who  own 
in  private  that  which  they  will  not  preach  in  public,  and  use 
ambiguous  words,  of  doubtful  signification,  to  cover  themselves ; 
who  blend  the  gospel  with  their  own  inventions,  seek  to  please 
men,  and  live  upon  popular  applause,  regard  their  own  interest, 
and  not  Christ's,  and  can't  bear  the  reproach  of  his  gospel."  I 
have  known  a  man  ashamed  of  his  mother,  because  she  spoke  bad 
grammar ;  and  another,  of  his  father  because  he  wore  coarse  cloth- 
ing ;  and  they  gained  no  credit  thereby.     But  he,  who  is  ashamed 

/  of  Christ  and  his  gospel,  is  a  sure  candidate  for  shame  and  ever- 
lasting contempt.  While  he,  who  owns  and  obeys  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  shall  infallibly  experience  its  power  to  raise  him  even  from 
the  lowest  depths  of  guilt,  ignorance  and  pollution  unto  salvation, 
beyond  which  creatures  cannot  rise. 

27.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  power  and  adaptation  of  the  gospel 
to  men,  v.  16.  It  suits  the  Jew ;  it  suits  the  Greek ;  it  meets  the 
wants  of  the  wise  and  of  the  unwise.  It  suits  us  poor  sinners  of 
the  Gentiles.  Compare  Rom.  10:  11,  12.  It  brings  to  men  all 
they  need. 

28.  The  doctrine  of  faith  is  a  great  doctrine,  which  it  behooves 
us  so  to  understand  as  to  make  no  fatal  mistakes,  vs.  8,  16,  17.  The 
wicked  may  pour  out  their  most  cruel  venom  against  it ;  but 
whether  men  shall  be  saved  will  in  the  last  day  turn,  as  God  says 
it  will,  upon  the  fact,  whether  thej-  had  genuine  living  faith  in  the 
Redeemer.  Nor  can  God  more  richly  bless  us  in  this  life,  than  by 
granting  us,  not  fewer  sorrows,  not  lighter  trials,  but  stronger 
faith. 

29.  The  excellence  of  the  true  doctrine  of  faith  is  its  simplicity 
and  equal  adaptation  to  all  nations  and  classes  of  men,  v.  16. 

30.  Of  equal  importance  is  the  Scriptural  doctrine  in  answer  to 
the  great  question.  How  shall  man  be  just  with  God  ?     It  is  the 


Ch.  I.,  V.  i;.]  THE  ROMANS.  6r 

doctrine  of  righteousness,  v.  ly.  There  is  no  light  on  the  way  of 
a  sinner's  salvation  but  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  tells  of 
hope  for  the  perishing,  pardon  for  the  guilty.  It  tells  of  God's 
method  of  justifying  the  ungodly.  Rom.  4:5.  It  speaks  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  without  the  deeds  of  the  law.  There  never  was 
but  one  way  of  justifying  sinful  men  before  God.  The  opposition 
to  the  true  scriptural  doctrine  is  strange,  malignant  and  sometimes 
blasphemous ;  but  we  cannot  give  it  up.  Paul  says.  It  is  writtefi. 
Yes  it  is  written  all  over  God's  word,  in  the  law,  the  prophets  and 
the  Psalms ;  in  the  Gospels,  the  Acts,  the  Epistles  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse. Righteousness,  perfect  and  spotless,  must  be  secured  at  the 
very  commencement  of  a  religious  life.  Whoever  is  without  it  is 
under  wrath,  and  receives  nothing  in  a  covenant  way.  Let  no 
man  deceive  himself  with  forms,  ceremonies,  professions,  self-in- 
flicted sufferings,  a  hereditary  creed,  a  sound  creed,  or  any  thing 
else.  The  only  good  hope  of  eternal  life  for  any  man  is  to  be  found 
in  the  righteousness  by  faith.  Oh  that  men  beheved  this  truth, 
and  held  it  fast.  It  is  their  life.  The  Lord  is  of  purer  eyes  than 
to  behold  evil,  and  cannot  look  on  iniquity.  Hab.  1:13.  Know  yQ 
not  that  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God? 
I  Cor.  6:9.  If  there  is  ho  way  of  making  sinners  perfectly  right- 
eous in  the  sight  of  God  and  of  his  law,  there  is  no  possibility  of 
saving  them.  All  this  is  the  more  striking  and  impressive  when 
we  duly  consider  the  sinfulness  of  man.  The  apostle  at  once  cites 
us  to  a  survey  of  the  state  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER    I. 

VERSES  18-32. 

THE  HORRIBLE  CORRUPTION,  FATAL  ERRORS  AND 
DOLEFUL  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  HEATHEN. 

18  For  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and 
unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness; 

19  Because  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them;  for  God 
hath  shewed  it  unto  them. 

20  For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly 
seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and 
Godhead  ;  so  that  they  are  without  excuse : 

21  Because  that,  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God,  neither 
were  thankful ;  but  became  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was 
darkened. 

22  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools, 

23  And  changed  the  glory  of  the  uncorruptible  God  into  an  image  made  like  to 
corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  fourfooted  beasts,  and  creeping  things. 

24  Wherefore  God  also  gave  them  up  to  uncleanness,  through  the  lusts  of  their 
own  hearts,  to  dishonour  their  own  bodies  between  themselves: 

25  Who  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  and  served  the 
creature  more  than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  for  ever.     Amen. 

26  For  this  cause  God  gave  them  up  unto  vile  affections  :  for  even  their  women 
did  change  the  natural  use  into  that  which  is  against  nature  : 

27  And  likewise  also  the  men,  leaving  the  natural  use  of  the  woman,  burned  in 
their  lust  one  toward  another;  men  with  men  working  that  which  is  unseemly,  and 
receiving  in  themselves  that  recompense  of  their  error  which  was  meet. 

28  And  even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave 
them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those  things  which  are  not  convenient; 

29  Being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness, 
maliciousness;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity;  whisperers, 

^o  Backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud,  boasters,  inventors  of  evil 
things,  disobedient  to  parents, 

31  Without  understanding,  covenant-breakers,  without  natural  affection,  implaca- 
ble, unmerciful : 

32  Who^  knowing  the  judgment  of  God,  that  they  which  commit  such  things  are 
worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have  pleasure  in  them  that  do  them. 

(62) 


Ch.  I.,  V.  1 8.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  63 

H  Q  FOR  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  un- 
JLO,  godliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold  the  truth  in 
imrighteousness.  ■  For  notes  the  connection  with  the  preceding. 
There  was  great  need  of  a  gospel  of  a  righteousness  by  faith.  God 
cannot  but  reject  all  who  have  not  perfect  righteousness,  either  in 
their  own  persons  or  in  the  person  of  the  Redeemer.  He  is  spotlessly 
holy  and  perfectly  just.  God's  wrath  is  revealed  against  the  wicked. 
The  word  rendered  wrath  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  more 
than  thirty  times ;  in  this  epistle  twelve  times.  It  is  commonly 
rendered  as  here,  once  indignation  Rev.  14  :  10 ;  once  vengeance 
Rom.  3:5;  and  thrice  anger.  In  six  or  seven  cases  it  is  appHed 
to  human  anger ;  but  commonly  it  is  used  to  express  the  punitive 
displeasure  of  God.  There  is  not  necessarily  (though  there  may 
be  commonly)  malignity  in  anger  as  felt  by  man.  Mark  3:5.  But 
God's  wrath  is  his  inflexible  purpose  to  visit  unatoned  sin  with 
condign  punishment.  Revealed,  the  same  form  of  the  same  verb 
so  rendered  in  v.  17,  on  which  see  above.  There  is  no  necessity 
for  varying  the  signification  in.  these  two  verses.  Wrath  is  re- 
vealed in  the  whole  course  of  providence  in  all  ages.  From  heaven, 
we  have  the  same  words  in  Mark  8  :  11  ;  Luke  9  :  54;  17  :  29; 
Acts  9:3;!  Pet.  1:12.  The  two  ideas,  that  seem  to  belong  to 
the  phrase  are,  i.  that  the  revelation  is  from  God  himself,  and  2. 
that  it  is  very  clear.  The  wrath  of  God,  breaking  forth  sometimes 
in  terrible  judgments,  sometimes  in  punitive  justice  executed  by 
law  and  by  society,  sometimes  infallibly  foretokened  by  remorse 
of  conscience,  and  everywhere  threatened  in  God's  word,  even  in 
the  gospel  itself,  against  those,  who  abuse  mercy  and  slight  offered 
grace,  no  less  than  against  those,  who  break  the  commandments 
and  despise  the  authority  of  God,  may  fitly  be  said  to  be  revealed 
from  heaven.  That  the  gospel  comes  with  awful  sanctions,  im- 
posing obligations  of  a  kind  more  solemn  than  were  ever  before 
known  to  men,  is  a  scriptural  doctrine.  Acts  14  :  16;  17  :  30,  31  ; 
Heb.  10  :  28,  29.  The  gospel  offers  more  ;  it  threatens  louder;  its 
promises  are  larger ;  its  curses  are  heavier  than  those  of  an}^  other 
dispensation  of  God  to  his  creatures.  It  gives  no  countenance  to 
wickedness ;  it  never  intimates  that  God  will  clear  the  guilty,  or 
accept  the  sinner  without  a  satisfaction  to  the  retributive  justice 
of  God.  Beyond  the  gospel  nothing  can  go  in  opposing  all  sin, 
whether  it  be  in  the  form  of  ungodliness — sin  in  violation  of  our 
duty  to  God ;  or  in  the  form  of  unrighteousness,  injustice,  or  ini- 
quity— sin  against  our  neighbor.  Not  only  is  God  displeased  with 
fallen  angels,  but  with  men  ;  and  not  only  with  some  grossly  igno- 
rant men,  but  with  many  who  hold  the  truth,  but  hold  it  in  imright- 
eousness.    The  truth  here  referred  to  is  the  truth  in  regard  to  the 


64  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  19,  20. 

nature  and  will  of  God,  however  made  known ;  in  particular  as 
manifest  in  the  works  of  nature  and  in  the  government  of  the 
world.  Calvin :  "  The  truth  is  the  true  knowledge  of  God ;" 
Pool :  "  All  the  light,  which  is  left  in  man  since  the  fall."  The 
word,  rendered  hold,  is  in  i  Cor.  7  :  30  and  2  Cor.  6  :  10  rendered 
possess;  in  i  Cor.  15:2  keep  in  memory ;  in  i  Thess.  5:21;  Heb. 
3:6;  10  :  23,  hold  fast;  it  has  also  the  sense  of  hinder  or  restrain, 
2  Thess  2  :  6,  7 ;  in  Luke  8:15;  Heb.  3  14  it  means  to  keep  or 
steadfastly  retain  in  a  good  sense.  Here  it  seems  to  mean  pos- 
sess, though  some  fine  scholars  prefer  imprison,  suppress,  hinder, 
detain,  confine,  or  oppose ;  Chalmers  has  stifle.  Unrighteousness, 
the  same  word  as  before.  When  any  truth  is  possessed  without 
a  corresponding  practice  it  is  held  wickedly,  hurtfuUy,  wrongfully. 
Then  men  do  not  obey  it ;  they  are  not  made  better  by  it.  Dutch 
Annotations :  "  Contrary  to  all  right  and  equity,  which  requires 
that  men  give  God  that  which  belongs  to  him."  Other  meanings 
have  been  gathered  from  the  clause ;  but  they  are  far-fetched ; 
while  this  is  obvious,  is  very  important,  grows  out  of  the  common 
use  of  the  terms,  and  agrees  with  the  context,  v.  21. 

19.  Because  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them  ; 
for  God  hath  showed  it  unto  them.     Peshito  :  Because  a  knowledge 

'  of  God  is  manifest  in  them ;  for  God  hath  manifested  it  in  them. 
There  have  always  been  among  men  the  means  of  knowing  some- 
thing of  the  existence  and  glory  of  God.  Them  clearly  refers  to 
men  in  v.  18.  In  here  means  among  as  in  vs.  5,  6,  13  of  our  chap- 
ter, also  Rom.  2  :  24;  i  Cor.  i  :  10,  11  ;  2  :  2,  6  and  often  ;  though 
not  a  few  commentators  refer  it  to  the  knowledge  of  God  in  men, 
making  the  clause  parallel  to  one  in  Rom.  2:15.  They  had  some 
knowledge  of  God. 

20.  For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  clearly  -seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his 
eternal  power  and  godhead ;  so  that  they  are  without  excuse.  Tyndale, 
Coverdale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  collocate  the  words  better  than 
in  our  authorized  version  :  His  invisible  things,  that  is  to  say,  his 
eternal  power  and  Godhead,  are  understood,  etc.  The  external 
world  has  always,  even  from  the  creation,  taught  lessons  concern- 
ing its  Maker.  The  heavens  declare  his  glory  ;  the  firmament 
sheweth  his  handy  work,  Ps.  19  :  i.  All  his  works  praise  him. 
The  reason,  why  a  miracle  was  never  wrought  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence and  power  of  God,  was  that  creation  fully  evinced  both.  If 
men  will  not  believe  the  things  that  are  made,  they  would  not 
believe  the  things  that  God  might  do.  The  divine  existence, 
power,  majesty,  wisdom,  goodness  and  sincerity  are  wondrously 
demonstrated  by  the  works  of  nature.     These  things  are  seen  "  by 


Ch.  I.  V.  21.]  THE  ROMANS.  65 

the  intellect,"  as  the  Peshito  has  it.  This  leaves  all  atheists  and 
all  idolaters  without  excuse.  Nothing  can  shield  from  just  repre- 
hension men  who  shut  their  eyes  to  the  clear  manifestations 
of  truth.  If  there  is  a  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  he  is  to  be  both 
loved  and  feared.  Wiclif:  So  that  thei  maun  not  be  excused. 
Compare  Acts  14  :  17.  Before  men  can  yield  themselves  up  to 
atheism,  polytheism,  idolatry  or  ungodliness  they  must  resist  clear 
and  strong  convictions,  even  if  they  live  in  heathen  lands.  "  Every 
one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,"  wherever  may  be  his  home. 
All  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  are  the  fruit  of  a  depraved 
nature.  The  light  has  shined  on  men  from  the  creation.  This  is 
better  than  by  the  creation. 

21.  Because  that,  when  they  knezv  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as 
God,  neither  were  thankful ;  but  became  vain  in  their  imaginations, 
and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.  Several  of  the  old  versions 
are  striking.  Tyndale  :  In  as  moche  as  when  they  knewe  God, 
they  glorified  him  not  as  God,  nether  were  thankfull,  but  wexed 
full  of  vanities  in  their  imaginacions,  and  their  folisshe  hertes  were 
blynded.  The  object  of  the  apostle  in  this  verse  and  in  all  this 
context  is  to  show  that  salvation  by  human  merits  is  impossible, 
inasmuch  as  men  were  both  impious  and  unjust,  having  no  right- 
eousness whatever,  even  perverting  and  abusing  the  plainest  and 
chiefest  truths  in  religion,  such  as  the  existence  and  excellence  of 
God.  To  this  they  added  ingratitude,  the  sum  of  all  wickedness. 
Well-bred  people  thank  even  another  man's  servant  for  a  small 
favor,  such  as  a  cup  of  cold  water.  How  vile  must  be  the  heart 
that  warms  not  with  gratitude  to  him,  who  lavishes  on  us  innume- 
rable blessings,  all  wholly  unmerited.  Often  do  heathen  writers 
acknowledge  that  God  is  the  author  of  their  benefits.  The 
famous  words — 

Deus  hsec  otia  nobis  fecit — 

are  but  a  sample.  Yet  how  they  forsake  his  worship  and  turn  to 
idols  !  Even  Socrates,  condemned  for  rejecting  polytheism,  at  his 
death  ordered  a  cock  to  be  offered  to  ^sculapius.  And  Seneca, 
a  cotemporary  of  Paul,  wrote  with  great  spirit  and  pungency 
against  the  foolish  and  wicked  idolatry  of  his  times.  Yet  he  says 
that  a  wise  man  will  conform  to  such  rites,  as  required  by  law,  and 
not  at  all  as  pleasing  to  God.  He  adds :  "  All  this  ignoble  rabble 
of  gods,  which  ancient  superstition  has  now  of  a  long  time  been 
heaping  up,  we  will  so  adore  as  to  remember  that  the  worship  of 
them  is  due  rather  to  custom  than  material  in  itself."  So  that  as 
Augustin  says,  "  He  worshipped  what  he  found  fault  with,  he  prac- 
tised what  he  reproved,  and  he  adored  what  he  blamed."     It  is  gen- 


66  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v,  22. 

erally  agreed  that  light  and  knowledge  enhance  guilt.  These 
people  not  only  might  have  known  God,  but  did  actually  know 
much,  concerning  him,  and  then  refused  to  honor  him  as  he 
deserved.  To  this  they  were  led  by  one  gross,  master  sin,  ingrat- 
itude, to  which  their  wicked  hearts  naturally  and  powerfully 
inclined  them.  The  same  depravity  made  them  vain  in  their  im- 
aginations. The  word  rendered  imagiyiations  is  elsewhere  nine 
times  rendered  thoughts,  once  doubting,  once  doubtful,  once  dis- 
putings,  once  reasoning,  here  only  imaginations.  The  cognate 
verb  is  eleven  times  rendered  reasoned,  once  disputed,  once  con- 
sider, once  mused  and  once  cast  in  her  mind.  Wiclif  and  the 
Doway  read  thoughts ;  Rheims,  cogitations ;  Chrysostom,  Dutch 
Annotations,  Adam,  Doddridge,  Parens,  Beza,  Turrettin,  Guyse, 
Pool,  Macknight,  and  Conybeare  and  Howson  have  reasonings. 
Tholuck  correctly  refers  the  whole  to  man's  mind,  his  inward  being, 
and  adds  "  religious  and  moral  error  is  always  the  consequence  of 
religious  and  moral  perversity."  Calvin  :  "  Thej^  quickly  choked  by 
their  own  depravity  the  seed  of  right  knowledge,  before  it  grew  to 
ripeness."  And  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.  For  foolish  Wiclif 
has  unwise;  Macknight,  imprudent ;  Stuart,  inconsiderate  ;  Hodge, 
senseless  and  wicked.  This  dreadful  perversity  led  to  terrible  folly 
and  darkness.  Heart  sometimes  designates  the  intellectual  powers, 
Matt.  13  :  15  ;  Acts  28  :  27 ;  sometimes  the.  conscience,  i  John  3 
20,  21  ;  sometimes  the  seat  of  the  affections,  Mark  16  :  14;  Luke  8 
15  ;  Rom.  6  :  17,  and  sometimes  the  whole  inner  man.  Matt.  15  :  19 
Heb.  4:12.  In  our  verse  the  word  may  be  taken  in  each  or  in  all 
of  these  senses,  for  they  are  all  true.  Wicked  men  are  as  foolish 
as  they  are  perverse.  They  are  awfully  left  to  themselves.  They 
are  benighted.     They  are  lost. 

22.  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools.  For  pro^ 
fessing  Wiclif  and  Rheims  have  saying ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and 
Genevan,  when  they  counted  ;  Peshito,  while  they  thought  within 
themselves  ;  Conybeare  and  Howson,  calling  themselves ;  Calvin, 
while  they  were  thinking.  In  Acts  25  :  19  the  same  word  is  ren- 
dered, affirmed.  Tholuck :  The  word  most  frequently  in  Greek 
denotes  the  vaunting  of  a  pretender.  The  pretensions  of  the 
heathen  to  wisdom  and  piety  have  always  been  great.  The 
Greeks  and  Romans  were  not  exceptions.  In  particular  the 
Greeks  boasted  prodigiously  of  their  attainments  in  philosophy. 
But  their  claims  were  idle  and  delusive.  In  their  wisdom  they 
were,  if  possible,  further  from  the  truth  than  in  their  acknowledged 
ignorance.  The  philosophers  were  as  far  from  the  truth  as  the 
common  people.  They  all  together  beeame  fools ;  Guyse,  were 
really  stupid  and  senseless,  like  perfect  idiots ;  Doddridge,  they 


Ch.  I..  V.  23,  24.]  THE  ROMANS.  67 

became  fools  and  idiots,  degrading,  in  the  lowest  and  most  infa- 
mous manner,  the  reason  which  they  so  arrogantly  pretended  to 
improve,  and  almost  to  engross.  But  in  the  Scriptures  a  fool  de- 
notes either  one,  who  is  an  idiot  or  a  very  weak  man,  Prov.  10  :  8 ; 

13  :  20;  2  Cor.  12  :  6 ;  or  one  who  is  vile  and  wicked,  Ps.  14  :  i ;  Pr. 

14  :  16;  Luke  24  :  25.  As  all  sin  is  folly,  and  in  particular  as  high 
conceits  of  our  own  attainments  in  religion  are  proof  both  of  the 
vanity  and  wickedness  of  our  minds,  so  the  apostle  declares  these 
Gentiles  to  be  both  unwise  and  vile.  Such,  beyond  a  doubt,  was 
their  real  character.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  determine  which  was 
the  more  monstrous,  their  folly  or  their  sinfulness,  nor  which  of 
these  had  the  greater  tendency  to  produce  the  other,  for  wicked- 
ness leads  to  folly  and  folly  to  wickedness,  yea,  wickedness  is  folly, 
and  folly  in  divine  things  is  wickedness.  So  that  the  Bible  is 
right  in  not  carefully  preserving  the  distinction  between  fools  and 
sinners.  Macknight  thinks  the  language  of  this  verse  the  more 
pungent,  as  it  is  put  into  a  writing  addressed  to  the  Romans,  who 
were  great  admirers  of  the  Greeks. 

23.  And  changed  the  glory  of  tlie  uncorruptible  God  into  an  image 
made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and 
creeping  things.  For  changed  many  read  turned.  The  substitution 
of  any  creature  for  Jehovah  is  vile  perversion,  but  most  of  the 
forms  of  idolatry  are  so  gross  that  we  wonder  every  mind  is  not 
shocked.  Glory  here  means  honor,  or  majesty,  or  excellence.  Ufi- 
corruptible  ;  Tyndale  and  Cranmer,  immortal ;  so  rendered  also  in 
I  Tim.  I  :  17;  the  opposite  of  corruptible  or  mortal  in  this  verse, 
which  applied  to  inanimate  things  means  perishable,  i  Cor.  9  :  26 ; 
to  man,  mortal.  The  cognate  noun  is  rendered  sincerity,  Eph. 
6  :  24 ;  Tit.  2  :  7 ;  in  i  Cor.  15  four  times  incorruption,  and  else- 
where immortality,  Rom.  2:7;!  Tim.  i  :  10.  Robinson  renders 
it  exemption  from  decay.  The  heathen  vainly  talked  of  their  im- 
mortal gods,  while  they  were  mere  vanities.  The  minds  of  the 
heathen  being  blinded  and  perverted,  they  freely  consented  to 
gross  and  wicked  conceptions  of  the  Almighty,  such  as  could  be 
set  forth  by  some  kind  of  image,  often  drawn  from  low  and  perish- 
able things.  The  likeness  of  man  or  angel,  of  the  sun  or  moon  no 
more  adequately  or  justly  shows  forth  the  true  nature  of  God  than 
does  the  similitude  of  an  ox,  or  ass,  an  owl,  a  bat,  a  toad,  a  lizard 
or  an  anaconda.  Therefore  we  need  not  marvel  that  when  men 
become  worshippers  of  any  but  Jehovah,  they  soon  sink  to  the 
lowest  depths  of  idolatry,  or  are  ready  to  do  so.  Such  wickedness 
could  not  pass  unpunished. 

24.  Wherefore  God  also  gave  them  up  to  uncleanness,  through  the 
lusts  of  their  own  hearts,  to  dishonor  their  oivn  bodies  between  themselves 


68  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  L,  v.  25. 

Gave  them  up,  delivered  them  over,  committed  them,  (abandoned 
says  Ferme,)  in  a  bad  sense  betrayed,  found  also  in  vs.  26,  28 ;  in 
Rom.  4:25;  8  :  32  delivered.  Chrysostom  :  "  Not  only  was  their 
doctrine  satanical,  but  their  life  too  was  diabolical."  To  unclcan- 
ness,  always  so  rendered  in  the  authorized  version,  and  commonly 
in  most  others.  The  cognate  adjective  unclean  is  the  word  ap- 
plied to  the  possessions  of  devils,  Matt.  10  :  i,  and  often.  In  Rev. 
18  :  21  we  have  every /<??// spirit.  The  word  here  used  often  de- 
notes wickedness  in  general,  always  impurity  of  some  kind.  God 
gave  them  not  over  to  their  hateful  course  without  a  cause.  This 
was  found  in  the  lusts  of  their  own  hearts.  Lusts,  commonly  used 
in  a  bad  sense,  then  rendered  as  here  or  concupiscence,  Rom.  7:8; 
Col.  3:5;  but  sometimes  in  a  good  sense,  then  rendered  desire, 
Luke  22  :  15  ;  i  Thess.  2:15.  Being  given  over  of  God,  they  sank 
into  debasement,  disgraceful  to  their  whole  natures.  The  word 
rendered  dishonor  is  in  Luke  20  :  1 1  entreat  shamefully  ;  in  James 
2:6,  despise  ;  Wiclif:  Punysche  with  wrongis ;  Tyndale,  Cran- 
mer  and  Genevan :  defyle ;  Rheims :  abuse.  By  their  bodies  we 
are  to  understand  their  whole  persons,  preeminently  their  animal 
natures. 

25.  Who  changed  tJie  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  and 
served  the  creature,  more  than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  for  ever. 
Amen.  This  verse  both  in  Greek  and  English  closely  resembles 
V.  23d.  Cranmer :  Which  have  turned  hys  truthe  unto  a  lye,  and 
worshypped  and  serued  the  thynges  that  be  made,  more  than  him 
that  made  them,  &c. ;  Peshito :  And  they  changed  the  truth  of 
God  into  a  lie ;  and  worshipped  and  served  the  created  things 
much  more  than  the  Creator  of  them,  to  whom  belong  glory  and 
blessing,  for  ever  and  ever :  Amen  ;  Stuart :  Who  exchanged  the 
true  God  for  a  false  one,  &c.  Changed,  the  Greek  occurs  but  twice 
in  the  N.  T.  here  and  in  v.  26.  It  strictly  means  to  exchange  one 
thing  for  another.  This  is  just  what  Gentilism  does.  It  not 
merely  mars  right  thoughts  and  the  pure  worship  of  God ;  it 
wholly  subverts  all  true  religion.  It  changes  not  merely  the  man- 
ner but  also  the  very  object  of  worship.  By  the  truth  of  God  some 
understand  the  true  God.  No  doubt  that  idea  is  included,  but 
there  is  no  necessity  for  so  limiting  the  sense.  The  whole  of  re- 
ligion is  by  paganism  subverted,  changed  into  a  lie,  or  lying.  The 
word  is  in  the  N.  T.  uniformly  rendered.  Whoever  is  pleased 
with  idolatry  under  any  form  or  pretence,  shows  that  he  is  not  of 
God  nor  of  the  truth,  for  no  lie  is  of  the  truth,  and  no  lie  is  of  God. 
All  false  worship  is  a  deception,  a  falsehood,  a  lying  vanity.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  It  disowns  Jehovah,  and  leaves  the  poor 
soul  without  a  God,  who  can  help,  or  hear,  or  see,  or  save.     Wor^ 


Ch.  I.,  V.  26.]  THE  ROMANS.  69 

shipped,  i.  e.  venerated,  reverenced,  offered  their  devotions  to. 
Served,  primarily  equivalent  to  rendered  bodily  service  ;  but  in  the 
new  Testament  generally,  gave  religious  homage.  Matt.  4:  10; 
Rom.  7:15.  See  above  on  v.  9.  The  two  words  include  every 
thing  rightly  called  religious  worship.  The  creature,  any  thing 
made,  often  used  collectively,  once  applied  to  a  law  made  by  man, 
I  Pet.  2  :  13,  and  once  to  a  building,  Heb.  4:11.  If  worship  is 
offered  to  any  thing  made  by  God  or  man,  it  matters  little  whether 
in  created  eyes  it  be  great  or  small.  One  may  as  well  worship  a 
toad  as  the  sun,  an  onion  as  an  archangel,  an  atom  as  the  whole 
creation.  Each  and  all  of  these  are  infinitely  below  God.  More 
than,  in  the  Greek  a  preposition,  which  may  be  rendered  more 
than,  above,  beyond,  against  or  contrary  to.  In  v.  26,  also  in 
Rom.  4:  18  and  elsewhere  it  is  rendered  against.  Luther:  Rather 
than  the  Creator  ;  Erasmus  :  Above  the  Creator  ;  Grotius  :  In  the 
place  of  the  Creator ;  Beza  and  Doddridge  :  To  the  neglect  of  the 
Creator.  Whoever  pays  religious  homage  to  any  creature  insults 
the  divine  majesty,  honors  something  rather  than  God,  more  than 
God,  against  God,  contrary  to  God,  his  being,  his  glory,  his  law, 
his  government.  Bless-ed,  not  the  word  signifying  happy,  rendered 
blessed  in  Matt.  5  :  3-1 1  ;  in  i  Tim.  i  :  11  ;  6  :  15  ;  but  the  word 
signifying  praised,  adored,  extolled,  i.  e.  worthy  to  be  praised,  &c. 
In  the  N.  T.  this  word  is  applied  to  none  but  to  God  only ;  though 
the  cognate  verb  is  used  to  express  the  good  wishes  and  hearty 
prayers  of  one  creature  for  another,  as  well  as  praise  to  God. 
Compare  Heb.  11  :  20,  21  ;  Jas.  3  :  9.  For  ever,  the  precise  form 
of  words  found  in  the  Lord's  prayer.  Matt.  6:13.  Amen,  a  word 
often  transferred  to  various  languages.  It  is  Hebrew  and  means 
faithfulness,  truth,  or  faithful,  true.  Jehovah  early  revealed  him- 
self as  a  God  of  Amen,  Deut.  32  :  4.  At  the  beginning  of  a  sen- 
tence or  speech  Amen  is  a  solemn  mode  of  averring,  as  in  Matt. 
18:3;  John  3:3.  At  the  close  of  a  speech  from  one,  it  is  a  re- 
sponse from  others,  or  an  expressed  concurrence  in  a  prayer 
offered  in  behalf  of  others  or  in  communion  with  them. 

26.  For  this  cause  God  gave  them,  up  unto  vile  affections :  for  eve?it 
their  women  did  change  the  natural  use  into  that  which  is  against 
nature.  Gave  up,  the  same  verb  and  in  the  same  form  as  in  v.  24. 
Vile  affections,  dishonorable  lusts,  shameful  longings ;  Peshito  : 
Vile  passions;  Stuart:  base  passions  ;  Rheims  :  passions  of  igno- 
miny ;  Locke :  shameful  and  infamous  lusts  and  passions.  The 
corruption  went  so  far  that  it  invaded  all  the  privacies  of  life,  and 
debased  the  characters  of  the  more  delicate  sex  and  stung  men 
with  the  reflection  that  they  could  neither  believe  the  innocence, 
nor  trust  the  purity  of  their   own  wives,  daughters,  sisters  or 


JO  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  27-29. 

mothers,  and  inspired  jealousy,  which  is  the  rage  of  a  man,  to  con- 
sume them  with  coals  of  juniper. 

27.  And  likewise  also  the  men,  leaving  the  natural  use  of  the 
woman,  burned  in  their  lust  one  toward  another,  men  with  men  working 
that  which  is  unseemly,  and  receiving  in  themselves  that  recompeyise 
of  their  error  which  was  meet.  Such  wickedness  met  with  pun- 
ishment, recompense,  retribution,  even  in  this  life.  The  heathen 
were  led  into  it  by  error,  the  deceit  that  is  in  sin,  the /r^z^<af  practised 
by  the  devil,  all  resulting  from  their  wandering  from  God.  Who- 
ever has  any  familiarity  with  Greek  and  Roman  classics  cannot 
lack  proof  of  the  horrible  baseness  and  degrading  practices  refer- 
red to  in  vs.  24,  26,  27.  See  the  testimonies  of  Petronius,  Sueto- 
nius, Martial,  Seneca,  Virgil,  Juvenal  and  Lucian.  Many  such 
are  collected  by  Bos,  Grotius,  Wetstein,  Cox,  Macknight,  Tho- 
luck,  Stuart  and  others.  The  destruction  of  domestic  love,  the 
brutality  consequent  upon  the  basest  vices,  and  the  hideous  forms 
of  loathsome  disease  thus  induced  constituted  a  meet,  appropriate 
reward  of  forsaking  God. 

28.  And  even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowl- 
edge, God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  inind,  to  do  those  things 
which  are  not  convenient.  Peshito  has  the  first  clause :  And  as 
they  did  not  determine  with  themselves  to  know  God  ;  Clarke : 
They  did  not  search  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge  ;  Tyn- 
dale :  It  seemed  not  good  unto  them  to  be  aknowen  of  God. 
The  Doway  and  many  others  substantially  agree  with  the  au- 
thorized version.  The  first  verb  is  well  translated.  They  did 
not  like^  i.  e.  it  did  not  seem  good  to  them,  it  was  not  their  plea- 
sure, they  did  not  determine,  as  they  would  have  done  had  they 
been  right  minded.  In  Rom.  2  :  18  the  same  word  is  rendered 
approve ;  in  14  :  22  allow.  To  retain,  literally  to  have  or  to  hold. 
Gave  over,  the  same  in  vs.  24,  26  is  rendered  gave  up.  See  on  v. 
24.  It  is  used  both  in  a  good  and  bad  sense.  Reprobate,  always  so 
rendered  in  the  N.  T.  except  twice  ;  in  i  Cor.  9  :  27,  a  castaway ; 
and  in  Heb.  6  :  8,  rejected.  It  means  rejected  after  trial,  castaway 
after  being  proved.  Some  render  it  undiscerning  or  unsearching  ; 
but  this  is  feeble  and  unsupport^.  The  heathen  did  not  like  or 
approve  God,  and  God  did  not  like  or  approve  them.  Those 
things  which  are  not  convenient,  not  fit,  right  or  becoming.  For  not 
convenient  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan,  have  not  comly : 
Stuart,  base.  More  is  implied  than  is  expressed.  It  means  they 
were  left  to  do  odious  and  abominable  things,  such  as  are  at  once 
mentioned  : 

29.  Being  filled  ivith  all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness, 
covetousness,  maliciousness  ;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malig- 


Ch.  I.,  V.  29-]  THE  ROMANS.  yi 

nity ;  whisperers.  Being  filled  and  full,  words  in  Greek,  not  even 
cognate.  Perhaps  one  word  is  as  strong  as  the  other.  The 
latter  may  mean  stuffed.  Conybeare  and  Howson  render  the 
latter,  They  overflow  with.  The  first  noun,  unrighteousness,  means 
injustice,  iniquity,  wrong.  Wiclif  has  wickidness.  It  here  refers 
to  wrong  committed  by  one  man  against  another.  It  is  preceded 
by  all,  which  also  qualifies  the  nouns  following ;  all,  i.  e.  every 
kind  of  injustice.  When  men  rob  and  wrong  God,  you  need  not 
be  surprised  to  hear  of  their  practising  the  grossest  injustice  to 
each  other.  The  second  noun  includes  all  violations  of  the 
seventh  commandment,  whether  by  adultery,  fornication,  whore- 
dom, harlotry,  concubinage,  incest  or  any  other  form  of  lewdness. 
The  Peshito  and  Doddridge  render  it  lewdness ;  Macknight  and 
Stuart,  uncleanness.  Clarke  correctly  says  it  includes  "  all  com- 
merce between  the  sexes  out  of  the  bounds  of  lawful  marriage." 
The  third  noun,  wickedness,  is  very  comprehensive.  Conybeare 
and  Howson  have  depravity.  It  includes  all  acts  of  hurtfulness, 
grievousness,  malignancy  or  badness ;  in  our  version  always  ren- 
dered as  here,  except  once  in  the  plural  iniquities,  Acts  3  :  26. 
Calvin  cities  Ammonius  in  favor  of  rendering  this  word  wickedness, 
and  thinks  it  means  "  practised  wickedness,  or  licentiousness  in  do- 
ing mischief."  Stuart  has  malice.  The  word  points  out  all  acts  of 
oppression,  which  give  men  labor  and  sorrow.  The  fourth  term, 
covet ousnsss,  points  out  the  sin  of  grasping  after  more  worldly  pos- 
sessions than  one  has,  without  due  regard  to  the  will  of  God  or 
the  rights  of  men.  It  is  the  love  of  the  world,  particularly  of 
wealth.  By  maliciousness  we  may  understand  that  state  of  mind, 
which  makes  one  a  wrong-doer  without  provocation,  a  wanton, 
injurious  person  ;  one  having  a  love  of  mischief.  Stuart  has  mis- 
chief; Clarke,  ill-will.  In  the  common  version  it  is  also  rendered 
evil,  malice,  wickedness  and  naughtiness.  Envy  is  a  malignant,  rest- 
less, devilish,  tormenting  passion.  It  sickens  at  the  worth,  success, 
or  good  name  of  others,  especially  neighbors  and  competitors.  It  is 
the  great  instigator  of  strife  and  of  bloodshedding.  It  caused  the 
first  fratricide,  i  John  3:12.  Very  appositely  therefore  does  the 
apostle  next  mention  murder,  or  the  slaying  of  men.  To  this 
crime  the  propensity  of  men  without  the  restraints  of  God's  word 
and  providence  is  so  strong  that  society  soon  becomes  intolerable. 
In  ancient  Rome  the  wicked  and  violent  destruction  of  human  life 
was  truly  fearful.  But  over  most  of  the  heathen  world  infanticide 
alone  would  justify  the  charge  here  made.  Many  murders  spring 
from  strife  or  debate  as  the  word  is  according  to  an  old  usage 
rendered  here  and  in  2  Cor.  12  :  20.  Low  quarrelling,  bloody 
broils,  perpetual  contentions,  cruel  contests  embitter  life  in  all 


72  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  30. 

heathen  countries.  Of  course  candor,  fairness,  truth  are  sadly 
wanting,  and  deceit,  guile,  craft,  subtilty  (for  the  world  has  all 
these  renderings  in  the  N.  T.)  sadly  abound.  The  original  word 
means  bait.  The  figure  is  drawn  from  hunting.  Lying  is  so 
common  in  heathen  countries  that  in  India  it  is  a  saying.  Open  the 
mouth,  and  the  lie  will  come  out.  All  these  things  flow  from  and 
promote  malignity  ;  WicUf  has  yuel  wille  ;  Doddridge,  inveteracy 
of  evil  habits ;  Macknight,  bad  disposition  ;  Genevan,  takyng  all 
things  in  the  euyl  part.  For  the  last  rendering  we  have  the  best 
classical  authority,  and  no  other  word  in  this  chapter  expresses 
that  precise  idea.  The  Peshito  has  evil  machinations.  Some 
think  the  word  denotes  rudeness  of  manners ;  but  the  Genevan 
translation  gives  the  best  interpretation.  Wherever  iniquity  thus 
abounds  the  tongue  will  be  sure  to  be  set  on  fire  of  hell ;  and  next 
we  read  of  whisperers,  a  word  found  no  where  else  in  the  N.  T. 
though  we  once  have  its  cognate  whisperings,  2  Cor.  12  :  20.  It 
points  out  those  mischief-makers,  secret  slanderers,  whose  arts  are 
innumerable,  and  the  evil  consequences  of  whose  conduct  are  felt 
every  where.  Doddridge  and  Macknight  think  it  designates  only 
secret  slanderers  of  persons  who  are  present.  No  doubt  such  are 
included,  but  there  is  no  authority  for  thus  confining  its  meaning. 
Locke  and  Stuart  have  backbiters ;  and  Wiclif,  prying  backbiters. 
But  when  without  God's  word  wickedness  is  in  the  ascendant,  it 
knows  no  bounds,  and  the  unregenerate  are  also, 

30.  Backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud,  boasters,  inventors 
of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents.  Most  English  versions  have 
backbiters;  Wiclif,  Rheims  and  Doway,  detractors;  Macknight, 
revilers ;  Tholuck  and  Stuart,  open  slanderers.  Haters  of  God, 
from  the  form  of  the  Greek  some  would  render  it  hated  of  God ; 
but  in  many  cases  words  in  that  form  have  an  active  sense.  Paul 
is  speaking  of  the  sins  of  the  heathen,*  not  of  their  punishment. 
That  wicked  men  do  hate  God  is  proved  by  their  daily  conduct 
and  by  many  Scriptures.  Ps.  81  :  15  ;  John  J  :  T,  15  :  23-25  ;  Rom. 
8  :  7.  This  language  is  not  too  strong.  Despiteful,  Peshito,  scof- 
fers ;  Wiclif,  debaters ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan,  doers  of 
wronge ;  Rheims,  contumelious.  In  i  Tim.  i  :  13  the  same  word 
is  by  Paul  applied  to  himself  before  his  conversion,  and  is  rendered 
injurious.  Doddridge  has  violent  and  overbearing.  Locke,  insult- 
ers  of  men ;  Macknight,  insolent  towards  inferiors ;  Conybeare 
and  Howson,  outrageous.  Proud,  haughty,  arrogant,  in  the  N.  T. 
always  rendered  as  here.  Cicero,  Juvenal  and  Horace  all  claim 
that  virtue  is  from  ourselves,  not  from  God.  The  cognate  noun 
occurs  but  once  and  is  rendered  pride,  Mark  7  :  22.  Conybeare 
and  Howson  have  overweening.     Boasters,  an  excellent  rendering, 


Ch.  L,  V.  31.]  THE  ROMANS.  ;3 

the  same 'as  in  2  Tim.  3  :  2.  The  Peshito  has  vain-glorious.  This 
does  not  materially  vary  the  sense.  All  such  assume  to  them- 
selves more  than  is  their  due.  It  is  a  sin  full  of  evil  to  the  world 
that  men  should  be  assumptive  in  their  hearts  or  manners.  In- 
ventors of  evil  things,  Wiclif,  fynders  of  yuel  thingis  ;  Tyndale  and 
Cranmer,  bringers  vp  of  evyll  thinges ;  Peshito,  devisers  of  evil 
things ;  Macknight,  inventors  of  unlawful  pleasures ;  Locke,  in- 
ventors of  new  arts  of  debauchery ;  Doddridge  has  much  the  same. 
These  last  authors  doubtless  point  to  the  characters  intended. 
Disobedient  to  parents,  Peshito,  disregardful  of  parents.  The  Doway 
exactly  agrees  with  the  authorized  version.  Several  old  English 
versions  for  parents  have  fadir  and  modir.  The  common  version 
is  literal ;  but  the  phrase  doubtless  designates  all  violators  of  the 
fifth  commandment.  In  heathen  countries  these  abound,  being 
encouraged  by  the  very  principles  of  false  religions.  Such  persons 
are  naturally  enough 

31.  Without  understanding,  covenant-breakers,  without  natural 
affection,  implacable,  unmerciful.  Without  U7tder standing,  the  word 
occurs  in  the  N.  T.  five  times  and  is  in  our  version  always  rendered 
as  here,  or  foolish.  Wiclif  has  unwise ;  the  Doway,  foolish  ;  Tholuck, 
stupid  about  things  divine  ;  Macknight,  imprudent ;  Stuart,  Incon- 
siderate or  foolish  ;  Conybeare  &  Howson,  bereft  of  wisdom.  No 
word  could  better  describe  the  superstitions,  follies,  fancies, 
frenzies  and  senseless  rites  and  observances  of  Pagans,  who  are 
also  covenant-breakers.  This  word  does  not  here  refer  so  much  to 
breaking  covenant  with  God  as  with  man,  faithless  persons,  who 
feel  themselves  free  to  act  in  disregard  of  their  word,  their  promise, 
their  bond,  and  even  their  oath.  If  such  find  that  they  have  sworn 
to  their  own  hurt,  or  made  a  hard  bargain,  they  will  change,  with 
or  without  pretext.  Hesychius :  "  They  adhere  not  to  compacts." 
The  heathen  are  also  to  a  fearful  extent  without  natural  affection, 
parents  sadly  regardless  of  the  lives  and  wants  of  their  offspring ; 
children  not  being  tender  of  the  feelings,  honor,  or  comfort  of 
their  parents,  especially  of  their  mothers,  and  particulary  when 
they  become  infirm  or  helpless,  etc.  This  natural  affection  is 
much  celebrated  in  ancient  writings,  especially  as  it  is  displayed 
in  irrational  creatures.  But  sin  often  sinks  men  below  the  brutes. 
Implacable,  literally,  without  truce,  declining  reconciliation,  refus- 
ing to  be  on  peaceable  terms.  Wiclif:  with  outen  bonde  of  pees. 
The  word  occurs  in  one  other  place,  2  Tim.  3:3;  and  is  there 
perhaps  erroneously  rendered  truce-breakers.  If  some  men  have 
disagreements  with  neighbors,  they  are  never  afterwards  recon- 
ciled. Conybeare  &  Howson  read  ruthless.  Of  course  such  men 
are   unmerciful,    Peshito :    in   whom   is   no   compassion  ;    Wiclif, 


74  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  i8. 

Rheims  and  Doway :  without  mercy ;  Tyndale  and  Genevan : 
merciles ;  Stuart :  without  compassion.  The  Greek  words  of 
this  verse  all  begin  with  the  privative  equal  to  our  un,  and  Owen 
of  Thrussington  attempts  to  preserve  something  of  that  form — 
Unintelligent,  unfaithful,  unnatural,  unappeasable,  unmerciful. 

32.  Who,  knowing  the  judginent  of  God,  that  they  which  commit 
such  things  are  worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have  pleasure 
in  them  that  do  them.  For  judgment  some  have  erroneously  read 
justice  or  righteousness.  So  Calvin,  the  Doway,  and  several  old 
English  versions.  In  this  verse  judgment  is  evidently  equivalent 
to  purpose,  determination,  decision.  In  Luke  1:6;  Heb.  2  :  i,  10 
the  same  word  in  the  plural  is  rendered  ordinances.  The  term  is 
equivalent  to  the  law  of  God,  which  law  is  written  on  the  hearts 
of  men.  The  heathen,  therefore,  knew  this  statute  of  God.  Many 
of  them  inveighed  against  the  things  here  condemned.  Many 
laws  were  at  various  times  enacted  and  sometimes  enforced  against 
them,  even  to  the  taking  of  life.  But  the  death  here  mentioned 
is  that  of  the  soul,  an  endurance  of  the  anger  of  God.  For 
although  in  Luke  23  :  15  ;  Acts  23  :  29  ;  25  :  11,  25  ;  26  :  31  the 
phrase  refers  to  the  death  of  the  body,  yet  in  each  of  those  cases 
it  is  of  human  laws  that  the  terms  are  employed.  Peshito :  They 
know  the  judgment  of  God,  that  he  condemneth  to  death  those, 
etc.  But  to  be  worthy  of  death  at  God's  tribunal  is  an  awful 
thing.  It  is  to  be  under  the  curse  of  his  law,  under  his  wrath. 
Though  the  heathen  knew  God's  law  in  these  matters,  they  sinned 
on,  and  knowingly  persisted  in  disregarding  the  divine  will.  They 
did  more :  they  had  pleasure  in  those  who  thus  sinned.  That  is, 
they  thought  well  of  them,  sympathized  with  them  and  encouraged 
them  by  being  their  boon  companions. 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  It  is  clear  that  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked,  v.  18.  It  cannot 
be  otherwise.  God  is  holy,  and  hates  sin,  and  from  the  upright- 
ness of  his  nature  he  must  punish  sin.  His  wrath  is  revealed  in 
the  human  conscience  and  in  the  whole  course  of  his  providence. 
It  is  revealed  in  the  clearest  manner.  Experience,  history  and 
observation  thus  teach. 

2.  Men  seek  in  vain  for  justification  by  the  deeds  of  the  law, 
for  in  them  are  found  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness,  and  over 
them  impends  the  curse  of  a  violated  law,  which  is  holy,  just  and 
good,  both  in  its  precept  and  in  its  penalty,  v.  18. 

3.  Amazing  is  the  self-righteousness  of  men,  that  hesitates  and 
even  refuses  to  regard  the  gospel  scheme  necessary  to  our  salva- 


Ch.  I.,  V.  i8.]  THE  ROMANS.  75 

tion,  until  we  are  stricken  with  a  sense  of  the  holiness  and  terrors 
of  the  Lord,  v.  18. 

4.  Nothing  can  excuse  much  less  justify  our  rebellion  against 
God.  It  deserves  all  the  divine  displeasure  revealed  against  it, 
V.  18.  Its  nature  is  hideous,  frightful,  so  that  in  comparison  of  it 
nothing  else  is  to  be  dreaded.  God  and  all  good  beings  abhor 
it. 

5.  Wicked  as  men  are,  and  wild  as  is  the  confusion  that  some- 
times seems  to  reign  in  human  affairs,  God  still  governs  the  world, 
and  will  sway  his  sceptre  over  it  to  the  consummation,  vs.  18,  19. 
And  although  time  is  not  the  part  of  duration,  nor  earth  the  theatre, 
where  and  when  full  justice  is  displayed ;  yet  enough  is  done  to 
enable  a  wise  man  to  see  that  if  these  things  be  done  in  the  green 
tree,  that  which  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  will  be  very  terrible. 

6.  Nor  should  godly  men  ever  find  fault  with  the  dealings  of 
the  Lord  with  them  in  the  way  of  chastisement,  for  the  best  of 
men  are  but  men  at  the  best,  and  in  many  things  we  all  offend. 
Judgment  may  be  expected  to  begin  at  the  house  of  God.  Where- 
fore doth  a  living  man  complain,  a  man  for  the  punishment  of  his 
sins  ?  Shall  we,  who  deserve  no  favor,  receive  good  at  the  hand  of 
the  Lord,  and  shall  we,  who  deserve  all  disfavor,  not  receive  evil 
also  ?  Job  2:10;  Lam,  3  :  39 ;  i  Pet.  4:17.  Sin  must  be  punished, 
will  be  punished. 

7.  It  is  very  remarkable  how  slow  men  are  to  believe  in  their 
sinfulness.  Though  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteous7iess  abound  in 
the  world ;  though  we  see  the  best  of  men  afflicted,  and  some  bad 
men  made  examples  and  beacons  to  warn  the  world,  yet  after  all 
how  few  have  a  deep 'or  any  just  and  lasting  sense  of  their  sinful- 
ness in  the  sight  of  a  holy  God ;  yet  all  men  esteem  the  gospel  as 
good  news  only  in  proportion  as  they  see  their  lost  condition,  and 
are  burdened  with  a  consciousness  of  personal  ill-desert.  There 
is  no  greater  folly  than  to  cry.  All  is  well,  when  our  state  is  one  of 
ruin. 

8.  It  is  highly  dangerous  to  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness ; 
to  know  what  is  right,  and  refuse  to  do  it ;  to  see  its  fitness,  and 
not  feel  its  binding  force ;  while  to  pervert  it,  stifle  it,  suppress 
it,  and  disobey  it  will  surely  lead  to  the  saddest  results,  v.  18. 
That  heathen  was  right,  who  said  :  "  There  is  nothing  more  com- 
mon for  the  gods  to  do  than  to  pervert  the  minds  of  wicked  men." 
Of  all  the  aggravations  of  sin  none  is  mentioned  in  Scripture  in  a 
more  alarming  manner  than  that  of  knowingly  acting  wickedly. 
To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is 
sin,  Jas.  4:17. 

9.  However  much  the  light  of  nature  may  shine  upon  us,  and 


'je  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  18-20. 

by  sinning  against  it  we  may  bring  down  upon  us  the  wrath  of 
heaven,  yet  on  many  accounts  a  revelation  is  necessary  to  our 
salvation.  A  revelation  of  wrath  may  terrify  and  convict,  v.  18. 
It  is  a  revelation  of  grace  and  mercy  that  saves.  This  is  made 
clear  in  many  ways.  If  the  light  of  nature  is  enough,  why  did  it 
never  save  even  one  man  from  sin  and  wretchedness  ?  And  why 
did  it  never  lead  at  least  one  nation  to  adopt  a  code  of  pure 
morals  ?  And  why  did  it  never  inspire  solid  and  animating  hopes  of 
a  blessed  eternity  ?  Natural  religion  does  indeed  declare  that  God 
is,  that  he  is  almighty,  good,  wise,  sincere,  the  patron  of  virtue ; 
but  it  tells  not  how  sinners  may  serve  and  please  him. 

10.  So  that  on  many  accounts  pity  to  our  fallen  race  should 
lead  us  to  make  known  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  to  the 
nations  that  sit  in  darkness.  No  stronger,  or  sounder  argument 
can  be  made  out  of  God's  word  than  that  in  favor  of  spreading 
the  gospel  over  the  whole  earth.  The  heathen  are  in  a  sense  a 
law  to  themselves  ;  but  they  are  not  a  gospel  to  themselves.  No 
one  of  them  can  tell  his  brother  how  he  may  have  a  saving  knowl- 
edge of  God,  though  all  of  them  have  more  light  than  they  make 
a  good  use  of  Though  the  light  of  nature  cannot  save,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  condemn,  vs.  19,  20.  Well  does  Aristotle  say:  "God, 
who  is  invisible  to  mortal  eyes,  is  to  be  seen  by  his  works."  In 
like  manner  Cicero  :  "  Though  thou  seest  him  not,  yet  thou  know- 
est  God  by  his  works."  So  clear  is  the  light  of  nature  that  were 
men  honest  they  would  confess  that  the  Most  High  alone  is  to  be 
religiously  worshipped,  supremely  loved,  held  in  godly  reverence, 
or  implicitly  obeyed. 

11.  Were  men  by  nature  irrational,  idiotic,  lunatic,  or  utterly 
beyond  the  possibility  of  knowing  God,  or  of  learning  his  will, 
the  case  would  be  vastly  different.  Where  there  is  no  law,  there 
is  no  transgression.  But  because  men  have  reason,  and  con- 
science, and  many  things  to  draw  them  to  God,  they  are  without 
excuse,  v.  20.  If  men  were  right-minded,  they  would  glory 
in  this,  that  they  understood  and  knew  God.  And  were  they 
rightly  affected,  they  would  inquire  after  him  as  for  hid  treasure ; 
and  as  many  as  thought  and  felt  aright  would  seek  until  they 
gained  that  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ,  which  is  eternal 
life.  Light  hated  or  abused  has  no  saving  tendency.  Truth 
rejected  and  disobeyed  has  a  damning  power. 

12.  Reason  suggests  that  the  creature  should  honor  the  Crea- 
tor. Scripture  asserts  in  the  clearest  manner  that  we  are  bound 
to  glorify  God,  v.  21.  Compare  Ps.  22  :  23  ;  Isa.  49  :  3  ;  Mat.  5  :  16; 
Rom.  15:6;  I  Pet.  4  :  16;  Rev.  15:4.  This  is  the  capital  point, 
in  which  most  fail.     Calvin :  "  He,  who  has  a  right  notion  of  God, 


Ch.  I.,  V.  21.]  THE  ROMANS.  yy 

ought  to  give  him  the  praise  due  to  his  eternity,  wisdom,  good- 
ness and  justice."  Yet  where  is  the  nation  without  God's  word, 
that  puts  any  honor  upon  him  ?  The  great  mass  of  teaching,  of 
rite  and  of  fable  among  the  heathen  is  precisely  adapted  to  bring 
into  contempt  all  that  is  divine.  Among  both  ancients  and 
moderns,  many  deny  the  divine  existence,  as  Epicurus  and  Democ- 
ritus,  and  the  devotees  of  Boodh  and  Fo.  Not  a  few  are  Panthe- 
ists, as  Orpheus.  Even  Aristotle  avowed  principles  which  fairly 
led  to  Pantheism.  So  many  held,  as  some  modern  mimics  of 
heathenism  hold,  that  a  dog,  a  cat,  an  onion,  the  mountains,  the 
ocean,  all  things  material  were  a  part  of  God.  Numbers  of  the 
heathen  made  it  a  part  of  their  philosophy  to  doubt  all  truth  con- 
cerning God,  even  his  existence,  as  Protagoras  and  Diagoras  and 
their  followers.  Great  masses  of  them  held  and  taught  that  there 
were  many  gods.  In  Rome  thirty  thousand  were  acknowledged, 
and  in  China  for  a  long  time  they  have  counted  their  gods  by  the 
hundred  million.  If  Jehovah  is  a  father,  where  is  his  honor?  if 
he  is  a  master,  where  is  his  fear? 

13.  How  important  then  is  it  to  possess  the  true  knowledge  of 
God,  V.  21.  To  some  extent  this  may  be  had,  and  yet  men  be 
corrupt  and  profane.  But  nothing  short  of  the  truth  concerning 
God  can  ever  hinder  a  people  from  falling  into  deep  debasement 
in  vice  and  impiety ;  for  superstition  is  one  of  the  worst  forms  of 
irreligion.  Theophylact  uttered  a  truth  confirmed  by  the  annals 
of  all  times,  when  he  said :  "  He  that  will  not  know  God,  soon  be- 
comes corrupt  in  his  life."  Tholuck  :  "  It  is  always  found,  that  the 
want  of  a  sense  of  religion  blunts  the  sense  for  general  morality." 

14.  Revelation  is  well  sustained  by  reason  in  asserting  the  ob- 
ligations of  gratitude.  Until  the  human  heart  is  changed  by 
divine  grace,  all  men  fail  in  this  matter  towards  God,  v.  21.  Cal- 
vin :  "  There  is  no  one,  who  is  not  indebted  to  him  for  numberless 
benefits."  But  when  did  a  heathen  people  ever  make  a  meet 
return  ?  And  can  any  plead  for  the  virtue  or  piety  of  a  man  or 
a  people,  who  are  not  grateful?  "  Call  me,"  said  a  heathen,  "un- 
grateful, and  after  that  you  can  say  no  evil  of  me." 

15.  Vain  imaginings  and  mental  darkness  belong  to  sin  in  all 
its  stages  and  workings,  v.  21.  This  has  always  been  so.  The 
leaven  of  iniquity  no  sooner  began  to  work  than  our  first  parents 
had  vain  dreams  about  being  as  gods.  The  great  source  of  evil 
among  the  antediluvians  was  found  in  their  sinful  and  unreason- 
able conceptions  of  things.  Gen.  6 :  5.  So  prevalent  is  this  evil 
among  men,  that  were  it  closely  observed  and  condignly  punished, 
no  flesh  would  be  spared.  Corrupt  affections  and  false  reasonings 
are  the  great  pillars  of  Satan's  kingdom  in  this  world.     Nor  is 


78  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  v.  22. 

there  any  cure  for  this  blindness  and  falsehood  and  perversity 
without  the  gospel.  Hodge :  "  The  higher  the  advancement  of 
the  nations  in  refinement  and  philosophy,  the  greater,  as  a  general 
rule,  the  degradation  and  folly  of  their  systems  of  religion." 
Haldane  :  "  What  they  deemed  to  be  their  wisdom  was  truly  their 
folly."  No  man  is  so  blind  as  he  who  will  not  see.  Jesus  taught: 
*•  Every  one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to 
the  light,"  John  3  :  20. 

16.  Beware  of  vain  pretensions,  v.  22.  The  greatest  pretend- 
ers, either  to  wisdom  or  goodness,  are  the  greatest  fools  or  de- 
ceivers.    No  wise  man  will  trust  them.     God  abhors  them. 

17.  It  ought  effectually  to  cure  high  pretensions  and  vain 
boastings,  that  those,  who  have  most  abounded  in  them,  have 
been  left  to  commit  the  greatest  folly,  v.  23 ;  even  selecting  the 
most  hideous  reptiles,  yea,  and  vegetables,  as  fit  representations 
of  God. 

18.  Of  all  the  inflictions  of  divine  wrath  none  are  more  terrible 
than  spiritual  desertions,  spiritual  judgments  and  judicial  blind- 
ness, vs.  24,  25,  28.  It  is  a  horrible  thing  to  be  given  up  or  given 
over  by  God.  From  his  throne  never  proceeds  a  more  dismal 
sentence  than  this:  "  Let  him  alone."  Calvin:  "  As  Satan  is  the 
minister  of  God's  wrath,  and  as  it  were  the  executioner,  so  he  is 
armed  against  us,  not  through  the  connivance,  but  by  the  com- 
mand of  his  judge.  God,  however,  is  not  on  this  account  cruel, 
nor  are  we  innocent,  inasmuch  as  Paul  plainly  shows,  that  we  are 
not  delivered  up  into  his  power,  except  when  we  deserve  such  a 
punishment."  Olshausen :  "  Where  God  and  His  holy  being  is 
not,  and  therefore  the  vanity  of  the  creature's  self  is  the  ruling 
power,  there  sin  begets  sin,  and  punishes  itself  by  sin."  Hodge : 
"  God  often  punishes  one  sin  by  abandoning  the  sinner  to  the 
commission  of  others."  Whatever  confusion  and  error  may  have 
arisen  in  the  minds  of  the  self-sufficient  on  this  and  kindred  sub- 
jects, these  things  are  clear :  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin,  he  is 
not  the  efficient  cause  of  transgression,  he  works  no  iniquity,  he 
is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  look  upon  unrighteousness  ;  yet  nothing 
happens  in  the  world  contrary  to  his  sovereign  and  eternal  pur- 
pose ;  if  he  had  chosen,  he  could  have  prevented  the  existence  of 
moral  evil  in  the  universe ;  he  is  Lord  of  all ;  he  governs  moral 
agents  without  interfering  with  their  freedom,  the  wicked  are  his 
hand,  his  sword,  the  rod  of  his  anger,  Ps.  17  :  13,  14;  Isa.  10  :  5  ; 
they  can  go  no  farther  than  he  permits ;  God  can  and  often  does 
make  a  wicked  man  his  own  tempter  and  tormentor,  he  leaves 
him  to  himself,  he  throws  the  reins  loose  upon  the  neck  of  his 
lusts,  putting  comparatively  little  restraint  upon  his  sinful  propen- 


Ch.  1.,  vs.  23,  24-]  THE  ROMANS.  '  79 

sities.  This  desertion  of  the  soul  by  the  Lord  is  most  righteous, 
it  was  desired  by  the  wicked,  it  occurs  only  after  stubborn  resist- 
ance to  the  calls  of  mercy ;  in  every  instance  wicked  lives  spring 
from  wicked  hearts,  evil  practices  naturally  follow  human  per- 
versity. One  of  the  sad  things  attending  this  judicial  desertion 
is  the  fact  that  the  sinner  perceives  it  not,  but  flatters  himself  in 
his  iniquity  till  it  be  found  to  be  hateful.  Not  unfrequently  the 
punishment  is  in  kind  ;  those  who  have  been  unfaithful  to  God  are 
left  to  practise  unfaithfulness  to  their  wedding  engagements ; 
those  who  lie  unto  God  become  infamous  by  lying  unto  men ;  those 
who  practise  spiritual  whoredom  are  left  to  commit  all  bodily 
lewdness  and  uncleanness  till  they  are  a  loathing  to  others  and 
sometimes  to  themselves,  Hos.  4  :  12-14. 

19.  The  evils  of  idolatry  have  probably  never  been  exag- 
gerated, V.  23.  It  is  full  of  grossness,  absurdity  and  misery. 
2  Ki.  17  :  15-18 ;  Ps.  16  :  4;  115  :  4-8;  Isa.  44:  9-20;  Acts  14 :  15  ; 
17  :  29.  If  one  would  see  the  estimate  of  heathenism  by  those, 
who  had  been  sunk  in  its  pollutions,  and  then  escaped  its  sorrows 
and  abominations,  let  him  read  Lactantius'  de  Ira  Dei,  Eusebius' 
history,  Augustin  de  civitate  Dei ;  or  let  him  for  his  own  satisfac- 
tion read  such  works  of  modern  authors  as  Leland  on  the  advan- 
tage and  necessity  of  the  Christian  Revelation,  Jenkins'  reason- 
ableness of  Christianity,  Ward's  India  or  some  other  books  of  that 
class.  Cudworth  has  shown  by  ample  quotations  from  ancient 
poets,  philosophers,  orators  and  historians,  that  the  heathen  held 
and  knew  that  there  was  one  supreme  God  ;  and  yet  in  all  Gentile 
literature  is  not  found  one  hymn,  as  Estius  says,  in  honor  of  the 
true  God.  Heathenism  is  as  wicked  as  it  is  sottish.  Chrysostom 
thus  sums  up  the  whole  matter  respecting  the  Gentile  theology 
and  worship :  "  The  first  charge  is,  that  they  did  not  find  God  ; 
the  second,  that  they  failed  to  do  so,  although  favored  with  the 
best  and  most  manifest  opportunities ;  the  third,  that  they  failed, 
though  calling  themselves  wise ;  and  the  fourth,  that  they  not 
merely  did  not  find  him,  but  degraded  his  worship  to  demons  and 
stones."  What  but  sin  and  misery,  darkness  and  error  could 
be  introduced  by  sentiments  and  practices  so  corrupt  and  de- 
grading ? 

20.  Sin  tends  to  the  worst  for  both  worlds,  and  in  all  respects, 
vs.  23,  26,  27.     Its  nature  is  to  induce  utter  ruin. 

21.  People,  who  have  the  gospel,  can  never  be  sufficiently 
thankful  for  being  saved  from  Paganism. 

22.  Lawgivers,  moralists,  pastors  and  parents  cannot  too  wisely 
or  carefully  guard  all,  and  especially  the  young  against  every 
sin  of  uncleanness,  vs.  24,  26,  27.      Any  one  form  of  it  naturally 


8o  •  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  I.,  vs.  25-28. 

leads  to  its  worst  manifestations.  Even  the  Israelites,  when  they 
forsook  God,  and  were  left  to  themselves,  imitated  the  abomina- 
tions of  Sodom,  2  Ki.  23  :  7.  Lewdness  is  the  pit,  into  which  the 
abhorred  of  the  Lord  falls,  Pr.  22  :  14.  Hodge  :  "  Sins  of  unclean- 
ness  are  peculiarly  debasing  and  demoralizing."  Nor  is  there 
any  infallible  preservative  against  them,  if  we  forsake  God  and 
are  forsaken  of  God. 

23.  It  is  a  grave  question  whether  private  Christians  in  their 
speech  and  writings,  and  religious  teachers  in  their  pubHc 
ministry  abound,  as  they  should,  in  doxology,  v.  25.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  profaneness,  with  which  some  ungodly  persons 
have  bandied  such  phrases  as  "bless  God,"  "thank  the  Lord," 
has  brought  -into  disesteem  and  desuetude  the  pious  custom  of 
reverently  saying  on  all  fit  occasions.  Bless  the  Lord,  etc.  The 
word  of  God  contains  a  rich  variety  of  these  excellent  forms 
of  showing  forth  God's  glpry.  Tholuck  correctly  says  it  is 
customary  both  for  Jews  and  Mahometans  to  pronounce  a  dox- 
ology, whenever  in  their  writings  it  becomes .  necessary  to  in- 
troduce even  for  refutation  any  notion  or  heresy  unworthy  of 
God.  Haldane :  "  It  denotes  that  we  should  never  speak  of 
God  but  with  profound  respect,  and  that  this  respect  ought  to 
be  accompanied  with  praise  and  thanksgiving." 

24.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  doctrine  of  human  depra- 
vity, vs.  18-32.     Every  prison,  and  gibbet,  and  lock,  and  bolt,  and 

■  bar,  every  good  statute  human  and  divine  designed  to  restrain 
the  outbreakings  of  lust  and  passion,  every  page  of  truthful  his- 
tory, every  tear,  and  sigh,  and  wail,  yea,  the  very  lexicons  and 
philology  of  the  world  prove  how  corrupt  men  are.  Such  a  cata- 
logue of  sins  as  that  given  in  vs.  29-31,  if  duly  considered,  would 
overwhelm  any  unconverted  people  with  shame  and  self-condem- 
nation. Like  catalogues  are  given  by  Christ  in  Mark  7  :  21-23  5 
and  by  Paul  in  Gal.  5  :  19-21. 

25.  However  the  vain  expectations  of  men  may  be  multiplied 
respecting  impunity  in  transgression,  )''et  God  has  published  it 
(and  he  is  of  one  mind  and  changeth  not)  that  sin  and  sinners  are 
worthy  of  death,  v.  32.  It  cannot  be  safe  to  pursue  a  course  which 
he  who  cannot  lie,  he  who  is  love  itself,  he  who  cannot  err,  he 
who  is  to  be  our  final  Judge,  has  said  is  punished  condignly  only 
by  the  awful  penalty — death.  And  if  a  course  of  iniquity  among 
the  heathen  brought  on  them  eternal  ruin,  what  shall  not  God  in- 
flict on  those  who,  living  in  the  light  of  a  pure  gospel,  shall  com- 
mit the  same  or  similar  deeds  !  There  is  a  dreadful  hell.  The 
heathen  themselves  spake  of  Tartarus  as  the  prison  house  of  the 
wicked. 


Ch.  I.,  V.  29-32  .]  THE  ROMA  NS.  81 

26.  Those  who  maintain  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity  find 
their  views  warranted  by  the  word  of  God.  The  wicked  are 
filled  xvith  unrighteousness,  etc.,  and  are  full  of  envy,  etc.  vs.  29,  30. 
Other  Scriptures  say  they  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  them,  that 
they  are  in  the  bond  of  iniquity  and  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  that 
they  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  John  5  :  42  ;  Acts  8  :  23  ;  Eph. 
2  :  I.  Surely  this  language  is  as  strong  as  any  language  ever  used 
by  sound  theologians.  By  total  depravity  we  do  not  understand  that 
one  man  is  as  bad  as  another,  or  that  any  one  sinner  is  as  bad  as  he 
will  be  if  he  continues  longer  in  sin  ;  but  only' that  every  unregen- 
erate  man  is  altogether  destitute  of  holiness,  is  entirely  without 
the  image  of  God,  and  has  no  love  to  God.  Brown  :  "  So  mighty 
is  the  torrent  of  corruption  in  folks  by  nature,  that  if  God  would 
but  give  way,  and  give  folks  over  unto  their  own  perverse,  repro- 
bate minds,  it  would  carry  them  headlong  to  all  acts  of  iniquity, 
and  run  out  to  all,  even  to  the  most  abominable  wickedness  what- 
soever." 

27.  "  Deceit  lies  in  generals."  Let  those  who  would  deal  faith- 
fully with  their  own  souls,  or  the  souls  of  others,  come  to  particu- 
lars as  does  our  apostle  in  this  part  of  his  epistle. 

28.  To  what  fearful  lengths  many  a  sinner,  even  though  das- 
tardly as  to  all  noble  deeds,  will  go  in  sin,  taking  pleasure  in  the 
sins  of  his  fellow  men,  even  when  they  bring  him  no  honor,  wealth 
or  advantage,  but  merely  gratify  his  horrid  enmity  against  God 
and  man  by  letting  him  see  Jehovah  dishonored  and  souls  madly 
rushing  to  ruin,  v.  32.  The  Scriptures  everywhere  speak  of  such 
in  terms  of  alarm  and  abhorrence,  Pr.  2  :  10-14;  Ezek.  16  :  24-26. 
Chrysostom  :  "  He  that  praiseth  the  sin  is  far  worse  than  even  he 
that  trespasseth."  Calvin  :  "  He,  who  is  ashamed,  is  yet  healable  ; 
but  when  such  an  impudence  is  contracted  through  a  sinful  habit, 
that  vices,  and  not  virtues,  please  us,  and  are  approved,  there  is  no 
more  hope  of  any  reformation."  Pool :  "  Having  pleasure  in 
them  that  do  evil  is  the  highest  kind  of  wickedness :  such  come 
nearest  the  devil,  who  take  pleasure  in  evil  because  it  is  evil." 
Olshausen  :  "  To  take  pleasure  in  the  sins  of  others  when  one's 
own  evil  desires  are  more  subdued,  and  therefore  the  voice  of  con- 
science is  more  easily  heard,  indicates  a  higher  degree  of  sinful 
developement  than  the  sinful  action  itself."  Slade :  "  To  look 
with  complacency  on  the  vices  of  others  is  one  of  the  last  degrees 
of  degeneracy."  Stuart :  "  The  Apostle  considers  this  as  the  very 
climax  of  all  the  charges  which  he  had  to  bring  against  the  hea- 
then, that  they  not  only  plunged  into  acts  of  wickedness  but  had 
given  their  more  deliberate  approbation  to  such  doings." 

29.  Hodge :  "  The  most  reprobate  sinner  carries  about  with 
6 


82  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  I.,  V.  32. 

him  a  knowledge  of  his  just  exposure  to  the  wrath  of  God.  Con- 
science can  never  be  entirely  extirpated,  v.  32."  Of  this  truth  we 
have  proofs  every  day.  Even  where  a  man's  avowed  wicked  prin- 
ciples are  entirely  opposed  to  a  pure  conscience,  the  case  is  not 
altered.  Herod  was  a  Sadducee,  a  gross  infidel,  denying  angel 
and  spirit,  mocking  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  With  these 
principles  he  beheads  John  Baptist.  This  bloody  crime  goads 
him,  makes  him  a  coward,  and  his  infidelity  is  no  protection. 
When  Jesus  became  a  public  person  and  his  miracles  were  noised 
abroad,  some  of  the  people  said  he  was  Elias  and  some  that  he 
was  one  of  the  old  prophets ;  but  Herod  in  the  teeth  of  his  Sad- 
duceeism  said,  I  can  tell  you  who  he  is — it  is  John  whom  I  be- 
headed. If  these  things  be  so,  it  is  in  vain  for  the  wicked  to  avoid 
a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  for  doing  those  things  which 
they  know  to  be  worthy  of  death. 

30.  The  scope  of  the  whole  section  under  consideration  is  to 
show  that  salvation  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  is  impossible,  and  that 
if  men  are  to  be  saved  at  all,  there  must  be  some  method  of  justi- 
fication altogether  different  from  that,  to  which  the  human  heart 
is  so  much  wedded.  Stuart :  "  It  is  clear  that  the  Gentiles  need 
a  Saviour ;  it  is  equally  clear  that  they  need  gratuitous  justifica- 
tion, and  that  they  must  perish  without  such  a  provision  for  them." 
The  necessity  for  a  revelation  of  the  gospel  scheme  for  the  Gen- 
tiles was  urgent.  They  were  living  without  God's  image,  without 
communion  with  him,  without  his  favor,  without  holiness,  with- 
out saving  knowledge,  with  wrong  beliefs,  with  wrong  feelings, 
with  wickedness  in  their  hearts  and  breaking  out  in  their  lives. 
This  matter  should  deeply  affect  the  hearts  of  us  sinners  of  the 
Gentiles,  the  descendants  of  those,  whose  characters  are  here  de- 
picted. We  still  carry  about  us  some  of  the  rags  of  heathenism, 
as  in  the  names  of  the  days  of  the  week.  This  may  remind  us  of 
the  hole  of  the  pit,  whence  we  have  been  digged,  and  should  make 
us  greatly  glory  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  in  the  glorious  gospel  of 
the  blessed  God. 


CHAPTER    II. 

VERSES    1-11. 

AN  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  THE  TRUTH  DOES  NOT 
PROVE  MEN  TO  BE  WITHOUT  SIN. 

Therefore  thou  art  inexcusable,  O  man,  whosoever  thou  art  that  judgest :  for 
wherein  thou  judgest  another,  thou  condemnest  thyself;  for  thou  that  judgest  doest 
the  same  things. 

2  But  we  are  sure  that  the  judgment  of  God  is  according  to  truth  against  them 
which  commit  such  things. 

3  And  thinkest  thou  this,  O  man,  that  judgest  them  which  do  such  things,  and 
doest  the  same,  that  thou  shalt  escape  the  judgment  of  God  ? 

4  Or  despisest  thou  the  riches  of  his  goodness  and  forbearance  ind  longsuffer- 
ing  ;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee  to  repentance? 

5  But,  after  thy  hardness  and  impenitent  heart,  treasurest  up  unto  thyself  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God  ; 

6  Who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds  : 

7  To  them  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  seek  for  glory  and  honour 
and  immortality,  eternal  life  : 

8  But  unto  them  that  are  contentious,  and  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but  obey  un- 
righteousness, indignation  and  wrath, 

9  Tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil;  of  the  Jew 
first,  and  also  of  the  Gentile  ; 

10  But  glory,  honour,  and  peace,  to  every  man  that  worketh  good  ;  to  the  Jew 
first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile : 

1 1  For  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God. 

PAUL,  having  shown  the  atrocious  guilt  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
the  justice  of  their  exposure  to  the  Divine  displeasure,  now 
turns  to  the  Jews,  and  by  skilful  approaches  and  logical  arguments 
proves  that  they  also  were  liable  to  wrath,  and  could  not  be  justi- 
fied by  the  works  of  the  law.     He  begins  by  saying, 

I.  Therefore  thou  art  inexcusable,  O  man,  whosoever  thou  art 
that  judgest  :  for  wherein  thou  judgest  another,  thou  condemnest 
thyself  ;  for  thou  that  judgest  doest  the  same  things.  The 
apostle  does  not  here  name  the  Jews,  but  leads  on  his  readers 
to  acknowledge  that  such  immorality  and  impiety  as  he  had  de- 

(83) 


84  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IL,  v.  2. 

scribed  were  worthy  of  death,  and  then  makes  his  appeal  to  men, 
as  such  ;  see  also  v.  3.  It  is  not  till  he  reaches  v.  9  that  he  even 
names  the  Jews.  The  division  of  the  sacred  books  into  chapters, 
however  advantageous  in  some  respects,  often  breaks  the  connec- 
tion. The  first  verse  of  this  chapter  and  the  last  verse  of  chapter 
I.  are  closely  connected.  In  that  Paul  first  says  that  they  which 
do  such  things  are  worthy  of  death.  He  then  says  that  they  which 
have  pleasure  in  so  vile  wrong-doers  are  still  more  vile.  In  this 
verse  he  asserts  the  increased  criminalty  of  those,  who  have  the 
rule  of  right  before  them,  and  condemn  those  immoralities  and 
impieties  of  which  he  had  given  a  list,  and  yet  practise  the  same 
sins.  Other  explanations  of  the  connection  indicated  by  ivhcrefore 
have  been  given.  But  this  seems  most  satisfactory.  By  saying 
such  a  man  is  inexcusable,  he  uses  a  figure  of  speech  in  which  he 
says  less  than  he  intends  to  be  understood.  The  meaning  is  he  is 
wholly  indefensible  because  he  sins  against  clear  light.  Inexcus- 
able, in  chapter  i :  20  rendered  without  excuse.  In  pronouncing  on 
the  case  of  others,  one  passes  sentence  on  himself  as  did  David 
before  Nathan.  Judge  and  condemn  :  the  first  of  these  verbs  is 
often  rendered  judge,  condemn,  sometimes  sue  at  the  law,  go  to 
law,  determine,  think,  esteem.  The  second  is  always  rendered 
condemn  or  damn.  There  is  a  striking  resemblance  between  these 
two  verbs.  This  is  sufficiently  preserved  in  the  authorized  ver- 
sion, also  in  the  Syriac  and  Vulgate  and  often  in  more  modern 
versions.  On  this  verse  Whitby  has  shown  by  ample  quotations 
from  Josephus  that  the  very  sins  of  the  heathen  were  practised  by 
the  Jews.  The  Jewish  historian  says  that  his  countrymen  commit- 
ted all  kinds  of  wickedness,  omitting  none  which  ever  came  to 
the  memory  of  man,  esteeming  the  worst  evils  to  be  good. 

2.  But  we  are  sure  that  the  judgment  of  God  is  according  to  truth 
against  them  which  commit  such  things.  But  here  has  the  sense  of 
and  or  further.  We  are  sure,  literally,  we  know,  we  understand, 
we  are  aware.  The  principles  of  God's  moral  government  over 
the  world  were  not  concealed  from  mankind.  Judgment,  so 
rendered  in  many  places,  also  damnation  and  condemnation.  Here 
it  means  a  condemning  sentence,  because  it  is  against  wrong-doers. 
This  judgment  is  according  to  truth,  i.  e.  it  is  righteous  and  pro- 
ceeds from  the  exalted  nature  of  God.  It  is  not  capricious.  The 
Lord  does  not  condemn  in  one  man  that  which  he  commends  in 
another.  He  does  not  look  upon  appearances,  professions  and 
plausibilities.  What  he  loathes  in  a  Greek  he  abhors  in  a  Jew.  We 
know  thus  much  from  the  nature  of  God,  from  the  course  of  his 
providence,  from  the  convictions  of  our  own  consciences,  and 
from  the  clear   declarations  of  holy  scripture.      By  truth  Locke 


Ch.  II,  vs.  3,  4-]  THE  ROMANS.  85 

understands  not  only  that  which  is  right  and  just ;  but  truth 
according  to  divine  predictions  and  threats.  But  truth  is  often 
synonymous  with  righteousness,  and  well  nigh  invariably  sup- 
poses it. 

3.  And  thinkest  thou  this,  O  man,  that  judgest  them  which  do  such 
things,  and  doest  the  same,  that  thou  shalt  escape  the  judgment  of  God? 
The  doctrine  of  this  verse  is  quite  the  same  as  that  of  the  first. 
The  rendering  of  Wiclif  is  striking  :  But  gessist  thou  man,  that 
demest  hem  that  dose  such  thingis,  and  thou  doist  these  thingis  : 
that  thou  shalt  escape  the  dome  of  god  ?  The  word  rendered 
judgment  here  is  the  same  as  in  v.  2,  and  is  cognate  to  the  word 
judgest  found  thrice  in  v.  i.  If  men  with  all  their  blindness  and 
errors  still  see  how  righteous  it  is  in  God  to  punish  iniquity,  much 
more  does  God  see  the  enormity  of  sin  and  the  righteousness  of 
retribution.  And  if  God  never  errs,  how  can  he  fail  to  punish 
those  vices  and  sins  which  men  justly  and  commonly  condemn  in 
each  other?  It  is  not  charged  that  every  Jew  practised  all  the 
sins  of  the  heathen,  especially  in  the  eyes  of  man,  but  that  the 
Jewish  people,  who  rejected  the  gospel  did  these  things  at  least  in 
their  hearts,  so  as  to  be  involved  in  a  like  condemnation.  Tholuck : 
"  Knowledge  without  corresponding  disposition  is  of  no  avail." 
The  ground  of  Paul's  strong  appeal  in  this  verse  is  not  history, 
public  rumor  or  any  labored  argument  which  he  had  submitted, 
but  the  conscience  of  every  man. 

4,  Or  despisest  thou  the  riches  of  his  goodness  and  forbearance  and 
long  suffering ;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee  to 
repentance  ?  Peshito :  Or  wilt  thou  abuse  the  riches  of  his  benevo- 
lence, and  his  long  suffering,  and  the  opportunity,  which  he  giveth 
thee?  And  dost  thou  not  know  that  the  benevolence  of  God 
should  bring  thee  to  repentance  ?  Wiclif:  Where  [whether]  dis- 
pisist  thou  the  richessis  of  his  goodnesse,  and  the  paciens  and  the 
long  abidinge?  knowist  thou  not  that  the  benygnnyte  of  god 
ledith  thee  to  forthinkynge  ?  Despisest,  contemnest,  thinkest 
lightly  of,  a  word  rendered  with  absolute  uniformity  in  the  New 
Testament.  That  the  wicked  contemn  God  is  alike  taught  in  the 
Old  Testament,  Ps.  10  :  13;  107  :  11.  Goodness,  2Xsq  rendered  good, 
Rom.  3:  12;  kindness,  2  Cor.  6  :  6  and  elsewhere;  gentleness. 
Gal.  5  :  22.  ■  Haldane :  Goodness  is  the  best  translation  of  the 
word.  Forbearance,  found  also  in  Rom.  3  :  25.  It  here  means 
God's  delay  to  punish  when  he  is  highly  provoked.  Macknight : 
'■'Forbearance  is  that  disposition  in  God,  by  which  he  restrains 
himself  from  instantly  punishing  sinners."  Long  suffering,  com- 
monly so  rendered,  also  patience.  It  denotes  the  quiet  and  pro- 
tracted endurance  of  God  under  insults  and  wrongs.     In  all  these 


86  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II,  vs.  5,  6. 

perfections  God  has  and  manifests  riches,  a  word  rendered  with 
entire  uniformity.  The  amount  of  the  first  clause  is  that  in  order 
to  continue  in  sin  men  must  contemn  an  unspeakable  amount  of 
divine  kindness.  In  the  second  clause  the  word  rendered  good- 
ness is  elsewhere  uniformly  an  adjective,  good,  kind,  gracious, 
but  here  used  as  a  noun  and  well  translated.  Here  we  are  taught 
that  the  appropriate  effect  of  God's  forbearance  and  kindness 
would  be  to  work  in  us  a  thorough  change  of  mind  and  beha- 
viour. If  God  is  good  even  to  the  unkind  and  the  unthankful, 
surely  the  door  of  entrance  to  the  divine  favor  is  open  to  the 
penitent.  The  word  repentance  is  that  used  to  designate  repent- 
ance unto  life,  and  not  mere  regret  without  a  change  of  heart. 
Wicked  men  pervert  every  thing.  Until  renewed  by  grace  noth- 
ing moves  men  aright.  They  do  not  know,  or  acknowledge  that 
a  due  consideration  of  the  divine  kindness  ought  to  change  their 
whole  course. 

5.  But,  after  thy  hardness  and  impenitent  heart  treasurest  up  unto 
thyself  wrath  against  the  day  of  zvrath  and  revelation  of  the  righteous 
Judgment  of  God.  Peshito ;  But,  because  of  the  hardness  of  thy 
unrepenting  heart,  thou  art  treasuring  up  a  store  of  wrath  against 
the  day  of  wrath,  and  against  the  revelation  of  the  righteous  judg- 
ment of  God.  Hardness,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  have  stubburnesse ; 
Stuart,  obstinacy ;  found  here  only,  but  the  cognate  adjective  is 
rendered  hard  in  Matt.  25  :  24;  John  6  :  60;  Jude  15,  &c.  Impeni- 
tent, that  is  without  true  repentance  ;  Cranmer  and  Genevan  :  a 
heart  that  cannot  repent.  The  other  words  of  the  verse  are  trans- 
lated with  a  literal  exactitude  that  cannot  be  surpassed.  No  more 
fearful  thought  has  ever  reached  the  human  mind  than  is  found  in 
this  verse.  On  wrath  see  above  on  Rom.  1:18.  Proverbs  10  :  2 
shews  that  the  word  treasure  is  not  always  used  in  a  good  sense. 
The  day  of  wrath  is  a  phrase  found  elsewhere,  Rev.  6:17.  Com- 
pare Zeph.  I  :  15.  Clarke:  "The  treasure  of  zvrath  in  this  verse 
is  opposed  to  Xh^  ricJies  of  goodness  in  the  preceding."  All  this 
evil  on  the  wicked  is  to  be  expected  from  the  character  of  God, 

6.  Who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds.  A  man's 
works  are  all  those  things,  which  evince  his  character.  The  doc- 
trine here  laid  down  is  abundantly  declared  in  Scripture.  Job 
34  :  II  ;  Ps.  62  :  14;  Pr.  24  :  12  ;  Jer.  17  :  10;  32  :  19;  Matt.  16  :  27  ; 
I  Cor.  3  :  8 ;  2  Cor.  5  :  10 ;  Rev.  2  :  23  ;  20  :  12 ;  22  :  12.  These 
places  teach  the  truth  directly.  Other  passages  as  clearly  declare 
it  in  other  words.  Render,  elsewhere  perform,  yield,  restore,  pay, 
give,  reward,  recompense.  It  fully  conveys  the  idea  of  retribu- 
tion. The  context  shows  that  the  every  has  special  reference  to 
Jew  and  Gentile,  but  those  distinctions  embrace  the  whole  human 


Ch.  II.,  vs.  7-9.]  THE  ROMANS.  87 

family.  None  are  exempt  from  accountability — none.  Therefore 
those  able  commentators  Pareus  and  Haldane  misapprehend  the 
force  of  this  passage  when  they  suppose  that  Paul  here  speaks  of 
salvation  by  the  works  of  the  law.  We  are  compelled  to  believe 
that  our  destiny  will  be  according  as  our  works  shall  show  that 
we  are  the  friends  or  enemies  of  God,  nor  does  this  doctrine  at  all 
impair  that  of  a  gratuitous  salvation  by  faith  without  works,  for 
no  man  has  faith,  unless  he  shows  it  by  his  works.  Calvin  :  "  It  is 
an  absurd  inference  to  deduce  merit  from  reward."  Rewards  of 
grace  will  be  among  the  most  glorious  of  all  recompenses.  But 
even  they  will  be  proportioned  to  the  faith  and  obedience  of  be- 
lievers. Matt.  9  :  29 ;  Gal.  6  :  7,  8 ;  2  Cor.  9  :  6.  None  will  gain 
admission  to  heaven,  whose  lives  prove  that  they  are  God's  ene- 
mies ;  and  none  will  be  banished  into  darkness,  whose  lives  prove 
that  they  are  God's  friends.  God's  recompense  shall  be  to  all  men 
according  to  their  works,  for  he  will  render 

7.  To  them  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  seek  for  glo?y 
and  honour  and  immortality,  eternal  life.  Peshito  :  To  them  who  by 
perseverance  in  good  works,  seek  for  glory  and  honor  and  immor- 
tality, to  them  he  will  give  eternal  life.  By  patient  continuance  in 
well  doing  is  good  English,  gives  the  sense,  and  is  better  than  the 
literal  would  be — the  patience  of  good  zuork.  Glory,  as  in  i  :  23 
and  often  in  this  and  in  twelve  other  epistles  of  Paul.  Honor, 
always  so  rendered  in  Romans  and  often  elsewhere,  though 
sometimes  rendered  price,  precious,  i  Cor.  6  :  20;  7  :  33  ;  i  Pet. 
2  :  7.  It  is  often  coupled  with  glory.  Heb.  2:7;!  Tim.  i  :  17;  i 
Pet.  I  :  7.  Immortality,  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  23.  Here  it  evi- 
dently means  a  blessed  immortality.  Tholuck  thinks  the  three 
words  are  equivalent  to  a  glorious  and  honorable  immortality.  Eter- 
nal life  is  perfectly  literal,  and  points  to  enduring  bliss  beyond  this 
world.  Calvin  :  "  The  meaning  is  that  the  Lord  will  give  eternal 
life  to  those  who,  by  attention  to  good  works,  strive  to  attain  im- 
mortality."    Nor  will  God  recompense  the  righteous  alone  ; 

8.  But  unto  them  that  are  contentious,  and  do  not  obey  the  truth, 
but  obey  unrighteousness,  [shall  be]  indignation  and  wrath, 

9.  Tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil ; 
of  the  Jew  first,  and  also  of  the  Gentile.  Contentious,  literally  of 
contention,  Peshito  :  obstinate  ;  Conybeare  &  "Howson  :  men  of 
selfish  cunning;  Diodati :  resty  ;  Tyndale,  rebellious.  The  Doway, 
Genevan  and  Rheims  agree  with  the  authorized  version.  Not  to 
obey  the  truth  is  not  to  receive,  love  and  practise  it — to  refuse  sub- 
mission to  it — often  rendered  not  to  believe.  To  obey  unrighteous- 
ness is  to  trust  in  it,  to  have  confidence  in  it,  and  so  to  adopt  it  as 
a  course  of  life,  taking  it  as  a  principle  of  action.    Indignation,  com- 


88  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II.,  v.  i. 

monly  rendered  wrath,  sometimes  fierceness.  Rev.  i6:  19;  19  :  15. 
Wrath,  as  in  v.  5.  Tribulation,  the  only  Greek  word  so  rendered, 
often  translated  affliction  ;  the  cognate  verb  signifies  to  press, 
press  hard,  oppress,  distress.  Anguish,  so  rendered  here  only, 
elsewhere  distress.  The  four  words,  here  used  to  describe  the 
evils,  which  shall  come  on  the  incorrigibly  wicked,  are  as  strong 
as  can  be  found  in  the  Greek  language.  The  evils  here  threatened 
shall  come  upon  every  sinful  soul,  without  regard  to  nationality. 

10.  But  glory,  honour,  and  peace  [shall  be]  to  every  man  that  work- 
eth  good ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile.  Glory  and  honor, 
as  in  V.  7.  Peace,  as  in  Rom.  i  :  7  and  often  hereafter.  These 
blessings  shall  come,  not  on  him  who  sometimes  does  a  thing  in 
itself  right,  but  who  worketh  good.  It  is  his  life  work.  He  lives 
for  it.  Whatever  his  former  history,  his  ancestry,  his  nationality, 
he  shall  not  fail  of  eternal  blessedness. 

1 1 .  For  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God.  Tyndale :  For 
ther  is  no  parcialyte  with  God.  Respect  of  persons,  on'e  word  uni- 
formly rendered.  We  have  also  the  cognate  parts  of  speech.  In 
every  instance  where  any  form  of  the  word  occurs,  the  matter  in 
hand  shows  that  the  inspired  writer  is  speaking  of  those  factitious 
distinctions  so  much  gloried  in  by  men,  as  nationality.  Acts  10:  34 
and  here ;  civil  position  as  of  master  or  servant,  Eph.  6:9;  Col. 
3  :  25  ;  social  position  as  of  rich  and  poor,  Jas.  2  :  1-9.  Of  these 
and  like  things  God  makes  no  account  whatever. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  However  invincible  ignorance  of  any  one  truth  may  excuse 
men  respecting  that,  yet  clearly  no  man  is  exempt  from  blame, 
who  knows  enough  truth  to  pass  righteous  sentence  on  others,  yet 
is  himself  guilty  of  the  same  offences,  v.  i.  The  profane  often 
justly  reprehends  professors  of  religion  for  things  which  he  and 
they  alike  practise.  The  self-righteous  moralist  and  formalist 
often  justly  condemn  the  irreligion  of  the  openly  Avicked,  when  in 
heart  they  are  all  alike.  All  such  will  be  judged  out  of  their  own 
mouths,  Luke  19  :  22. 

2.  Nor  can  men  complain  if,  applying  just  rules  to  the  conduct 
of  others,  they  find  the  same  applied  to  their  own  lives,  v.  i. 
Brown  :  "  It  is  the  most  absurd,  and  most  unreasonable  thing  in  the 
world,  for  any  to  think  to  escape  God's  judgment  for  such  sins,  or 
the  like,  for  which  others  cannot  escape  their  sharp  censure.  How 
strict  soever  men  be,  God  is  more  strict." 

3.  Therefore  our  just  sagacity  and  discrimination  in  condemn- 
ing others  cannot  save  us.     Indeed  we  ought  thereby  rather  to  be 


Ch.  II.,  vs.  1-4.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  89 

alarmed  than  quieted.  Scott :  "  The  censures  which  men  pass  on 
their  neighbors,  who  perhaps  justly  deserve  them,  may  render 
themselves  more  inexcusable,  while  they  do  the  same  things,  and 
yet  trust  in  themselves  that  they  are  righteous  and  despise 
others." 

4.  So  far  is  our  own  judgment  of  others  from  being  a  safeguard 
against  our  own  ruin,  that  oftentimes  the  most  severe  are  the  vilest 
of  men,  v.  i.  Compare  Matt.  7:1.  It  was  a  mark  of  the  special 
power  of  truth  and  of  God's  Spirit,  when  the  accusers  of  that  poor 
guilty  woman  slunk  away,  one  by  one,  from  the  presence  of  Christ. 
So  in  the  last  day  the  truth  will  flash  condemnation  in  the  faces 
not  only  of  the  grossly  censorious,  but  of  all,  who  condemn  in 
others  what  they  tolerate  in  themselves. 

5.  Man's  judgment  may  err;  God's  cannot,  v  2.  God's  whole 
nature  makes  that  sure.  If  God  decides  any  matter,  rule,  right, 
character  or  destiny,  he  does  it  according  to  truth,  and  truth  is 
eternal  and  unvarying. 

6.  Carnal  security  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  foes.  It  lulls 
to  sleep,  it  deludes  into  self-deception,  it  is  a  dangerous  form  of 
hypocrisy,  it  effectually  prevents  men  from  seeing  their  danger  and 
from  seeking  salvation.  Faithful  preachers  must  give  awful  warn- 
ings against  it,  as  Paul  does  here.  Brown :  "  It  is  a  great  aggra- 
vation of  folks  guilt,  when  they  know  the  hazard  of  their  doings, 
and  see  what  they  do  deserve,  and  yet  notwithstanding  malapertly 
go  on,  and  hereby  their  mouths  are  stopped  for  ever." 

7.  Vain  is  the  hope  that  God  will  interpose  to  save  men,  or  for 
ever  leave  them  unpunished,  when  they  obstinately  persist  in 
doing  such  things  as  must  be  an  offence  to  him,  vs.  2,  3.  God  is 
too  holy  to  look  upon  iniquity.  Man  is  too  weak  to  resist  God. 
If  God  arise  to  judgment,  man  must  fall.  Any  view  of  religious 
doctrine,  which  makes  us  careless  about  fleeing  from  sin  and  wrath 
and  laying  hold  on  Christ  is  false. 

8.  Every  sin  against  God  has  in  it  more  or  less  contempt 
of  his  glorious  excellency ;  but  when  we  clearly  know  the  truth 
and  yet  persist  in  sin  we  do  despite  against  his  nature,  and 
specially  against  his  goodness,  v.  4.  Chrysostom :  "  As  to  them 
who  rightly  avail  themselves  of  God's  long  suffering,  it  is  a  ground 
of  safety ;  so  to  them  that  slight  it,  it  is  conducive  to  a  greater 
vengeance."  Haldane :  "  God's  goodness  is  despised  when  it  is 
not  improved  as  a  means  to  lead  men  to  repentance,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  serves  to  harden  them,  from  the  supposition  that  God 
entirely  overlooks  their  sin."  Hodge :  "  The  goodness  of  God 
has  both  the  design  and  tendency  to  lead  men  to  repentance.  II 
it  fails,  the  fault  must  be  their  own." 


90  EPIS  TLB    TO  [Ch.  II.,  vs.  5,  6. 

9.  The  reason,  why  such  conduct  brings  wrath,  is  that  it  is  so 
base  and  ignoble  not  to  be  melted  and  subdued  by  kindness,  and 
especially  by  the  goodness  of  God.  When  men  harden  themselves 
in  pride  and  unbehef,  turning  the  grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness, 
and  being  worse  and  worse,  because  God  is  good,  all  ingenuous- 
ness of  nature  is  gone.  When  God  is  so  good  and  forbearing  as 
to  remind  us  of  his  continual  pity,  the  only  way  we  can  persist  in 
sin  is  by  a  fearful  obduracy,  v.  5. 

10.  Let  every  man  often  ask  himself.  Does  the  goodness  of  God 
lead  me  to  repentance?  Am  I  humbled  by  mercies  as  well  as  by 
judgments  ?  Is  my  sorrow  for  sin  ingenuous  ?  Do  I  hate  every 
false  way  ?  Surely  every  man  is  bound  to  the  most  solemn  and 
humbhng  duties  of  religion  by  the  amazing  kindnesses  of  Jehovah. 
In  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  His  patience  and 
forbearance  have  no  parallel,  and  these  are  shown  to  his  foes,  who 
deserve  only  ill  at  his  hands. 

11.  All  the  work  of  the  wicked  is  self-ruinous  and  self-destruc- 
tive, V.  5.  They  are  treasuring  up  wrath.  They  are  digging  into 
hell.  They  do  in  diligence  and  toil  often  excel  the  righteous  in 
their  endeavors.  But  they  feed  on  wind.  Sin  is  all  a  lie  from  be- 
ginning to  end. 

12.  In  the  present  state  saints  and  sinners  often  have  common 
mercies  and  miseries,  and  not  in  a  few  cases  the  righteous  are 
greatly  afflicted  above  others,  but  there  is  coming  a  time  called 
the  day,  that  day,  the  great  day,  the  last  day,  the  day  of  wrath, 
when  things  will  assume  a  very  different  aspect.  Even  now  Jeho- 
vah judges  in  the  earth,  but  that  will  be  the  final  as  well  as  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God.  Then  "  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  will  be 
made  manifest.  Let  us  often  reflect  upon  the  awful  result ;  and 
consider,  that  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish  will 
be  our  portion,  if  we  are  contentious  and  disobedient  to  the  truth  ; 
yea,  if  we  do  not  by  a  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  seek  the 
promised  glory,  honor  and  immortality ;  which  if  we  do,  we  shall, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  secure  everlasting  life.  Vain  will  our 
knowledge  and  our  profession  be,  and  our  testimony  against  the 
sins  of  others  will  only  inflame  the  guilt  of  our  own."  We  can- 
not entertain  too  frequent  or  too  solemn  thoughts  of  our  great 
account.  Cyprian  said  that  he  seemed  all  the  time  to  hear  the 
words,  "  Awake  ye  dead,  and  come  to  judgment."  Though  God 
may  long  keep  silence  and  not  seem  to  notice  men's  misdeeds,  yet 
shall  he  in  due  time  "  reveal "  Jiimself  as  an  avenger. 

13.  If  God  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds, 
then  where,  say  some,  is  there  room  for  the  insteppings  of  grace  ? 
V.  6.     The  answer  is  that  when  God  saves  believers  he  saves  them 


Ch.  II.,  vs.  6-10.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  91 

on  principles  of  everlasting  righteousness.  They  enter  not  into 
glory  trampling  on  the  law  of  God.  The  object  of  the  apostle 
here  is  to  show  that  national,  ecclesiastical,  or  hereditary  relations 
will  save  no  man;  that  the  wicked  will  surely  be  lost,  because 
they  are  wicked ;  and  that  the  righteous  will  be  saved,  because 
they  are  righteous.  And  no  man  can  prove  that  he  is  righteous 
but  by  holy  living.  The  meritorious  ground  of  a  sinner's  salva- 
tion is  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  The  instrument,  by  which  he 
lays  hold  of  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer  is  his  faith.  The  only 
way  in  which  he  can  prove  his  faith  is  by  his  good  works.  Gill : 
"  God  will  render  to  evil  men  according  to  the  true  desert  of  their 
evil  deeds :  and  of  his  own  free  grace  will  render  to  good  men, 
whom  he  has  made  so  by  his  grace,  what  is  suitable  and  agreeable 
to  those  good  works,  which,  by  the  assistance  of  his  grace,  they 
have  been  enabled  to  perform."  The  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God. 
All  others  shall  go  into  outer  darkness. 

14.  Haldane  :  "  There  will  not,  as  the  Pharisees  imagined,  and 
as  many  nominal  Christians  suppose,  be  two  accounts  for  each 
person,  the  one  of  his  good  works,  the  other  of  his  sins,  the  judg- 
ment being  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  him,  according  as  the  one 
or  the  other  predominates  ;  for  there  will  be  no  balancing  -of  this 
sort.  .  .  The  judgment  of  the  great  day  will  be  to  all  men  accord- 
ing to  their  works.  The  works  of  those  who  shall  be  condemned 
will  be  the  evidence  that  they  are  wicked.  The  works  of  believers 
will  not  be  appealed  to  as  the  cause  of  their  acquittal,  but  as  the 
evidence  of  their  union  with  Christ,  on  account  of  which  they  will 
be  pronounced  righteous,  for  in  them  the  law  has  been  fulfilled  in 
their  Divine  Surety." 

15.  If  men  shall  receive  according  to  their  deeds,  there  will  be 
no  cause  of  just  complaint  in  the  final  sentence  of  the  unjust,  v.  6. 
Indeed  there  will  be  no  complaint  on  any  score.  *'  Every  mouth 
will  be  stopped." 

16.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  final  and  righteous  retribu- 
tion, V.  6.     The  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  declared  it. 

17.  The  friends  of  virtue  need  not  fear  that  their  judgment  will 
be  passed  over  by  their  God,  nor  that  he  will  be  unmindful  of 
their  work  of  faith  or  their  labor  of  love,  vs.  7,  10. 

18.  True  piety  has,  and  is  authorized  to  have  regard  to  the 
recompense  of  reward,  vs.  7,  10.  A  sordid  bargaining  for  heaven 
is  forbidden.  But  a  believing  expectation  of  glory  is  a  virtue. 
Haldane :"  Here  we  see  a  condemnation  of  tliat  opinion  which 
teaches,  that  a  man  should  have  no  motive  in  what  he  does  in  the 
service  of  God  but  the  love  of  God.  The  love  of  God,  indeed, 
must  be  the  predominant  motive,  and  without  it  no  action  is 
morally  good.     But  it  is  not  the  only  motive.     The  Scriptures 


92  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II.,  vs.  7,  8. 

everywhere  address  men's  hopes  and  fears,  and  avail  themselves 
of  every  motive  that  has  a  tendency  to  influence  the  human  heart." 

19.  He,  who  would  be  saved,  must  resist  temptation,  hold  on 
his  way  and  persevere.  It  is  only  by  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing that  men  can  be  saved,  v.  7.  Men  go  not  to  heaven  by  fits 
and  starts,  by  spirts  and  paroxysms.  "He  that  endureth  to  the 
end  shall  be  saved."  *'  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give 
thee  a  crown  of  life." 

20.  It  is  impossible  adequately  to  set  forth  heavenly  things  by 
any  language  known  to  mortals.  The  apostle  here  speaks  of 
■glory,  honor,  peace,  immortality  and  eternal  life,  vs.  7,  10.  These 
terms,  though  fit,  are  but  feeble.  Chrysostom  :  "  He  is  unable  to 
tell  clearly  the  blessings,  but  speaketh  of  glory  and  honor.  For  in 
that  they  transcend  all  that  man  hath,  he  hath  no  image  of  them 
here  to  show,  but  by  those  things  which  have  a  semblance  of 
brightness  among  us,  even  by  them  he  sets  them  before  us  as  far 
as  may  be,  by  glory,  by  honor,  by  life.  For  these  be  what  men 
earnestly  strive  after."  Our  conceptions  of  heavenly  things  must 
always  be  poor,  till  we  reach  the  blessed  home  of  the  redeemed. 
Compare  John  3  :  12  ;  i  Cor.  13  :  12;  2  Cor.  12  :  4;  Rev.  21  :  18. 
Of  all  the  terms  here  employed  none  convey  to  many  a  weary 
pilgrim  more  pleasant  conceptions  than  the  word  peace.  Chrysos- 
tom :  "  For  here  whatever  good  things  a  man  hath,  he  hath  with 
many  troubles,  even  if  he  be  rich,  if  in  power,  if  a  king.  For 
though  he  be  not  at  variance  with  others,  yet  is  he  often  so  with 
himself,  and  has  abundant  war  in  his  own  thoughts." 

21.  It  is  a  bad  sign  to  be  cont editions,  to  oppose  the  truth,  to 
be  contrary,  and  especially  to  be  found  fighting  against  God  and 
his  truth,  v.  8.  There  is  no  virtuous  principle  where  men  do 
not  love  and  obey  the  truth.  He,  that  loveth  a  lie,  is  a  bad  man. 
He,  that,  knowing  the  truth,  obeys  it  not,  is  nigh  unto  curs- 
ing. 

22.  There  is  a  wondrous,  yes  a  heavenly  elevation  and  noble- 
ness in  the  character  of  the  child  of  God ;  for  while  others  are 
seeking  human  applause,  earthly  riches,  sordid  pleasures,  he  is 
chiefly  intent  on  the  .honor  that  comes  from  God,  on  the  true 
riches  and  on  the  pleasures  at  God's  right  hand,  vs.  7,  10.  The 
world  may  now  despise  the  servants  of  God  as  of  a  base  spirit, 
but  none  aim  so  high ;  and  ere  long  all  men  will  say  so. 

23.  In  character  whether  good  or  bad,  positive  and  negative  go 
together.  If  one  does  not  obey  the  truth  he  is  sure  to  obey  un- 
righteousness, V.  8.  He,  who  does  no  good,  is  sure  to  do  harm. 
It  is  only  he,  who  works  righteousness  and  perfects  holiness, 
that  avoids  the  very  appearance  of  evil.  If  men  would  cease  to 
do  evil,  they  must  learn  to  do  well. 


Ch.  IL,  vs.  8,  lo.]  THE  ROMANS.  93 

24.  No  terms  can  adequately  set  forth  the  terribleness  of  the 
final  doom  of  the  wicked.  Here  we  have  indignation  and  wrath, 
tribulation  and  anguish,  vs.  8,  9.  But  who  knows  the  torment  of 
a  future  world,  where  remorse,  despair,  and  all  the  evil  passions 
furnish  elements  on  which  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  God 
kindles  for  ever?  Now  the  wicked  sport  themselves  with  their 
own  deceivings,  are  exceeding  mad  upon  their  idols,  make  light 
of  perdition,  and  call  damnation  a  chimera ;  yet  when  they  shall 
be  made  sensible  of  the  hot  displeasure  of  God,  and  God  shall 
lay  the  weight  of  his  hand  upon  them,  and  leave  them  to  them- 
selves, their  undoing  will  be  felt  by  them  to  be  intolerable. 
Eternal  justice  is  so  glorious  that  it  must  be  terrible  to  all  the 
enemies  of  God. 

25.  Much  that  is  highly  esteemed  among  men  is  an  abomina- 
tion in  the  sight  of  God.  National,  ecclesiastical  and  hereditary 
advantages  are  of  no  avail  with  God.  A  Jew  in  sin  is  and  always 
was  as  odious  to  God  as  a  Gentile  in  sin.  A  good  work  done  by 
an  outcast  is  as  pleasing  to  God  as  if  done  by  one  that  has  Abra- 
ham to  his  father.  The  curse  is  on  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth 
evil ;  the  blessing  on  every  man  that  worketh  good,  vs.  9,  10.  Let 
none  value  themselves  on  those  distinctions  which  will  vanish 
away.  Chrysostom  :  "  It  is  not  quality  of  persons,  but  difference 
of  actions,  which  God  maketh  inquisition  for."  Hodge :  "  God 
deals  with  men  according  to  their  real  character." 

26.  Though  our  persons  are  not  justified  by  our  good  works, 
yet  our  profession  of  Christ's  truth  is  thus  approved.  So  that  he 
who  sets  aside  the  law  of  holiness  is  an  enemy  of  the  truth.  It  is 
a  great  error  not  to  distinguish  between  justification  and  sanctifi- 
cation.  It  is  a  greater  error  to  separate  them.  Brown  ;  *'  How- 
ever there  be  no  intrinsical  worth  in  men's  seeking  of  immortal 
life  by  well-doing,  so  as  to  merit  at  God's  hand  eternal  life ;  yet  it 
hath  pleased  the  Lord  for  the  declaration  of  the  incomprehensible- 
ness  of  his  goodness,  out  of  free  grace  and  love,  to  make  such  a^ 
connection  betwixt  seeking  of  glory,  in  a  constant  course  of  well- 
doing, and  the  enjoying  of  everlasting  life,  that  now  whosoever 
shall  do  the  one  shall  certainly  enjoy  the  other." 

27.  Hodge :  "  The  leading  doctrine  of  this  section  is,  that  God 
is  just."  Let  us  never  aflopt  any  opinion,  which  could  possibly 
bring  the  divine  rectitude  into  question.  Just  and  right  is  the 
Most  High  in  all  he  says  and  does.  Let  us  leave  all  the  wicked  in 
the  hands  of  God,  and  not  assume  the  awful  prerogative  of  ven- 
geance. The  day  of  visitation  will  soon  be  here.  The  highest 
shall  soon  be  brought  down  to  hell,  if  he  repent  not. 

28.  If  Jew  or  Gentile,  Pagan  or  Christian  be  finally  rejected, 


94  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  L,  vs.  9,  ii. 

it  will  be  for  their  sins,  and  not  because  they  were  born  in  one 
age  or  country,  and  not  in  another,  Doddridge :  "  The  last  day 
will  be  a  most  impartial  as  well  as  important  day.  Nor  are  we 
concerned  to  know  how  the  heathen  will  fare  in  it :  let  it  suffice 
us,  that  if  they  are  condemned,  they  will  be  righteously  condemned ; 
not  for  remaining  ignorant  of  the  gospel  they  never  had  the  op- 
portunity of  hearing,  but  for  violating  those  precepts  of  the 
Divine  law  which  were  inscribed  on  their  consciences." 

29.  Scott :  "  According  to  the  whole  tenor  of  Scripture,  as 
well  as  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  no  sinner  can  do  well,  till  he 
repents,  submits  to  God,  and  seeks  mercy  from  him."  That  truth 
should  never,  never  be  forgotten.  All  God's  goodness  and  au- 
thority call  us  to  break  off  our  sins  by  righteousness.  Otherwise 
iniquity  will  be  our  ruin.  "  Ungodliness  is  not  a  thing  of  tale  and 
measure.  It  is  a  thing  of  weight  and  quality."  It  must  be  sub- 
dued, or  we  must  perish. 

30.  Wicked  men  are  very  unlike  each  other  in  a  thousand  par- 
ticulars. But  this  diversity  will  save  no  man  from  being  a  cast- 
away. Chalmers :  "  Among  the  varieties  both  of  taste  and  of 
habit  which  obtain  with  the  different  individuals  of  our  species, 
there  are  modifications  of  disobedience  agreeable  to  one  class  and 
disgustful  to  another  class.  The  careful  and  calculating  econo- 
mist may  never  join  in  any  of  the  excesses  of  dissipation  ;  and  the 
man  of  regardless  expenditure  may  never  send  an  unrelieved 
petitioner  from  his  door ;  and  the  religious  formalist  may  never 
omit  either  sermon  or  sacrament,  that  is  held  throughout  the  year 
in  the  place  of  his  attendance  ;  and  the  honorable  merchant  may 
never  flinch  or  falsify,  in  any  one  of  the  transactions  of  business. 
Each  has  such  points  of  conformity  as  suits  him,  and  each  has 
such  other  points  of  non-conformity  as  suits  him  ;  and  thus  the 
one  may  even  despise  or  execrate  the  other  for  that  particular 
style  of  disobedience  by  which  he  indulges  his  own  partialities ; 
and  the  things  which  they  respectively  do,  differ  there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  matter  of  them — but  as  to  the  mind  of  uncon- 
cern about  God  which  all  of  them  express,  they  are  virtually  and 
essentially  the  same." 

31.  Yet  marvellous  is  the  grace,  which  offers  salvation  to  all, 
even  to  the  vilest  of  our  race,  who  will  turn  to  God.  Let  us  urge 
the  gospel  call  on  all  around  us.  There  is  mercy  for  the  chief  of 
sinners.  Let  us  despair  of  none  whom  the  patience  of  God  per- 
mits to  live.  Let  us  exhort  and  entreat  men  by  all  that  is  solemn 
and  tender  to  lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 


CHAPTER   II. 

VERSES  12-29. 

MEN  HAVE  VARIOUS  DEGREES  OF  LIGHT.  THE 
MORE  LIGHT  THE  GREATER  OUR  RESPONSIBILI- 
TY,  AND,  IF  WE  ABUSE  IT,  THE  GREATER  OUR 
GUILT. 


12  For  as  many  as  have  sinned  without  law  shall  also  perish  without  law;  and  as 
many  as  have  sinned  in  the  law  shall  be  judged  by  the  law; 

13  (For  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before  God,  but  the  doers  of  the  law 
shall  be  justified. 

14  For  when  the  Gentiles,  which  have  not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things  con- 
tained in  the  law,  these,  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves : 

15  Which  shew  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also 
bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  mean  while  accusing  or  else  excusing  one 
another  ;) 

16  In  the  day  when  God  shall- judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ  according 
to  my  gospel. 

17  Behold,  thou  art  called  a  Jew,  and  restestin  the  law,  and  makest  thy  boast  of 
God, 

18  And  knowest  his  will,  and  approvest  the  things  that  are  more  excellent,  being 
instructed  out  of  the  law; 

19  And  art  confident  that  thou  thyself  art  a  guide  of  the  blind,  a  light  of  them 
which  are  in  darkness, 

20  An  instructor  of  the  foolish,  a  teacher  of  babes,  which  hast  the  form  of 
knowledge  and  of  the  truth  in  the  law. 

21  Thou  therefore  which  teachest  another,  teachest  thou  not  thyself?  thou  that 
preachest  a  man  should  not  steal,  dost  thou  steal  ? 

22  Thou  that  sayest  a  man  should  not  commit  adultery,  dost  thou  commit 
adultery?  thou  that  abhorrest  idols,  dost  thou  commit  sacrilege? 

23  Thou  that  makest  thy  boast  of  the  law,  through  breaking  the  law  dishonour- 
est  thou  God  ? 

24  For  the  name  of  God  is  blasphemed  among  the  Gentiles  through  you,  as  it  is 
written. 

25  For  circumcision  verily  profiteth,  if  thou  keep  the  law  :  but  if  thou  be  a 
breaker  of  the  law,  thy  circumcision  is  made  uncircumcision. 

26  Therefore,  if  the  uncircumcision  keep  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  shall  not 
his  uncircumcision  be  counted  for  circumcision? 

(95) 


96  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  II.,  vs.  12, 13. 

27  And  shall  not  uncircumcision  which  is  by  nature,  if  it  fulfil  the  law,  judge 
thee,  who  by  the  letter  and  circumcision  dost  trangress  the  law  ? 

28  For  he  is  not  a  Jew,  which  is  one  outwardly ;  neither  is  that  circumcision 
which  is  outward  in  the  flesh  : 

29  But  he  is  a  Jew,  which  is  one  inwardly ;  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the 
heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter;  whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of 
God. 

THE  apostle,  having  established  the  foregoing  truths  proceeds 
to  their  appHcation  to  the  case  of  all,  especially  of  the  Jews. 
He  begins  by  saying  that  the  heathen  and  the  Jew  are  in  the  eye 
of  the  law  criminal. 

12.  For  as  many  as  have  sinned  without  law  shall  also  perish  without 
law  ;  and  as  many  as  have  sinned  in  the  law  shall  be  judged  by  the  laiv. 
Peshito :  For  those  without  law,  who  sin,  will  also  perish  without 
law ;  and  those  under  the  law,  who  sin,  will  be  judged  by  the  law. 
By  the  law  we  may  here  understand  the  entire  revealed  preceptive 
will  of  God  ;  Tholuck,  the  will  of  God  ;  Stuart,  revelation  ;  Hodge, 
the  rule  of  duty.  This  was  not  fully  and  in  many  cases  not  at  all 
made  known  to  the  heathen,  they  having  only  the  light  of  nature. 
And  yet  it  is  said  they  had  sinned.  This  is  true.  Their  consciences 
said  so.  The  smoke  of  ten  thousand  altars  declared  the  same. 
Their  superstitious  devices  for  quieting  conscience  and  appeasing 
divine  wrath  confirmed  the  sad  truth..  Such,  living  contrary  to 
the  very  light  of  nature  and  neither  knowing  nor  accepting  a 
Redeemer,  shall  perish.  To  sinners  the  light  of  nature  is  killing 
and  condemning,  not  saving.  And  those,  who  had  and  knew  the 
whole  preceptive  will  of  God,  and  heeded  not  that  great  light,  but 
sinned  still,  shall  be  judged,  yes,  and  condemned  (for  the  word  has 
that  force;  John  3  :  17,  18  and  often)  by  the  law.  Hodge:  "Men 
are  to  be  judged  by  the  light  they  have  severally  enjoyed.  The 
ground  of  judgment  is  their  works ;  the  standard  of  judgment, 
their  knowledge."  Haldane :  "  In  one  word,  the  divine  justice 
will  only  regard  the  sins  of  men ;  and  wherever  these  are  found  it 
will  condemn  the  sinner."  The  next  three  verses  are  parenthetical 
and  explain  the  principle  here  laid  down. 

13.  {For  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before  God,  but  the 
doers  of  the  law  shall  be  justified.  Here  first  in  this  epistle  occur 
the  words  just  and  justified.  This  verse  seems \to  be  an  answer  to 
an  objection  that  might  be  made  by  a  Jew  ;  q.  d.  It  is  not  fair  or 
right  to  put  us  in  the  same  condemnation  with  the  heathen.  We 
have  Abraham  to  our  father.  We  have  Moses  for  our  prophet. 
He  is  read  in  our  synagogues  every  Sabbath.  To  us  are  com- 
mitted the  oracles  of  God.     We  hear  the  Scriptures,  and  we  know 


Ch.  II.,  V.  14,  15.]  THE  ROMANS.  97 

God's  will.  To  this  Paul  replies  that  hearing  is  one  thing  and 
doing  another  thing  ;  that  knowledge  of  even  the  truth,  if  it  be  not 
loved  and  practised,  so  far  from  making  our  state  safe,  enhances 
our  guilt.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  all  the  Scriptures.  It  commands 
the  approval  of  the  human  conscience.  Before  God,  in  this  verse 
means  In  the  sight  of  God.  In  the  sight  of  men  acts  of  mere  out- 
ward obedience  are  often  highly  esteemed,  but  with  God  they  are 
worthless ;  he  requires  a  holy  heart  and  a  holy  life.  Pool :  "  The 
scope  of  the  apostle  is  not  simply  to  show  how  sinners  are  now 
justified  in  the  sight  of  God ;  but  to  show  what  is  requisite  to 
justification  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  law,  and  that  is  to  do  all 
that  is  written  therein,  and  to  continue  to  do  so."  Diodati :  "  The 
law  cannot  bring  any  salvation  to  man,  by  the  knowledge  or  pro- 
fession thereof,  as  the  Jews  believe,  but  by  the  perfect  observing 
of  it,  which  being  found  no  more  in  them  than  in  other  nations, 
they  are  also  comprehended  within  the  general  curse,  and  bound 
to  seek  after  their  righteousness  in  Christ." 

14.  For  when  the  Gentiles,  which  have  not  the  lazv,  do  by  nature  the 
things  contained  in  the  law,  these,  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto 
themselves.  The  meaning  is  that  the  Gentiles,  who  are  without  a 
written  revelation,  and  yet  do  what  is  taught  them  by  the  light  of 
nature,  are  less  criminal  than  the  Jews  who  had  the  Scripture  and 
broke  it.  One,  who  walks  by  the  best  light  he  has  though  it  be 
small,  is  not  so  guilty  as  he  who  has  ever  so  much  light  and  rebels 
against  it.  In  other  words,  it  is  not  rules,  or  wit,  or  knowledge 
that  can  justify  or  save  us.  We  must  be  conformed  to  the  truth. 
Scott :  ''  For  even  the  Gentiles;  who  had  not  the  written  law, 
when  from  natural  principles  they  performed  any  of  those  duties 
which  the  law  required,  were,  in  this  respect,  '  a  law  unto  them- 
selves ; '  and  by  obeying  thus  far  their  ozvn  rule,  came  nearer  to 
righteousness,  than  the  Jews  who  broke  their  rule.'"  All  nations 
however  benighted  have  some  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  some 
apprehension  of  moral  law,  and  are  not  without  conscience.  They 
are  a  law  to  themselves. 

15.  Which  shew  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their 
conscience  also  bearing  them  witness,  and\}c^€\r  thoughts  the  meanwhile 
accusing  or  else  excusing  one  another.  Peshito  :  And  they  show  the 
work  of  the  law,  as  it  is  inscribed  on  their  heart ;  and  their  con- 
science beareth  testimony  to  them,  their  own  reflections  rebuking 
or  vindicating  one  another.  The  apostle  in  this  verse  shows  that 
the  heathen  are  under  moral  law,  that  their  consciences  are  not 
extinguished  by  heathenism,  and  that  their  thoughts  on  questions 
of  right  and  wrong  are  busy  and  active.  They  are  not  brutes. 
They  have  a  moral  sense.     They  are  under  law,  though  it  is  writ- 

7 


98  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II.,  vs.  i6,  17. 

ten  on  their  hearts  only,  and  not  in  an  inspired  volume  in  their 
possession.  The  consciences  and  reasonings  of  the  heathen  do 
clearly  condemn  many  sins  and  vices  in  oiie  another.  And  if  a  man 
knows  enough  to  judge  others  and  rightly  condemn  them,  he 
knows  enough  to  condemn  himself  for  doing  the  same  or  like 
things.  This  verse  ends  the  parenthesis,  and  the  next  is  to  be 
read  in  close  connection  with  v.  12. 

16.  /;/  the  day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus 
Christ  according  to  my  gospel.  That  is,  all  .men,  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
shall  be  judged,  and  if  they  have  no  interest  in  Christ  and  are  not 
partakers  of  his  righteousness,  they  shall  perish  or  be  condemned  ; 
for  then  the  secrets,  the  motives,  the  real  principles  that  govern 
men  shall  be  brought  to  light.  This  scrutiny  and  revelation  of 
human  character  shall  be  conducted  and  effected  by  Jesus  Christ 
in  his  own  person.  Many  Scriptures  so  teach.  John  5  :  22  ;  Acts 
10  :  42 ;  17:31;  2  Tim.  4:1,8;  i  Pet.  4  :  5.  And  all  this  is  ac- 
cording to  the  uniform  teaching  of  the  gospel,  here  called  by  Paul 
my  gospel,  because  he  was  a  preacher  of  it,  had  made  it  known  to 
many,  and  prized  it  so  highly  that  he  rested  the  whole  weight  of 
his  salvation  upon  the  person  of  its  author.  And  now  for  the  direct 
application  of  these  truths  to  those  who  bore  the  name  of  Jews. 

17.  Behold,  thou  art  called  a  Jew,  and  restest  in  the  law,  and 
makest  thy  boast  of  God.  The  Jew  had  advantages,  which  he  per- 
verted, but  which  were  no  mean  things.  First,  he  was  called  a 
Jew,  a  name  of  great  antiquity,  highly  honorable,  pointing  to  a 
long  list  of  renowned  and  pious  ancestors,  with  a  history  une- 
qualled, in  the  annals  of  all  time,  for  stupendous  miracles,  with  a 
lawgiver,  whose  eloquence  was  admired  by  the  very  heathen,  with 
poets,  who  had  sung  the  opera  of  all  ages,  with  prophets,  who  had 
unfolded  the  history  of  the  world  to  its  end.  The  tjest  Jewish 
kings  were  types  of  Messiah  himself.  We  first  find  the  word  Jew 
in  Jer.  34  :  9.  It  is  often  found  in  the  book  of  Esther.  That  evan- 
gelical prophet,  Zechariah,  speaks  of  the  honor  of  being  a  Jew  in 
high  terms.  It  may  have  been  used  from  a  much  earlier  period, 
as  Palestine  is  in  Ps.  y6  :  i  called  Judah  or  Judea.  Secondly,  the 
Jew  rested  in  the  law.  He  unquestionably  had  the  revealed  will 
of  God,  abundantly  supported  by  evidence  as  an  authentic  com- 
munication from  heaven,  so  that  he  relied  upon  it  as  truth  and  for 
good  cause,  the  best  in  the  world — the  divine  attestation.  His 
was  no  uncertain  wisdom,  like  that  of  the  philosophers.  Thirdly, 
the  Jew  made  his  boast  in  God — not  in  dumb  idols,  not  in  lying 

.  vanities,  not  in  dead  men,  whom  superstition  had  deified  ;  but  in 
the  living  God,  Jehovah,  who  had  made  his  name  terrible  among 
the  heathen  and  glorious  among  his  saints.     The  God  of  the  Jews 


Ch.  II.,  vs.  18-21.]  THE  ROMANS.  99 

made  and  ruled  heaven  and  earth,  and  they  knew  it.  Their  gov- 
ernment was  a  theocracy.  Jehovah  was  their  king.  This  God 
was  their  Rock,  Refuge,  Governor  and  all. 

18.  And  know  est  his  will,  and  approvest  the  things  that  are  more 
excellent^  being  instructed  out  of  the  law.  Fourthly,  the  Jew  had 
many  means  of  knowing  the  will  of  God.  He  had  the  lively  ora- 
cles, educated  teachers  to  expound  it,  with  a  splendid  and  divinely 
appointed  public  service,  fall  of  instruction  and  solemnity,  so  that 
it  was  nearly  impossible  to  live  even  a  short  lifetime  in  Jewry 
without  acquiring  a  large  amount  of  religious  knowledge.  Com- 
pare Ps.  147  :  19.  And  approvest  the  things  that  are  more  excellent. 
Fifthly,  the  Jew  had  better  laws,  better  songs,  better  philosophy, 
better  moral  lessons,  purer  worship  than  any  heathen  nation,  and 
these  commended  themselves  to  his  conscience  and  judgment,  so 
that  he  discerned,  tried,  allowed  and  approved  more  excellent 
things,  because  he  had  inspired  men  for  his  guides,  as  Moses  and 
David  and  all  the  prophets. 

19.  And  art  confident  that  thou  thyself  art  a  guide  of  the  blind,  a 
light  of  them  which  are  in  darkness.  Sixthly,  he  was  conscious  of 
his  superior  light.  He  knew  how  debased  and  ignorant  were  the 
nations  round  about.  He  was  confident  that  he  could  tell  them 
many  things  of  the  greatest  importance  to  all  men.  He  regarded, 
and  very  justly  too,  the  heathen  as  blind,  and  enveloped  in  dark- 
ness, and  felt  that  he  was  able  to  be 

20.  An  instructor  of  the  foolish,  a  teacher  of  babes,  which  hast  the 
form  of  knowledge  and  of  the  truth  in  the  law.  The  rites,  the  philo- 
sophical dogmas,  and  even  the  mythology  of  the  heathen  abounded 
in  puerilities  and  absurdities.  They  were  besotted  by  their  gods 
and  by  their  teachers.  But  every  tolerably  intelligent  Jew  had 
\k\Q  form,  pattern,  or  summary  of  divine  knowledge  and  truth,  as 
made  known  in  scripture.  But  now  for  the  reverse.  The  Jew, 
untaught  by  God's  Spirit  and  without  a  new  heart,  relied  on  his 
forms  of  knowledge  and  of  worship  for  salvation,  was  proud  and 
scornful  in  his  conscious  superiority,  superciliously  contemned 
others  as  babes,  yea  as  dogs,  and  accursed,  had  a  foolish  self-confi- 
dence in  his  attainments,  vainly  and  sinfully  boasted  in  God,  relied 
on  ceremonies  heartlessly  observed,  and  on  his  national  and  eccle- 
siastical and  ancestral  connections  for  safety  from  wrath,  and  sadly 
failed  to  practise  with  godly  sincerity  the  plainest  truths  of  his  re- 
ligion.    So  the  apostle  challenges  him  : 

21.  Thou  therefore  which  teachest  another  teachest  thou  not  thyself? 
thou  that  prcachest  a  man  should  7iot  steal,  dost  thou  steal?  The 
sense  of  this  verse  and  of  the  next  is  not  destroyed  by  dropping, 
as  do  the  Vulgate,  Theophylact,  Erasmus  and  Luther,  the  form  of 


lOO 


EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II.,  V,  22. 


interrogation,  though  it  is  perhaps  best  to  follow  the  Syriac, 
Ethiopic,  Arabic,  Chrysostom  etc.  and  retain  it.  The  sum  of  the 
charge  here  made  is  that  of  gross  inconsistency  between  profession 
and  practice,  with  the  aggravation  of  a  wicked  life  following  suffi- 
cient knowledge.  Some  think  the  apostle  here  charges  stealing  as  a 
common  sin  upon  the  Jews  of  his  time.  If  by  stealing  is  under- 
stood what  our  law  calls  larceny,  there  is  no  evidence  that  this  sin 
was  peculiarly  prevalent  among  the  Jews  at  any  period  of  their 
history.  But  if  covetousness,  overreaching,  false  weights  and 
measures,  extortion,  usury,  bribery,  oppression,  cheating,  embez- 
zling, unfaithfulness,  holding  back  wages  fairly  earned,  and  hke 
acts,  which  are  clearly  in  violation  of  the  whole  spirit  of  the  eighth 
commandment,  are  referred  to,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that 
these  sins  were  often  sadly  prevalent,  particularly  in  the  latter  days 
of  the  Jewish  commonwealth.  See  the  minor  prophets.  If  our 
apostle  was  seeking  an  illustration  of  the  principle  he  was  discus- 
sing, he  could  find  none  more  apt  than  that  here  selected,  together 
with  those  of  the  following  verse  ; 

22.  Thou  that  sayest  a  inan  should  not  commit  adultery,  dost  thou 
commit  adultery?  thou  that  abhorrest  idols,  dost  thou  commit  sacrilege  ? 
There  is  not  wanting  evidence,  that  lewdness,  in  all  the  latter  ages 
of  the  Jewish  nation,  was  sadly  prevalent.  In  our  Saviour's  day 
it  had  assumed  one  form,  that  if  generally  practised  must  have 
utterly  subverted  society.  I  refer  to  divorce  for  insufficient  cause. 
In  no  way  could  our  Saviour  have  attacked  a  more  popular  vice 
than  that  in  Matt.  5  :  31,  32.  Besides  the  law  of  chastity  is  spiri- 
tual, and  a  filthy  thought  is  a  clear  violation  of  the  seventh  com- 
mandment. Matt.  5  :  27,  28.  It  is  well  known  that  after  the 
Babylonish  captivity  the  jews  never  fell  into  open  and  gross 
idolatry,  that  many  of  them  suffered  greatly  in  consequence  of 
their  refusal  to  countenance  this  sin,  and  that  the  people  generally 
expressed  great  abhorrence  of  every  form  of  it.  Yet  they  did 
other  things  no  less  clearly  forbidden.  The  verb  rendered  to 
commit  sacrilege  signifies  to  rob  temples.  The  law  forbade  the 
Jews  to  appropriate  to  their  own  use  the  spoils  and  treasures  of 
even  heathen  temples,  in  countries  conquered  in  lawful  war: 
"  The  graven  images  of  their  gods  shall  ye  burn  with  fire  :  thou 
shalt  not  desire  the  silver  or  gold  that  is  on  them,  nor  take  it  unto 
thee,  lest  thou  be  snared."  Deut.  7  :  25.  Whether  any  violation 
of  this  particular  statute  occurred  near  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era,  we  are  not  informed.  It  seems  certain  that  in  Paul's 
time  it  was  not  prevalent,  for  the  Jews,  living  under  a  foreign 
government,  had  not  for  a  long  time  made  war  on  any  people,  so 
that  if  any  of  them  robbed  heathen  temples,  they  must  have  acted 


Ch.  II.,  vs.  23-25-]  THE  ROMANS.  loi 

as  common  thieves,  and  not  as  invaders  of  a  hostile  country.  But 
the  word  may  designate  such  offences  as  were  common  among  the 
Jews,  who  robbed  God  in  tithes  and  offerings,  polluted  the  table 
of  the  Lord,  etc.  Mai.  i  :  8,  12-14;  3  ^  8,  9.  See  also  Nehemiah 
13  :  10-12.  The  same  occurs  whenever  men  withhold  from  God 
the  worship,  which  is  his,  in  particular  when  they  refuse  to  give 
him  the  love,  honor,  reverence  and  obedience,  which  are  undoubt- 
edly his  due.  Hodge  sums  up  the  sin  here  charged,  when  he 
speaks  of  "  the  wicked  and  profane  abuse  and  perversion  of  sacred 
things."  Stuart  explains  it  "  of  every  kind  of  act,  which  denies  to 
God  his  sovereign  honors  and  claims."  This  form  of  wickedness 
always  marks  an  irreligious  people,  and  is  involved  in  the  very 
nature  of  sin.     The  apostle  adds  in  general  terms  : 

23.  Thou  that  makest  thy  boast  of  the  law,  through  breaking  the  law 
dishonorest  thou  God?  The  Jews  never  failed  to  speak  of  their  law, 
as  something  great  and  excellent.  They  knew  it  had  God  for  its 
author,  and  was  given  and  accompanied  with  the  most  awful  sanc- 
tions. It  was  therefore  impossible  for  them  lightly  to  esteem  it, 
or  break  its  precepts,  without  grossly  dishonoring  God.  A  sove- 
reign can  in  no  way  be  more  insulted  than  by  his  subjects  going 
counter  to  his  known  will,  and  especially  by  violating  his  pub- 
lished laws.  Such  conduct  is  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the 
government,  and  tends  to  bring  it  into  utter  contempt.  So  it  is 
added : 

24.  For  the  name  of  God  is  blasphemed  atnong  the  Gentiles  through 
you,  as  it  is  written.  Blasphemed,  evil  spoken  of,  reviled,  railed  at. 
The  meaning  is  not  that  the  Jews  spoke  against  God,  but  that  the 
Gentiles,  taking  occasion  .by  the  evil  ways  of  the  Jews,  reviled 
Jehovah,  his  word  and  his  religion,  q.  d.  The  Gentiles  see  how 
you  Jews  are  unfaithful,  dishonest,  profane,  lewd  and  in  many 
ways  immoral,  and  they  sa)%  The  religion  of  Jehovah  is  no  better 
than  that  of  Baal  or  Moloch.  Deliver  us  from  a  religion,  whose 
professors  practise  sins,  which  we  abhor.  Various  opinions  are 
expressed  as  to  the  Scripture  referred  to  in  the  phrase.  It  is  writ- 
ten. Some  cite  Isa.  52  :  5.  Bat  the  context  would  hardly  justify 
such  a  use  of  that  passage.  Others  more  safely  refer  to  Ezek.  36  : 
23,  24.  The  context  would  fully  justify  this  use  of  the  passage. 
But  the  same  is  virtually  written  in  many  places.  See  Ezek.  16  : 
51-59  and  like  places. 

25.  For  circumcision  verily  profiteth,  if  thou  keep  the  law :  but  if 
thou  be  a  breaker  of  the  law,  thy  circumcision  is  made  uncircumcision. 
Circumcision  was  an  exceedingly  ancient  rite,  instituted  long 
before  the  time  of  Moses,  John  7  :  22.  It  distinguished  the  Jews 
from  most  surrounding  nations.     To  a  Jew  no  epithet  was  more 


102  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II.,  vs.  26-29. 

odious  than  "  uncircumcised."  Gen.  34  :  14 ;  Ex.  12  :  48  ;  i  Sam. 
17  :  26 ;  2  Sam.  i  :  20 ;  Isa.  52  :  i  ;  Ezek.  28  :  10,  etc.  The  Jews 
looked  upon  circumcision  not  only  as  initiatory  but  also  as  essen- 
tial to  fellowship  with  God's  people,  and  to  salvation.  Now  our 
apostle  here  argues  that  if  this  rite,  which  they  so  highly  valued, 
was  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  rite  and  was  not  followed  by  con- 
formity to  the  law,  a  Jew  was  no  better  than  a  heathen.  The  law 
not  obeyed  could  save  no  one.  In  other  aspects  of  circumcision, 
it  was  a  solemn  and  useful  rite,  but  when  the  circumcised  lived  in 
sin,  and  acted  like  the  uncircumcised,  they  were  no  better,  but 
circumcision  became  uncircumcision.     Paul  goes  yet  further  : 

26.  Therefore,  if  the  uncircumcision  keep  the  righteousness  of  the 
law,  shall  not  his  uncircumcision  be  counted  for  circumcision  ?  Stuart : 
"  Neither  circumcision  nor  the  want  of  it  determines  our  deserts 
in  the  view  of  our  Maker  and  Judge  ;  but  a  spirit  of  filial  obedi- 
ence." It  is  not  supposed  that  Paul  intended  to  say  that  any  man, 
heathen  or  Jew,  kept  the  whole  law,  for  elsewhere  he  expressly 
teaches  that  there  was  no  such  case,  Rom.  3  :  9.  But  he  says,  that 
if  a  heathen  could  be  found  with  a  blameless  character,  he  would 
be  accepted  as  readily  as  a  Jew  of  like  character.  Haldane  :  "  In 
reality,  then,  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  on  a  level  as  to  the  im- 
possibility of  salvation  by  the  law."  This  is  really  the  drift  of 
Paul's  argument. 

27.  And  shall  7iot  uncircumcision,  which  is  by  nature,  if  it  fulfil 
the  law,  judge  thee,  who  by  the  letter  and  circumcision  dost  transgress 
the  law  ?  This  verse  teaches  the  same  as  that  next  preceding  with 
the  additional  declaration  that  such  a  case,  if  found,  would  cori- 
demn  the  Jew,  who  fell  short  of  the  requirements  of  the  law  he 
professed  to  receive.  It  is  true  no  such  case  was  found.  For  both 
Jew  and  Gentile  are  guilty  before  God.  But  the  great  object  of 
the  apostle  in  these  verses  is  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  a  Jew  in 
his  law,  nationality  and  rites  as  means  or  even  as  pledges  of  salva- 
tion, if  he  were  found,  like  other  men,  to  be  a  sinner.  He  next 
announces  that  religion  is  internal  and  spiritual  and  that  as  a  man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he  : 

28.  For  he  is  not  a  Jew,  which  is  one  outwardly  ;  neither  is  that 
circumcision,  which  is  outward  in  the  flesh  : 

29.  But  he  is  a  Jew,  which  is  ojie  inwardly :  and  circumcision  is 
that  of*  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter ;  whose  praise  is 
not  of  meUy  but  of  God.  Haldane  :  '*  The  essence  and  reality  of 
things  do  not  consist  in  names  or  external  signs ;  and  when  nothing 
more  is  produced,  God  will  not  consider  a  man  who  possesses 
them  as  a  true  Jew,  nor  his  circumcision  as  true  circumcision.  He 
is  only  a  Jew  in  shadow  and  appearance,  and  his  is  only  a  figura- 


Ch.  IL,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  103 

tive  circumcision  void  of  its  truth."  In  other  words  the  holiness, 
which  God  approves,  is  in  the  heart.  With  him  a  name  is  nothing, 
profession  nothing,  but  the  reality  is  everything.  For  outwardly 
the  Peshito  reads  in  that  which  is  external,  and  for  inwardly  it  has 
in  what  is  hidden.  By  the  spirit  in  v.  29  we  are  not  to  understand 
the  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  opposite  of  the  letter.  Haldane  :  "  That 
which  penetrates  to  the  bottom  of  the  soul ;  in  one  word,  that 
which  is  real  and  effective."  So  also  Locke,  Slade,  Macknight, 
Olshausen  and  others.  But  as  the  grace  and  renewal  of  the 
soul  are  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  there  is  no  error  taught  by  un- 
derstanding the  reference  to  be  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  Hodge 
says  :  "  This  gives  a  better  sense.  Circumcision  of  the  heart  which 
is  effected  by  the  -Spirit,  and  not  made  after  the  direction  of  the 
written  law;  compare  Col.  2:11."  Augustine,  Oecumenius, 
Grotius,  Dutch  Annotations,  Pool,  Le  Clerc,  Tholuck,  Dodd- 
ridge and  others  favor  this  interpretation.  Some  unite  the  two 
and  so  cover  the  whole  ground,  as  Evans,  Clarke,  etc.  The  result 
is  the  same  in  either  case.  Whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God. 
"  Man  looketh  on  the  outward  appearance,  but  the  Lord  looketh  on 
the  heart."  The  heart,  the  spirit,  the  seat  of  the  principles,  affec- 
tions and  motives,  is  of  chief  importance.  God  cares  nothing  at 
all  for  mere  show,  mere  profession,  mere  rites  and  appearances  as 
deciding  character.  Such  things  are  of  no  real  worth  in  his 
sight. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  It  is  true  that  where  there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  transgres- 
sion ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  where  there  is  no  written  law,  there 
is  no  wickedness.  It  is  enough  that  the  law  be  known  by  the 
light  of  nature.  Paul  admits  that  men  "  have  sinned  without 
law" — without  a  written  revelation,  v.  12.  Yea,  he  admits  that 
they  have  so  sinned,  that  unless  God  shall  show  them  mercy,  their 
condemnation  will  be  just,  and  they  will  perish. 

2.  God  is  a  sovereign  in  all  his  acts  and  dispensations,  v.  12. 
He  dealt  not  with  any  ancient  nation  as  with  the  Jews.  Ps. 
147 :  20 ;  Amos  3  :  2.  On  the  other  hand  for  long  centuries  he 
suffered  all  other  nations  to  walk  in  their  own  ways.  Acts  14 :  16. 
No  man  can  tell  why  this  was  so.  "  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it 
seemed  good  in  thy  sight,"  gives  the  only  solution.  Shall  not 
the  Lord  do  as  he  will  with  his  own  ?  Behold  here  the  goodness 
and  severity  of  God. 

3.  But  privileges  are  accompanied  with  corresponding  obliga- 
tions, and  if  these  are  unheeded,  sin  is  aggravated.     The  greater 


I04  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  II.,  vs.  12-14. 

the  light  sinned  against,  the  greater  the  guilt  incurred.  So  that  it 
is  less  dreadful  to  perish  without  law  than  to  be  condemned  by 
the  law,  V.  12.  To  whom  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be 
required.  Chrysostom  :  "  The  greater  the  attention  he  enjoyed, 
the  greater  the  punishment  he  will  suffer.  See  how  he  urges  on 
the  Jews  their  greater  need  of  a  speedy  recourse  to  grace." 
Doddridge :  "  We  shall  be  judged  by  the  dispensation  we  have 
enjoyed  ;  and,  how  devoutly  so  ever  we  may  .hear  and  speak  of 
it,  shall  be  condemned  if  we  have  not  acted  agreeably  thereto." 
Hodge  :  "  Superior  knowledge  enhances  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  in- 
creases the  certainty,  necessity  and  severity  of  punishment,  with- 
out in  itself  increasing  the  power  of  resistance." 

4.  In  every  case  the  wages  of  sin  is  death.  Whether  men  sin 
without  the  law  or  in  the  law,  they  perish,  they  are  condemned, 
if  the  merits  of  Christ  are  not  counted  to  them  for  righteousness. 

5.  Legal  justification  to  men  is  impossible,  for  they  are  all  sin- 
ners, V.  13.  The  law  says,  "Do  and  live."  "The  soul  that  sin- 
neth,  it  shall  die."  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in 
all  things  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  One  failure 
infracts  the  covenant  of  works,  and  renders  it  impossible  for  us 
thereby  to  have  good  hope.  Brown  :  "  Men  are  ready  to  imagine 
a  more  easy  way  whereby  to  stand  justified  at  the  bar  of  God, 
and  expect  absolution  on  easier  terms  than  God  ever  carved  out : 
and  as  men  should  look  diligently  that  their  imaginations  thus 
deceive  them  not,  and  that  they  stand  on  sure  grounds ;  so  the 
faithful  servants  of  God  should  be  careful  to  undeceiye  people, 
and  to  discover  the  vanity  of  their  imaginations,  and  show  the 
true  grounds  on  which  a  man  must  stand  justified  before  God  in 
the  great  day."  O  sinner,  on  the  score  of  personal  merits  there 
is  no  hope  for  thee.  Nor  will  it  save  any  man  to  know  that  his 
own  righteousnesses  are  all  as  filthy  rags,  and  that  Jesus  Christ 
alone  is  the  Lord  our  righteousness,  unless  he  truly  Hees  to  hini 
as  his  only  hope  and  Redeemer. 

6.  Whatever  dreams  men  have  indulged,  and  however  they 
may  have  imagined  cases,  in  which,  if  one  did  right,  it  would  go 
well  with  him,  yet  no  such  case  is  found.  There  was  never  a  mere 
man  that  did  not  at  some  time  blush,  or  groan,  or  writhe  under 
the  consciousness  of  ill  desert  for  some  sin  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Show  us  a  man,  whose  nature  is  holy  and  who  never  in  thought, 
word  or  deed  broke  the  law,  and  we  admit  that  the  law  has  no 
charges  against  him.  But  there  is  no  such  man.  It  is  only  by 
refusing  to  look  at  the  context,  that  men  suppose  our  apostle  ad- 
mits in  any  part  of  his  argument  that  such  cases  are  found,  v.  14. 
All  good  men  disclaim  human  merits  and  all  bad  men  ought  to 


Ch.  II,  V.  15,  16.J  THE  ROMANS.  105 

do  the  same.  Chalmers :  "  What  turns  the  virtues  of  earth  into 
splendid  sins,  is  that  nothing-  of  God  is  there.  It  is  the  want  of 
this  animating  breath,  which  impresses  upon  them  all  the  worth- 
lessness  of  materialism.  It  is  this  which  makes  all  the  native 
loveliness  of  our  moral  world  of  as  little  account,  iji  the  pure  and 
spiritual  reckoning  of  the  upper  sanctuary,  as  is  a  mere  efflores- 
cence of  beauty  on  the  face  of  the  vegetable  creation." 

7.  So  long  as  conscience  gives  forth  her  utterances  in  the 
solemn  tones,  which  every  man  hears,  it  is  in  vain  to  deny  the 
moral  government  of  God  over  the  world,  v.  15.  Conscience 
bears  witness  in  a  way  that  none  but  scoffers  will  deny.  Men  can- 
not rid  themselves  of  its  power  by  adopting  abominable  principles. 
Athiests  have  confessed  its'  power.  Felons  feel  its  frightful  sting. 
If  men  have  consciences,  it  must  be  because  God  has  given  them 
a  moral  nature  and  placed  them  under  moral  law.  If  men  are  so 
constituted  as  to  be  a  law  to  themselves,  they  are  surely  account- 
able to  God.  True,  a  long  course  of  sinning  will  sadly  sear  the 
conscience,  but  even  old  and  cruel  monsters  of  depravity  have 
confessed  that  they  from  conscience  alone  suffered  death  every 
day.  Reader,  have  you  a  good  conscience  ?  Is  it  purified  by 
atoning  blood?  Do  you  study  to  keep  it  void  of  offence  towards 
God  and  man  ?  If  in  any  part  of  the  world  a  man  without  a 
conscience  could  be  found,  we  should  justly  pronounce  him  a 
monster. 

8.  There  will  be  a  day  of  Judgment,  v.  16.  Why  should  there 
not  be  ?  There  have  been  days  of  sinning,  and  days  of  acting,  and 
days  of  suffering.  Why  should  there  not  be  a  day  of  reckoning 
and  of  retribution  ?  Scoffers  may  cry  out  against  such  an  event 
as  of  old.  2  Pet.  3  :  3,  14.  But  scoffing  will  have  no  more  effect  to 
defer  it,  or  avert  its  decisions  than  laughter  will  have  in  hinder- 
ing the  violence  of  a  storm  or  the  raging  of  the  sea. 

9.  This  great  day  will  expose  the  secrets  of  men,  v.  16.  None 
will  object  to  the  public  acknowledgment  and  rewarding  of  good 
deeds,  performed  from  right  motives,  however  secretly  and  mod- 
estly they  may  have  been  performed.  This  shall  surely  be  done. 
Matt.  25  :  34-40.  It  is  no  less  right  that  all,  who  have  stubbornly 
and  stoutly  resisted  God's  love  and  authority,  his  mercy  and  his 
terrors  should  be  condignly  punished  and  their  characters  fully 
exposed.  Some  have  asked,  shall  the  sins  of  God's  people  be  ex- 
posed on  that  day  ?  If  they  shall  be,  it  shall  not  be  to  their  con- 
fusion, or  condemnation,  but  only  to  the  magnifying  of  the  riches 
of  the  grace,  which  washed  and  saved  them  from  their  sins.  And 
there  the  believer  may  let  the  matter  rest,  for  he  is  willing  that 
Christ  should  have  all  the  glory  of  his  salvation. 


io6  EPISTLE    TO  .[Ch.  II.,  vs.  16-27. 

10.  The  last  day  will  settle  one  controversy,  that  has  long  been 
conducted  with  heat  and  violence  on  one  side,  and  with  unflinch- 
ing fidelity  on  the  other— the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Is  he  truly  and  supremely  divine  ?  If  he  does  not  know 
all  things,  all  hearts,  all  motives,  all  rules  of  right,  and  how  in- 
fallibly to  apply  them,  how  can  he  make  the  awards  of  the  last 
day  ?  To  the  devout  and  humble  all  this  seems  clear  even  now. 
But  the  human  heart  is  terribly  opposed  to  honoring  the  Son  as 
most  men  admit  they  should  honor  the  Father.  Blessed  be  God, 
the  man  Christ  Jesus,  who  poured  out  his  life  unto  death,  is  to 
pass  upon  the  case  of  all  his  people  and  of  all  their  enemies. 

1 1 .  Every  generation  witnesses  a  strong  tendency  to  rely  on 
names  and  forms,  on  rites  and  professions,  on  creeds  and  sacra- 
ments, and  not  on  the  Saviour  and  his  Spirit  for  salvation,  vs.  17- 
27.     Ritualism  is  indigenous  to  the  corrupt  heart  of  man.     It  is  as 
easy  to  trust  in  forms  when  simple  as  when  splendid,  when  divinely 
ordered  as  when  by  man  invented.     The  Pharisees  were  much 
more  orthodox  than  the  Sadducees  or  Essenes,  yet  they  were  vile 
hypocrites.     The  case  is  this.     The  human  conscience  oppresses 
one  with  some  just  sense  of  guilt.     He  says,  I  must  do  something 
to  save  my  soul.     Formalism  says :  Here  is  something  you  can  do. 
Engage  in  it  and  you  will  feel  better.     The  trial  is  made.     The 
conscience  becomes  purbhnd  and  stupid.    Some  reUef  is  felt.   The 
devotee  is  encouraged  to  press  on,  till  at  length  the  sad  delusion 
steals  over  him  that  this  is  piety.      Then  his  blind  self-love  rivets 
that  impression,  and  time  only  is  required  to  make  a  full  end  of  all 
good  hopes  and  prospects  for  eternity,  iinless  God  in  mercy  opens 
his  eyes  to  see  the  utter  worthlessness  of  all  he  has  done,  and  by 
his  Spirit  converts  his  poor  carnal  heart.     This  is  sometimes  done, 
and   when   it  is,  it  is  vastly  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  divine 
grace.     For  "  when  men  grow  secure  because  of  privileges  where- 
with they  are  blessed  of  God,  it  is  hard  to  get  such  roused  up 
and  awakened,  and  brought  to  some  thorough  conviction  of  their 
case  and  condition."     There  is  nothing  which  the  deceitfulness 
of  the  human  heart  may  not  pervert  to  its  destruction.     The  law 
is  of  great  use  to  give  the  knowledge  of  sin.    Yet  men  go  to  it  for 
justification.     And  if  one  thing  seems  to  fail  in  these  false  founda- 
tions, men  easily  try  another.     Some  plead  that  they  are  within 
the  pale  of  the  true  church,  are  esteemed  and  trusted  as  pious, 
have  the  seals  of  the  covenant  and  are  exact  in  many  decent  forms 
of  worship.    Chalmers :  "  Were  we  asked  to  fix  on  a  living  counter- 
part in  the  present  day  to  the  Jew  of  the  passage  now  under  con- 
sideration— it  would  be  on  him,  who,  thoroughly  versant  in  all  the 
phrases  and  dexterous  in  all  the  arguments  of  orthodoxy,  is,  with- 


Ch.  IL,  vs.  21-24.]  THE  ROMANS.  107 

out  one  affection  of  the  old  man  circumcised,  and  without  one 
sanctified  affection  to  mark  him  the  new  man  in  Christ'  Jesus  our 
Lord,  withal,  a  zealous  and  stanch  and  sturdy  controversialist. 
He  too  rests  in  the  form  of  sound  words,  and  is  confident  that  he 
is  a  light  of  the  blind,  and  founds  a  complacency  on  knowledge 
without  love  and  without  regeneration." 

12.  It  is  therefore  a  solemn  question  for  every  man's  considera- 
tion :  "  Is  my  evidence  of  acceptance  with  God  under  the  gospel 
at  all  better  than  that  of  this  Jew  under  the  law  ?  "  If  the  best 
any  man  can  say  is  :  '  I  am  of  my  own  choice  and  by  public  con- 
sent called  a  Christian,  I  rest  in  the  Gospel,  I  make  my  boast  of 
God,  I  know  his  will,  I  approve  the  most  excellent  things,  I  am 
instructed  out  of  the  gospel,  I  am  capable  of  teaching  others  the 
way  of  life  and  salvation,  I  instruct  a  Bible  class,  I  am  a  communi- 
cant or  a  minister  in  the  church  ; '  if  this  is  all,  it  is  nothing, 
nothing  to  the  purpose  of  salvation.  Hodge  :  "  Membership  in 
the  true  church,  considered  as  a  visible  society,  is  no  security  that 
we  shall  obtain  the  favor  of  God." 

13.  The  foregoing  truth  is  manifest  and  of  solemn  weight  in 
your  case,  if  your  religious  profession  is,  like  that  of  this  Jew,  at- 
tended with  dark  signs,  and  especially  with  the  bad  mark  of  not 
obeying  the  plainest  and  clearest  truths  known  and  professed,  vs. 
21-23.  It  is  impossible,  even  if  we  could  work  miracles,  to  prove 
that  we  are  real  Christians,  unless  we  keep  the  commandments. 
On  this  point  God's  word  abounds  in  the  clearest  proofs.  Hodge : 
"  Mere  knowledge  cannot  commend  us  to  God.  It  neither  sancti- 
fies the  heart,  nor  of  itself  renders  men  more  useful.  When  made 
the  ground  of  confidence,  or  the  fuel  of  pride  and  arrogance,  it  is 
perverted  and  destructive."  Therefore  the  question,  Are  you  a  con- 
sistent Christian  ?  is  as  pertinent  as  this.  Are  you  a  Christian  at  all  ? 
It  is  not  reproving  sin  and  error,  but  fleeing  from  them  that  proves 
men  right-minded.     A  wicked  practice  evinces  a  wicked  heart. 

14.  So  deceitful  is  the  human  heart  and  so  cunning  are  self-de- 
ceivers that  God's  ministers  must  use  great  plainness  and  directness 
of  speech,  as  Paul  does  here,  vs.  21-23.  It  will  not  save  men's 
souls  from  the  snares  of  the  devil  to  preach  by  hints,  allusions  and 
indirect  attacks  on  error  and  wickedness.  Our  Saviour  and  his 
apostles  as  well  as  the  prophets  have  left  us  admirable  lessons  and 
examples  on  this  matter. 

15.  The  wicked  may  often  greatly  pervert  things  and  may  at 
times  tell  many  utter  falsehoods  respecting  you.  These  things  are 
of  course  no  test  of  character.  But  what  do  men  truly  say  of  you  ? 
V.  24.  If  from  the  tenor  of  your  life  they  fairly  infer  that  you  are 
no  better  than  men  who  profess  no  love  to  Christ,  you  are  a  bad 


io8  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  IL,  vs.  26-29. 

man.     And  you  are  the  worse  man  for  professing  the  true  rehg- 
ion,  and  not  acting  accordingly. 

16.  But  you  have  a  name  to  live.  •  Your  profession  is  fair. 
Your  sincerity  is.unsuspected  by  just  men.  Yet  what  is  all  that 
worth  ?  It  is  not  he,  whom  man  commendeth,  but  whom  the  Lord 
approveth,  that  shall  be  saved. 

17.  Are  your  virtues  better  than  those  of  many  heathen?  v. 
26,  In  justness  of  character  would  you  compare  with  Aristides  ? 
In  despising  the  annoyances  of  life,  as  well  as  its  vain  show,  are 
you  equal  to  Diogenes  or  Socrates  ?  In  honor  are  you  equal  to 
Cicero?  Well,  we  must  have  a  higher  standard  of  virtue  than  the 
heathen,  or  be  condemned  by  them. 

18.  It  would  therefore  be  a  great  matter  if  the  world  would 
learn  that  "  he  is  not  a  Christian,  who  is  one  outwardly,  nor  is  that 
baptism,  which  is  oiitwar'd  in  the  flesh  ;  but  he  is  a  Christian,  that  is 
one  iiiwardly,  and  baptism  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  i?t 
the' letter;  whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  hut  of  God,"  vs.  28,  29. 
Chalmers  :  "  Faith  is  an  inlet  to  holy  affections.  Its  primary  office 
is  to  admit  truth  into  the  mind,  but  it  is  truth  which  impresses  as 
well  as  informs.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word  alone,  nor 
in  argument  alone — it  is  also  in  power,  and  while  we  bid  you  look 
unto  Jesus  and  be  saved,  it  is  such  a  look  as  will  cause  you  to 
mourn  and  be  in  heaviness — it  is  such  a  look  as  will  liken  you  to 
his  image,  and  import  into  your  own  character  the  graces  and  the 
affections  which  adorn  his."  If  one  be  thus  changed,  it  matters 
not  whether  the  world  applauds  or  censures,  peace  is  made  with 
God,  and  the  soul  is  safe  forever,  through  Jesus  Christ. 

19.  Doddridge :  "  We  pity  the  Gentiles,  and  we  have  reason  to 
do  it ;  for  they  are  lamentably  blind  and  dissolute  :  but  let  us  take 
heed,  lest  those  appearances  of  virtue,  which  are  to  be  found 
among  some  of  them,  condejnn  us ;  who,  with  the  letter  of  the  law, 
and  the  gospel,  and  with  the  solemn  tokens  of  a  covenant  relation  to 
God,  transgress  his  precepts,  and  violate  our  engagements  to  him  ; 
so  turning  the  means  of  goodness  and  happiness  into  the  occasion 
of  more  aggravated  guilt  and  misery." 

20.  There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  apply  to  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  gospel  the  doctrine  Paul  here  lays  down  respecting 
circumcision.  Sacraments  have  neither  inherent  nor  invariable 
efficacy.  They  are  signs  of  great  truths,  and  seals  of  great  bless- 
ings ;  but  unbelief  hinders  their  good  effect,  and  a  wicked  life  is 
proof  of  unbelief 


CHAPTER    III. 

VERSES  1-19. 

PAUL   DOES   NOT  SLIGHT   THE   MOSAIC  DISPENSA- 
TION.    HE  PROVES  ALL  MEN  TO  BE  SINNERS. 

What  advantage  then  hath  the  Jew  ?  or  what  profit  is  there  of  circumcision  ? 

2  Much  every  way :  chiefly,  because  that  unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles 
of  God. 

3  For  what  if  some  did  not  believe  ?  shall  their  unbelief  make  the  faith  of  God 
without  effect  ? 

4  God  forbid:  yea,  let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a  liar;  as  it  is  written.  That 
thou  mightest  be  justified  in  thy  sayings,  and  mightest  overcome  when  thou  art 
judged. 

5  But  if  our  unrighteousness  commend  the  righteousness  of  God,  what  shall  we 
say  ?     Is  God  unrighteous  who  taketh  vengeance?      (I  speak  as  a  man) 

6  God  forbid  :   for  then  how  shall  God  judge  the  world?  * 

7  For  if  the  truth  of  God  hath  more  abounded  through  my  lie  unto  his  glory; 
why  yet  am  I  also  judged  as  a  sinner  ? 

8  And  not  rather,  (as  we  be  slanderously  reported,  and  as  some  affirm  that  we 
sav,)  Let  us  do  evil,  that  good  may  come  ?  whose  damnation  is  just. 

9  What  then  ?  are  we  better  than  they  ?  No,  in  no  wise :  for  we  have  before 
proved  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  that  they  are  all  under  sin ; 

10  As  it  is  written.  There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one  : 

1 1  There  is  none  that  understandeth,  there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God. 

12  They  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  together  become  unprofitable; 
there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one. 

13  Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre ;  with  their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit; 
the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips :  • 

14  Whose  mouth  is  fuU  of  cursing  arud  bitterness: 

15  Their  feet  are.  swift  to  shed  blood: 

1 6  Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways : 

17  And  the  way  of  peace  have  they  not  known  : 

18  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes. 

19  Now  we  know  that  what  things  soever  the  law  sairh,  it  saith  to  them  who  are 
under  the  law :  that  every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  may  become 
guilty  before  God. 

(109) 


no  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  i,  2. 

1WHA  T  advantage  then  hath  the  Jew  ?  or  what  profit  is  there  of 
,  circumcision  ?  Peshito  :  What  then  is  the  superiority  of  the 
Jew?  Or  what  is  the  advantage  of  circumcision  ?  Y or  advantage 
the  Vulgate  and  Wiclif  have  more  ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan 
have  preferment ;  and  Rheims  has  pre-eminence.  Some  of  the 
ancient  interpreters  use  excellence,  meaning  thereby  pre-eminence. 
There  is  no  need  of  making  this  dramatic  by  introducing  a  Jew  as 
here  making  this  objection.  In  his  candor,  Paul  states  it  as  one 
likely  to  occur  to  the  mind  of  his  countrymen.  The  force  of  the 
place  is  this :  If  the  argument  of  the  foregoing  chapter,  and  par- 
ticularly from  the  seventeenth  verse  to  the  close,  is  correct,  may 
you  not  as  well  deny  that  the  Jews  had  any  privileges  above 
others  ?  If  Jews  could  not  secure  salvation  by  their  conformity 
to  the  letter  of  the  law,  how  are  they  more  privileged  than  others  ? 
If  the  Jews  had  generally  regarded  as  valid  this  objection,  it  must 
have  mightily  hindered  the  Gospel  among  them.  It  was  therefore 
important  fairly  to  meet  it,  2ls  Paul  does  thus : 

2.  Much  every  way :  chiefly,  because  that  unto  them  were  committed 
the  oracles  of  God.  Wiclif  renders  the  first  clause,  Myche  bi  alle 
wise ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan,  Surely  very  much  ;  Calvin, 
Very  much.  The  objection  of  v.  i  was  not  to  be  entertained  for  a 
moment,  for  it  was  not  true.  God  had  greatly  favored  the  Jews. 
Take  a  single  particular  and  consider  it  in  all  its  bearings.  The 
Jews  were,  the  depository  of  the  precious  words  of  God.  Com- 
mitted, confided  or  intrusted.  Oracles,  found  also  in  Acts  7  :  38 ; 
Heb.  5:12;  I  Pet.  4:11;  and  always  rendered  as  here.  Oracles 
were  divine  communications,  or  words  uttered  by  God.  Without 
sHghting  the  words  spoken  for  many  generations  by  Urim  and 
Thummim,  the  chief  reference  here  is  to  the  written  word  of  God 
as  we  have  it  in  the  Old  Testament.  Think  how  much  is  here 
included — the  history  of  creation,  of  the  fall,  of  the  deluge,  of  the 
dispersion,  of  the  call  and  trials  of  Abraham,  of  the  history  of  his 
descendants,  of  the  exodus  from  Egypt ;  the  law ;  the  .records  of 
kings  good  and  bad  ;  the  best  proverbs  ;  the  sublimest  songs ;  pre- 
dictions respecting  the  course  of  events  to  the  end  of  the  world ; 
and  all  these  abounding  in  precepts,  promises,  warnings  and 
encouragements  of  the  most  weighty  character.  Especially  did 
these  lively  oracles  animate  the  church  with  bright  hopes  respect- 
ing Messiah  and  the  glory  of  his  reign.  These  were  the  richest 
and  most  glorious  matters,  of  which  the  Old  Testament  treats. 
And  although  the  Gentiles  had  fragments  of  revelation  among 
them,  and  so  looked  for  some  great  Teacher  and  Deliverer,  yet 
their  ideas  were  confused,  at  least  vague,  and  the  Gentiles  were 
never  the  custodians  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to 


Ch.  III.,  V.  3-]  THE  ROMANS.  m 

make  men  wise  unto  salvation.  Chrysostom :  "  Do  you  see  how- 
he  still  counts  up,  not  their  good  deeds,  but  the  benefits  they 
received  from  God?" 

3.  For  what  if  some  did  not  believe  ?  shall  their  unbelief  make  the 
faith  of  God  without  effect  ?  Candor  requires  the  admission  that 
this  is  a  difficult  portion  of  the  epistle.  The  proof  is  found  in  the 
great  diversity  of  explanations  and  conjectures  offered.  Macknight 
varies  the  sense  of  the  verse  by  a  negative  :  Will  not  their  unbelief 
destroy  the  faithfulness  of  God  ?  Calvin  thinks  the  sense  is  this, 
"  Is  God's  covenant  so  abrogated  by  the  perfidiousness  of  the 
Jews,  that  it  brings  forth  no  fruit  among  them  ?  "  Evans  :  "  The 
infidelity  and  obstinacy  of  the  Jews  could  not  invalidate  and  over- 
throw those  prophecies  of  the  Messiah,  which  were  contained  in 
the  oracles  committed  to  them!'  Doddridge  :  "  Shall  their  unbelief 
destroy  God's  fidelity  to  his  promises,  or  prevent  our  receiving 
them,  and  owning  their  accomplishment?"  Olshausen  supposes 
the  point  to  be  this :  "  Even  if  the  blessing  was  lost  to  the  nation 
collectively,  it  yet,  according  to  God's  faithfulness,  remained  even 
now  confirmed  to  individual  believers,  and  should  hereafter  also 
belong  to  the  whole  of  Israel  when  God  should  have  led  them 
back  by  wondrous  ways."  Conybeare  &  Howson :  "  Shall  we 
imagine  that  God  will  break  his  covenant  with  the  true  Israel, 
because  of  the  unfaithfulness  of  the  false  Israel  ?  "  Clarke  :  "  Shall 
the  wickedness  of  some  annul  the  PROMISE,  which  God  made  to 
Abraham,  that  he  would,  by  an  everlasting  covenant,  be  a  God  to 
him  and  to  his  seed  after  him  ?  "  Locke  thinks  the  point  is  this, 
that  the  unbelief  of  some  cannot  render  God's  covenant  of  none 
effect  to  the  nation  so  as  not  to  bring  them  blessings  in  all  coming 
generations.  Others  suppose  this  to  be  the  sense.  If  the  Jews  shall 
not  believe,  as  many  do  not,  this  does  not  show  that  the  covenant 
is  not  good,  and  its  blessings  great  in  themselves,  and  freely 
offered  to  the  acceptance  of  men.  Hodge  :  "  What  if  we  have  been 
unfaithful,  or  are  as  wicked  and  disobedient  as  you  would  make 
us  appear,  does  that  invalidate  the  promises  of  God  ?  Must  he  be 
unfaithful  too  ?  Has  he  not  promised  to  be  our  God,  and  that  we 
should  be  his  people  ?  These  are  promises  not  suspended  on  our 
good  or  evil  conduct."  On  these  views  it  may  be  said:  i.  that 
there  is  no  authority  for  inserting,  as  Macknight  does,  a  negative. 
2.  Whether  we  make  the  language  of  this  verse  to  be  that  of  a  Jew 
or  of  Paul  himself  candidly  stating  an  objection  likely  to  be  made 
does  not  necessarily  change  the  sense.  It  is  admitted  that  the 
language  is  that  of  objection.  3.  Several  of  the  explanations 
offered  though  diverse  are  not  adverse  to  each  other.  4.  It 
is  probably  safest  to  regard  the  apostle  as  closely  confining  himself 


112  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  4,  5. 

to  the  main  matter  in  hand,  viz.  the  impossibility  of  any  one,  even 
a  Jew,  being  justified  before  God  by  the  law.  5.  Any  sense 
put  upon  the  question  ought  to  make  relevant  the  subsequent 
answer  given  by  our  apostle.  Perhaps  the  judicious  Thomas  Scott 
has  as  nearly  caught  the  spirit  of  the  passage  as  any  other :  "  What 
if  some,  if  even  the  greater  part  of  the  nation  of  Israel,  from 
worldly  and  ambitious  motives,  had  obstinately  and  wickedly 
rejected  the  divine  Saviour?  Did  their  unbelief  render  the  faith- 
fulness of  God  ineffectual?  He  had  fulfilled  his  promises  to  their 
fathers,  and  if  they  would  not  receive  and  submit  to  the  '  Seed  of 
Abraham,'  and  the  Son  of  David,  could  they  plead  that  God  had 
failed  of  his  word? "  etc.     In  reply  to  the  objection  Paul  says, 

4.  God  forbid:,  yea,  let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a  liar  ;  as  it  is 
written,  that  thou  mightest  be  justified  in  thy  sayings,  and  mightest  over- 
come when  thou  art  judged.  Peshito  :  Far  be  it  ;  For  God  is  vera- 
cious, and  every  man  false  :  as  it  is  written  :  That  thou  mightest 
be  upright  in  thy  declarations,  and  be  found  pure  when  they  judge 
thee.  God  forbid.  The  original  of  this  phrase  occurs  ten  times  in 
this  epistle.  It  is  a  very  strong  form  of  denial.  It  is  rendered  as 
here  by  Wichf,  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan  and 
Rheims  ;  and  yet  in  the  Greek  the  name  of  God  is  not  found. 
Let  it  not  be  is  all  the  original  warrants  in  any  of  the  ten  cases. 
We  cannot  defend  this  uncalled  for  appeal  to  God.  We  can 
account  for  it  on  the  score  of  use,  it  having  been  for  many  cen- 
turies an  idiomatic  phrase  among  our  ancestors,  when  they  would 
give  a  strong  denial.  Let  God  be  true,  i.  e.  let  him  be  accounted 
faithful  to  all  his  engagements,  though  by  supposition  every  man 
be  false,  or  faithless.  It  is  safer  to  trust  no  man  than  it  is  to  distrust 
God.  It  is  better  to  discredit  all  men  than  not  to  believe  God. 
Brought  into  comparison  with  God  men  are  false,  filthy,  foolish. 
When  Job  had  a  clear  discovery  of  the  spotless  purity  of  God,  he 
abhorred  himself  and  repented  in  dust  and  ashes.  Paul  refers  to 
the  case  of  David,  who,  though  a  great  and  good  king,  and  held 
in  high  esteem  in  Israel,  yet  sinned,  and  in  his  confession  admits 
that  God  was  altogether  and  incomparably  righteous.  See  Ps. 
51:4.  Paul  quotes  not  the  Hebrew,  but  gives  literally  the  Septua- 
gint  version,  with  which  his  readers  were  familiar,  and  which  for 
his  purpose  was  as  good  as  the  Hebrew,  or  as  a  literal  translation 
of  it  would  have  been.  This  verse  is  a  rebuke  to  false  reasonings 
and  to  daring  charges  against  the  Almighty.  For  an  exposition 
of  Ps.  51  -.4,  see  the  author's  "  Studies  in  the  Book  of  Psalms." 

5.  But  if  our  unrighteousness  commend  the  righteousness  of  God, 
what  shall  we  say  ?  Is  God  unrigJiteous  zvho  taketh  vengeance  ?  (/ 
speak  as  a  maii).     Peshito  :  But  if  our  iniquity  establish  the  recti- 


Gh.  III.,  vs.  6,  7.]  THE  ROMANS.  113 

tude  of  God,  what  shall  we  say  ?  Is  God  unrighteous,  when  he 
uplifteth  wrath  ?  (I  speak  as  a  man.)  This  objection  is  of  a  like 
tone  with  those  already  stated  ;  but  it  is  perhaps  more  presumptu- 
ous. It  is  for  substance  this,  that  if  the  unbelief  and  wickedness 
of  the  Jews  had  served  to  show  the  faithfulness  of  God,  and  so  to 
make  his  name  glorious,  shall  we  blame  the  Jews,  or  say  that 
they  shall  be  punished  for  that,  which  exalts  God  and  sets  forth 
his  glorious  and  excellent  nature  ?  Shall  we  say  that  God  is  un- 
righteous when  he  taketh  vengeance  ?  Such  an  inference  would 
be  monstrous  and  blasphemous.  Our  apostle  informs  us  that  these 
reasonings  do  not  meet  his  approval,  and  that  he  does  not  originate 
them  :  /  speak  as  a  man  ;  literally,  I  speak  according  to  man  ;  i.  e. 
I  am  not  the  author  of  this  objection  ;  I  do  not  even  approve  it ; 
I  am  using  the  language  of  others.  My  own  view  I  will  now 
express : 

6.  God  forbid :  for  then  how  shall  God  judge  the  world?  On  the 
first  clause,  see  above  on  v.  4.  To  judge  the  world,  in  this  place, 
means  to  rule  it  and  decide  on  its  affairs.  Calvin  :  "  It  is  God's 
work  to  judge  the  world,  that  is,  to  rectify  it  by  his  own  righteous- 
ness, and  to  reduce  to  the  best  order  whatever  there  is  in  it  out  of 
order :  he  cannot  then  determine  any  thing  unjustly."  Three 
views  are  taken  of  this  verse.  One  is  that,  if  God  punishes  un- 
justly, he  cannot  be  a  fit  judge  and  governor  of  the  world,  as  we 
all  now  admit  that  he  is.  Another  is  that  Paul  is  using:  the  arzu- 
mentum  ad  hoininem,  q.  d.  You  Jews  admit  the  doctrine  of  the 
divine  judgment  and  authority  over  the  world  ;  but  if  you  accuse 
God  of  unrighteousness  in  his  dealings  with  men  in  this  life,  how 
can  you  expect  righteousness  in  his  awards  to  men  ?  The  third 
and  perhaps  the  better  view  is  that  if  sin  ceases  to  be  sin  and  can- 
not be  punished  because  God  overrules  it,  and  makes  it  the  occa- 
sion of  glorifying  him,  and  showing  forth  his  excellent  nature  and 
providence  ;  then  no  sin  can  be  punished,  and  so  there  is  nothing 
to  be  condemned,  and  of  course  there  is  not  and  will  not  be  any 

.  judgment  of  God  on  human  conduct.  Either  of  these  views  shews 
the  necessity  of  vindicating  the  divine  character  against  all  asper- 
sions. Not  to  do  it  is  to  give  up  all  first  principles  in  religion. 
But  the  bold  assailants  of  divine  truth  are  commonly  very  perti- 
nacious, and  have  an  amazing  zeal  in  pressing  their  objections. 
So  here  : 

7.  For  if  the  truth  of  God  hath  more  abounded  through  my  lie 
unto  his  glory  ;  why  yet  am  I  also  judged  as  a  sinner.  Peshito  :  But 
if  the  truth  of  God  has  been  furthered  by  my  falsehood,  to  his 
glory  ;  why  am  I  then  condemned  as  a  sinner?  Cranmer  :  For  if 
the  trueth  of  God  appeare  more  excellent  thorow  my  lye,  vnto  his 

8 


114  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  8. 

prayse,  why  am  I  hence  forth  judged  as  a  synner  ?  Scott  thus 
paraphrases  this  verse  :  "  Suppose  the  truth  of  God,  in  his  predic- 
tions, promises,  or  denunciations,  should  be  more  abundantly 
manifested  to  his  glory,  by  any  man's  telling  a  wilful  lie : 
why  should  the  liar  be  punished  for  giving  occasion  to  the  dis- 
play of  God's  glory  ? "  The  answer  is  that  our  want  of  right 
motives,  our  evil  intentions  and  our  violation  of  the  law  forbid- 
ding all  falsehood  are  the  ground  of  condemnation.  The  good 
brought  out  of  moral  evil  by  the  overruling  providence  of  God, 
and  the  result  have  nothing  to  do  in  estimating  the  heinousness  of 
sin.  So  says  the  human  conscience.  So  says  God.  The  conduct 
of  Joseph's  brethren  was  overruled  to  his  and  their  great  advan- 
tage, but  they  intended  evil  and  they  therefore  had  a  just  sense  of 
great  criminality.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  enemies  and 
murderers  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  word  here  rendered  lie  is  not 
found  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament,  but  its  cognates,  ren- 
dered liar,  lied,  falsely,  false  witness,  &c.  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence. Lie  in  this  verse  corresponds  to  unrighteousness  in  v.  5,  just 
as  truth  in  this  verse  corresponds  to  righteousness  m.  v.  5.  Men  are 
rightly  judged  wicked  when  they  do  wickedly.  "  He  that  doeth 
righteousness  is  righteous ;  he  that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil." 
I  John  3  :  8. 

8.  And  not  rather,  {as  we  he  slanderously  reported  and  as  some 
affirm  that  we  say^  Let  us  do  evil,  that  good  may  come  ?  whose  damna- 
tion is  just.  Peshito :  Or  shall  we  say — as  some  have  slanderously 
reported  us  to  say : — We  will  do  evil  things  that  good  [results] 
may  come?  The  condemnation  of  such  is  reserved  for  justice. 
The  reader  will  notice  that  the  authorized  version  and  the  Peshito 
differ,  the  former  having  a  negative.  The  Peshito  is  probably 
right.  The  particle  rendered  not  often  is  a  negative,  but  it  is  also 
many  times  a  mere  sign  of  interrogation  and  has  no  negative 
power  whatever.  It  is  perhaps  so  here.  At  least  this  is  a  satis- 
factory solution,  is  approved  by  Stuart,  and  supported  by  the 
grammarians  and  Lexicons.  The  enmity  against  the  grace  of  the 
gospel  is  and  always  has  been  fearful.  The  enemies  of  the  truth 
have  charged  on  those,  who  proclaim  it,  the  worst  principles,  as 
fair  consequences  of  the  most  precious  doctrine.  Even  the  apos- 
tles were  slanderously  reported  as  favoring  the  loosest  Antinomian 
doctrines.  The  objector  says  that  if  Paul's  doctrine,  that  God  so 
overrules  all  things  as  to  exalt  his  glory,  is  true,  shall  we  say.  Let 
us  do  evil,  that  good  may  come  ?  Is  this  a  fair  inference  ?  But  if 
we  use  the  particle  as  a  negative,  then  we  should  read  thus,  And 
may  we  not  say.  Let  us  do  evil,  that  good  may  come?  So  that  we 
reach  the  same  result  either  way.     The  atrociously  wicked  nature 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  9-II-]         THE  ROMANS.  115 

of  the  principle  here  stated  is  such  that  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that  men,  who  favor  it,  are  condemned,  and  that  their  con- 
demnation is  just.  The  word  "  damnation  "  in  this  place  clearly 
means  condemnation. 

9.  What  then  ?  are  we  better  than  they  ?  No,  in  nowise :  for  we 
have  before  proved  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  that  they  are  all  under  sin. 
It  is  not  an  objector  but  Paul,  who  says.  What  then  ?  meaning 
what  is  the  fair  result  of  this  argument?  Does  this  course  of 
reasoning,  or  does  the  truth  show  that  we  [Jews]  are  better  than 
they  [Gentiles]  ?  He  answers,  with  an  emphasis,  No.  The  word 
rendered,  in  nowise,  is  elsewhere  rendered  surely,  q.  d.  No,  not  at 
all,  or  No,  in  no  respect.  Are  we  better,  one  verb,  have  we  the  pref- 
erence or  pre-eminence  over  them  ?  Are  we  superior  in  the  mat- 
ter in  hand — our  legal  standing  in  the  sight  of  God  ?  We  have 
before  proved  [in  Chap.  I.]  that  the  Gentiles,  and  [in  Chap.  II.] 
that  the  Jews  are  all  under  sin,  that  is,  are  sinners,  and  so  are 
under  condemnation,  and  need  a  gratuitous  justification.  To 
prove  this  incontestably  in  the  minds  of  all,  who  reverence  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  he  cites  many  passages  of  God's  word.    • 

10.  As  it  is  written :  There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one.  It  is 
written  is  a  phrase  occurring  about  ninety  times  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, eighteen  times  in  this  epistle.  It  is  the  common  notice  of 
quotation  given  by  Christ  and  his  apostles.  It  was  well  under- 
stood as  an  appeal  to  the  word  of  God.  The  first  citation  is  made 
from  the  first  and  third  verses  of  Psalms  14  and  53.  In  verse  i 
in  each  of  those  Psalms  it  is  said  there  is  none  that  doeth  good ;  in 
verse  third  of  each,  it  is  added.  No,  not  one.  Our  apostle  does  not 
literally  quote  either  the  Hebrew  or  the  Septuagint,  but  he  gives 
the  sense,  There  is  none  righteous.  All  righteous  men  do  good. 
The  chief  question  is,  Does  this  verse  apply  to  the  Jews  only,  or 
to  all  men  ?  The  context  both  here  and  in  the  Psalms  is  conclusively 
in  favor  of  giving  it  a  universal  application.  Above  in  v.  9  Paul 
expressly  says  that  his  doctrine  and  his  argument  embrace  "  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles."  And  in  v.  2  of  Psalms  14  and  53,  it  is  said 
that  the  inquisition  of  Jehovah  was  into  the  character,  not  of  the 
sons  of  Jacob,  nor  of  the  children  of  Israel,  but  of  "  the  sons  of 
men  "  [Adam],  a  phrase  em'bracing  the  human  race.  There  is, 
however,  no  objection  to  giving  the  verse  a  pointed  reference  to 
the  Jews  as  their  sacred  writings  are  quoted,  and  as  they  held 
that  they  were  not  in  danger  as  the  Gentiles  were. 

11.  TJicre  is  none  that  under sta7tdeth,  there  is  none  that  seeketh 
after  God.  The  words  are  chiefly  taken  from  the  2d  verse  of 
Psalms  14  and  53  ;  only  wljat  is  there  an  inquiry  in  a  form  imply- 
ing negation  is  here  a  simple  negative.     To  understand  God's  will,. 


ii6  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III., vs.  12,  13. 

nature  and  loving  kindness  towards  us,  and  our  duty  and  obliga- 
tions to  him  is  so  important  a  part  of  piety  that  it  is  often  put 
for  the  whole  of  religion.  He,  who  sees  divine  things  in  their 
true  nature,  must  love  them  ;  but  alas  !  man  without  divine  grace 
is  blind,  i  Cor.  2  :  14.  To  such  a  one  even  Jesus  Christ  is  without 
form  and  comeliness.  Without  God's  Spirit  man  has  no  insight 
into  the  real  nature  of  heavenly  things  and  no  relish  for  them. 
Accordingly  he  does  not  seek  after  God.  His  heart  goes  not  out 
towards  him  in  love  and  gratitude,  in  longings  after  him,  in 
prayers,  or  praises,  or  meditations  concerning  him.  And  how 
can  such  a  man  be  otherwise  than  under  sin  ? 

12.  They  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  together  become 
U7iprofitable ;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one.  The  Greek . 
is  a  literal  quotation  from  the  Septuagint  rendering  of  Ps.  14 :  3, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  one  word,  of  Ps.  53:3  also.  Peshito  : 
They  have  all  turned  aside,  together ;  and  become  reprobates. 
There  is  none  that  doeth  good  ;  no,  not  one.  On  the  last  clause 
of  this  verse  see  above  on  v.  10.  Gone  out  of  the  way,  turned 
aside,  or  gone  away  is  a  good  rendering  of  the  first  verb.  The 
second  Greek  verb  is  best  rendered  become  unprofitable,  though 
the  Hebrew  has  the  idea  of  filthy.  The  Hebrew  also  has  the  dis- 
tributive form — every  one,  not  all.  The  whole  verse  teaches  that 
the  corruption  was  total  and  universal.  See  on  this  place  the 
author's  "  Studies  in  the  Book  of  Psalms."  Such  is  the  fruit  of 
ignorance  of  God,  and  of  an  aversion  to  his  character  and  ways. 
Ruin  must  follow  in  their  train,  even  utter  social  debasement. 

13.  Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre  ;  with  their  tongues  they  have 
used  deceit ;  the  poiso7i  of  asps  is  under  their  lips.  The  first  and 
second  clauses  in  the  Greek  are  literal  quotations  from  the  Septua- 
gint version  of  Ps.  5  :  9.  The  third  is  taken  literally  from  the 
Septuagint  rendering  of  Ps.  140:  3.  The  figure  of  a  sepulchre  is 
very  striking  and  suggests  two  ideas.  One  is  that  an  open  sepul- 
chre sends  forth  offensive  and  pestilential  vapors.  The  other  is 
that  an  open  sepulchre  is  insatiable  and  all  devouring,  being  a 
receptacle  of  all  that  is  loathsome.  Deceit,  flattery,  lying,  back- 
biting, cheating,  how  common  and  how  detestable  they  are.  Men 
are  so  guileful  that  they  often  deceive  themselves.  The  heart  is 
deceitful  above  all  things.  The  effects  of  evil  speaking  are  sad 
and  terrible,  like  poison  diffusing  itself  everywhere  and  producing" 
deadly  effects.  The  poison  of  serpents  is  used  by  Moses  as  an 
emblem  of  the  horrible  nature  of  wickedness,  Deut.  32 :  33.  See 
also  Ps.  58  : 4.  In  the  authorized  version  of  Ps.  140 :  3  we  have 
adders,  but  the  Septuagint  has  asps.  In  the  Hebrew  the  word 
here  rendered  adders  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  Bible.     There 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  14-19.]       THE  ROMANS.  117 

are  four  Hebrew  words  rendered  adder.     The  bite  of  the  asp  was 
fatal,  and  that  almost  instantly. 

14.  Whose  mouth  IS  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness.  The  Greek 
of  Paul  in  this  verse  is  the  Septuagint  version  of  Ps.  10:7.  Curs- 
ing, execration,  imprecation.  Bitterness,  the  word  includes  the 
idea  of  venom.  The  two  words  embrace  the  most  odious  forms 
of  ill  Avill  and  malignity,  describing  a  character  selfish  and  im- 
pious. 

15.  Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood.  It  is  a  quotation  from 
Isa.  59  :  7,  chiefly  in  the  rendering  of  the  Septuagint.  On  what 
slender  grounds  most  quarrels  arise.  For  how  trivial  a  slight  will 
men  murder.  Resentment,  jealousy,  covetousness  and  wanton- 
ness fill  the  world  with  constant  fruits  of  violence  and  bloodshed. 
How  senseless  and  cruel  wars  devastate  the  globe. 

16.  Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways.  This  is  a  literal 
quotation  from  the  Septuagint  version  of  Isa.  59  :  7.  Destruction, 
describing  ruin  by  violence,  crushing,  breaking  in  pieces  by  con- 
cussion. Misery,  distress,  affliction,  wretchedness,  as  a  fruit  of  the 
violence  before  spoken  of  In  their  ways,  in  their  paths,  in  their 
courses.  Wherever  they  go  they  carry  destruction  and  produce 
misery. 

17.  And  the  way  of  peace  have  they  not  known.  Here  the  apostle 
varies  from  the  Septuagint  version  of  Isa.  59  :  8,  where  the  pas- 
sage occurs,  but  the  variation  affects  not  the  sense,  being  merely, 
have  not  known,  for  have  not  seen.  By  the  way  of  peace  we  may 
understand  the  method  of  securing  their  own  quietude  or  that  of 
others.  They  were  the  sons  of  strife.  They  lived  in  contention 
themselves  and  involved  others  in  like  quarrels  and  disquiet. 

18.  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes.  The  Greek  is  a  lit- 
eral quotation  from  the  Septuagint  version  of  a  part  of  Ps.  36  :  i. 
The  phrase  has  become  famous,  being  in  several  countries  adopted 
into  the  forms  of  criminal  indictment.  It  is  a  description  of  a  dis- 
position generally  depraved,  utterly  wanting  in  religious  tone,  for 
when  a  man  has  no  fear  of  God,  he  will  regard  nothing  as  sacred. 

19.  Now  we  know  that  what  things  soever  the  law  saith,  it  saith  to 
them  who  are  under  the  law :  that  every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all 
the  zvorld  may  become  guilty  before  God.  The  object  of  the  first 
glause  is  not,  as  some  have  thought,  to  assert  that  the  quotations, 
just  considered,  did  not  embrace  the  Gentiles,  and  cannot  be 
fairly  cited  to  prove  universal  depravity,  but  only  the  depravity 
of  the  Jews.  The  statements  are  sweeping  and  universal.  They 
as  truly  comprehend  one  nation  as  another.  But  they  have  an 
undeniable  application  to  the  Jews.  They  are  spoken  by  their 
own  prophets  to  themselves.     They  contain  language  as  strong 


ii8  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  i,  2. 

and  decisive  as  any  used  by  Paul.  There  is  no  way  of  escaping 
from  their  force  but  by  denying  the  scriptures  to  be  the  word  of 
God.  That  universal  depravity,  the  Jews  forming  no  exception, 
is  by  Paul  himself  intended  to  be  taught  is  clear  not  only  from 
verse  9,  where  he  asserts  what  his  object  was  in  making  the  quo- 
tations, but  also  in  this  verse,  where  he  declares  the  logical  con- 
clusion of  his  argument  to  be  that  every  mouth  [whether  of  Jew 
or  Gentile]  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  may  become  guilty 
before  God.     Could  language  be  clearer  ? 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  God  is  a  sovereign.  He  does  what  he  will  with  his  own. 
He  divides  all  his  gifts  severally  as  he  will.  He  gives  to  some 
more,  and  to  some  less.  He  raised  the  Jews  to  heaven  in  point 
of  privilege.  He  has  a  right  to  do  these  things,  vs.  i,  2.  He 
ought  to  do  what  seemeth  good  in  his  own  eyes.  He  makes  no 
mistakes. 

2.  It  is  a  part  of  the  perversity  of  man  to  turn  outward  bless- 
ings and  privileges  into  the  means  of  self-conceit  and  self-right- 
eousness, instead  of  turning  them  to  good  account.  The  Jew  had 
God's  ordinances,  and  therefore  he  argued  that  he  needed  not 
forgiveness,  conversion,  or  a  Saviour.  The  merely  nominal  Chris- 
tian has  the  Gospel  and  its  sacraments,  and  in  his  folly  and  self- 
sufficiency  he  says  he  needs  only  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
priestly  absolution ;  but  no  change  of  heart,  no  regeneration  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  no  gratuitous  justification. 

3.  Those,  who  possess  the  Scriptures,  have  a  treasure  which 
exalts  them  above  all  others,  who  are  without  them,  v.  2.  No 
man,  and  no  people  have  ever  esteemed  the  word  of  God  too 
highly.  Doddridge :  "  Thankfully  let  us  own  the  inestimable 
goodness  of  God  in  having  favored  us  with  his  sacred  oracles,  and 
endeavor  to  improve  in  the  knowledge  of  them."  To  take  their 
liberties  from  a  people  is  a  great  affliction  to  them  ;  but  to  take 
away  God's  word  from  them  is  one  of  the  direst  curses  of  heaven 
ever  sent  on  a  nation. 

4.  The  holy  Scriptures  are  God's  word.  They  are  his  oracles, 
v.  2.  Stephen  called  them  the  lively  oracles.  Holy  men  of  God 
spoke  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  All  scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God.  The  oracles  of  God  are  divine  dic- 
tates, as  Hesychius  defines  the  word.  Brown  :  "  God's  word,  and 
every  truth  that  is  held  forth  therein,  of  whatsoever  nature,  should 
have  great  weight  with  us,  and  be  received  with  great  reverence, 
fear  and  love,  as  having  on  it  an  impression  of  majesty,  and 
should  be  believed  as  undoubted  truth." 


Ch.III,v.3.]  THE  ROMANS.  119 

5.  The  great  foe  of  piety,  knowledge  and  virtue  has  been  and 
still  is  unbelief,  v.  3.  Nero,  speaking  of  his  own  vices  to  Seneca, 
said  :  "  Do  you  suppose  that  I  believe  there  is  a  God  when  I  do 
such  things  ?  "  Men  must  deny  God,  his  attributes  and  his  word, 
if,  in  a  land  enlightened  by  revelation,  they  persist  in  sin.  This 
they  cannot  do,  but  by  indulging  a  wicked  and  criminal  disregard 
of  the  divine  testimony  given  in  nature,  or  in  Scripture,  both  in 
God's  works  and  word.  Unbelief  has  its  seat  in  hatred  of  the 
truth. 

6.  Whatever  men  may  allege  to  the  contrary,  every  dispensa- 
tion of  God  to  man  was  instituted  and  has  been  administered  in 
good  faith,  and  in  uprightness,  v.  3.  He  has  been  sincere  in  all 
his  offers,  in  all  his  engagements,  in  all  his  threatenings.  Scott : 
"  As  the  promises  of  God  are  made  to  believers  alone  ;  the  unbelief 
of  some  or  of  many  professed  Christians  cannot  make  '  the  faith- 
fulness of  God  of  none  effect ; '  for  he  will  fulfil  his  promises  to  his 
people,  and  execute  his  threatened  vengeance  on  hypocrites  and 
apostates."  Covenant-breakers  lose  all  that  is  promised  and  incur 
all  that  is  threatened,  but  covenant-keepers  shall  never,  do  never 
complain  of  slackness  in  the  Almighty. 

7.  Neither  charity  nor  wisdom  require  us  in  the  conduct  of 
an  argument  for  the  truth  to  lay  down  our  propositions  in  the 
most  sweeping  way  that  exact  truth  will  admit.  Paul  talks  of 
SOME  not  believing,  v.  3.  He  might  have  said  many,  the  great 
mass,  and  perhaps  with  truth  too.  But  that  was  not  essential  to 
his  argument,  and  might  have  given  needless  offence.  Calvin : 
"  There  is  here  a  sort  of  reticence,  as  he  expresses  less  than  he  in- 
tended to  be  understood."  Brown  :  "  It  is  good  sometimes,  and 
Christian  prudence  requireth  it,  not  to  speak  the  worst  of  folks 
wickedness." 

8.  No  matter  what  may  happen,  let  us  justify  and  glorify  God. 
Such  a  course  may  cover  us  with  shame,  but  it  will  be  deserved 
shame.  '  Let  God  be  true,'  Calvin  well  calls  '  the  primary  maxim 
of  all  Christian  philosophy'.  It  must  never  be  given  up.  It  is 
wicked  to  doubt  it.  One  of  the  darkest  signs  in  the  character  of 
some  is  their  disposition  to  ward  off  all  charges  against  themselves 
even  at  the  cost  of  failing  to  justify  the  Most  High.  '  Let  God  be 
true,  even  if  it  involves  the  consequence  that  every  man  is  a  liar.' 

9.  God's  threatenings  will  as  surely  be  executed  as  his  prom- 
ises will  be  fulfilled,  and  for  the  same  reason,  because  he  is  true, 
Hodge  :  "  No  promise  or  covenant  of  God  can  ever  be  rightfully 
urged  in  favor  of  exemption  from  the  punishment  of  sin,  or  of  im- 
punity to  those  who  five  in  it.  God  is  faithful  to  his  promises ; 
but  he  never  promises  to  pardon  the  impenitently  guilty." 


I20  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  4-19. 

10.  The  Scriptures  make  nothing  clearer  than  that  no  mere 
man  can  stand,  if  God  enter  into  judgment  with  him,  vs.  4,  19. 
He  cannot  answer  for  one  of  a  thousand  of  his  offences.  Omnis- 
cient purity  sees  enough  in  every  man  to  justify  any  sentence  of 
condemnation  against  him.  In  this  fearful  contest  Jehovah  must 
'  overcome.' 

11.  If  we  would  not  be  found  faithless  to  our  solemn  charge, 
we  must  bear  bold  and  solemn  witness  against  detestable  and 
blasphemous  opinions  uttered  in  our  hearing  by  profane  men, 
unless  their  authors  are  mere  scoffers.  Compare  vs.  4, 6 ;  Pr.  9:8; 
Matt.  7:6.  A  wise  man  will  regard  time  and  judgment ;  but 
fidelity  must  not  give  way  to  timidity. 

12.  Of  all  the  ways  of  opposing  error  and  falsehood  in  re- 
ligion, none  is  so  safe  or  commonly  so  successful  as  a  direct  and 
solemn  appeal  to  Scripture.  This  was  Paul's  plan,  vs.  4,  10.  Thus 
the  Saviour  taught  us  by  his  example.  Matt.  4:  4,  6,  10.  I  have 
known  many  a  man  to  swear  on  when  in  human  words  reproved 
for  profaneness  ;  but  I  never  have  seen*  any  man,  not  utterly 
abandoned,  who  was  not  silenced  by  the  awful  words  of  the  third 
commandment,  kindly  and  solemnly  repeated. 

13.  Motives,  not  consequences,  intentions,  not  results  in  human 
conduct,  are  the  matter  of  praise  or  of  blame,  and  will  be  the 
ground  of  reward  or  of  doom,  vs.  5,  7.  God  has  brought  glorious 
consequences  out  of  the  treachery  of  Iscariot.  But  the  traitor 
thought  only  of  his  sordid  gains  and  aims.  Chrysostom :  "  God 
honored  the  Jews :  they  dishonored  him.  This  gives  him  the  vic- 
tory, and  shews  the  greatness  of  his  love  toward  man,  in  that  he 
honored  them  even  such  as  they  were."  But  no  thanks  to  man 
for  all  this.     Rather  confusion  effaces  and  penitence  befit  him. 

14.  God  will  punish  none  more  than  they  deserve.  He  is  ever 
righteous  when  he  takes  vengeance,  v.  5.  The  slightest  doubt  on 
this  point,  if  well  founded,  would  subvert  the  moral  government 
of  the  universe.  The  songs  of  heaven  would  cease,  could  it  once 
be  shewn  that  the  King  was  not  just  and  right  in  all  his  ways. 
Rev.  16:7. 

15..  The  doctrine  of  God's  providence  and  authority  over  the 
world  is  fundamental,  and  must  never  be  given  up,  v.  6.  It  can 
be  of  no  practical  use  to  believe  that  there  is  what  Voltaire  calls 
"  a  supreme,  eternal,  incomprehensible  intelligence,"  if  we  believe 
that  he  neither  sees,  nor  knows,  nor  cares,  nor  helps,  nor  saves. 
A  God  without  providence  is  unworthy  of  adoration.  Atheism, 
whether  speculative  or  practical,  subverts  all  order  and  all  religion. 
It  would,  if  it  could,  annihilate  moral  government, 

16.  All  wicked  counsel  shall  come  to  naught.     Yea,  God  will 


Ch.  III.,  V.  5-8.]  THE  ROMANS.  121 

make  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him.  Man's  perfidy  will  exalt 
the  divine  faithfulness.  Man's  wickedness  will  shew  forth  the 
divine  righteousness ;  and  man's  weakness,  the  divine  power, 
vs.  5,  7.  Let  not  the  wicked  boast  himself  Utter  confusion  will 
cover  all  his  impenitent  and  ungodly  courses.  And  let  not  the  right- 
eous be  afraid  with  any  amazement.  His  enemies  shall  not  triumph 
over  him,  but  he  shall  surely  triumph  over  them. 

17.  All  sin  is  a  lie,  v.  7.  It  is  guile  and  deceit.  It  fulfils  none 
of  its  promises.  Its  least  odious  form  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than 
excruciating  pains — than  all  temporal  sufferings.  The  worst  thing 
about  it  is  that  in  any  form  it  "  is  exceeding  sinful."  No  man 
ever  excessively  hated,  dreaded,  or  abhorred  iniquity. 

18.  We  may  not  cease  to  hold  and  teach  true  doctrines,  because 
men  abuse  or  misrepresent  them,  and  us  for  inculcating  them,  v.  8. 
We  may  never  yield  the  truth,  whatever  be  the  result.  Paul 
taught  that  God  could  and  would  bring  good  out  of  evil.  Then, 
said  the  wicked,  the  more  we  sin  the  more  we  honor  God ;  and  so 
the  more  wicked  we  are,  the  more  deserving  we  are.  This  was 
all  gross  perversion.  But  shall  we  yield  the  doctrine  of  God's 
sovereign  control  over  wicked  men  and  their  actions,  because  evil 
men  thus  pervert  it  ?  Never.  Sin  is  wicked,  and  deserves  punish- 
ment, not  because  it  dethrones  God,  nor  leaves  him  without  rule, 
but  because  it  is  its  aim  to  do  these  things.  Chrysostom  :  *'  When 
Paul  said  where  sin  abounded  grace  did  much  more  abound,  in  ridicule 
of  him  and  by  perverting  what  he  said  to  another  meaning,  they 
said,  We  must  cling  to  vice  that  we  may  get  what  is  good.  But 
Paul  said  not  so."  Against  nothing  has  the  wicked  ingenuity  of 
men  been  more  exercised  than  against  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
sovereignty  in  all  its  parts.  But  we  dare  surrender  none  of  it. 
Brown  :  "  It  is  an  old  custom  of  Satan  and  his  perverse  followers, 
to  be  wronging  the  faithful  servants  of  Christ,  and  fastening  false 
doctrine  upon  them,  as  the  maintainers  thereof,  which  they  never 
did  approve  of;  and  such  an  exercise  as  this  should  be  taken  in 
good  part,  seeing  the  apostles  before  us  met  with  the  like  false  im- 
putations ;  yea,  and  Christ  himself." 

19.  Let  men  remember  that  all  their  sophistry  and  merriment, 
all  their  perverseness  and  impudence  cannot  and  will  not  shield 
them  from  the  due  reward  of  their  evil  deeds,  vs.  5-7.  Embracing 
a  lie  does  not  change  it  into  truth.  Denying  damnation  will  not 
put  out  the  flames  of  Tophet.  Laughing  at  perdition  will  not 
keep  us  from  perishing. 

20.  Let  us  ever  oppose  with  abhorrence  the  baneful  and  bale- 
ful doctrines  of  Antinomianism,  v.  8.  They  please  the  carnal 
nature  of  man,  but  they  cannot  be  too  much  detested.     Speaking 


122  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.   7-18. 

of  such  Calvin  says :  "  Their  perverseness  was,  on  two  accounts, 
to  be  condemned, — first,  because  this  impiety  had  gained  the 
assent  of  their  minds ;  and  secondly,  because  in  traducing  the 
gospel,  they  dared  to  draw  from  it  their  calumny."  Hodge : 
"  There  is  no  better  evidence  against  the  truth  of  any  doctrine, 
than  that  its  tendency  is  immoral."  Whatever  makes  men  lax  in 
their  views  of  the  precepts  of  God's  law  is  dangerous. 

21.  The  Lord  is  a  great  God,  and  a  great  King  above  all  gods, 
and  angels,  and  men.  He  so  '  exerciseth  his  infinite  wisdom,  as  a 
wise  alchemist,  extracting  good  and  glory  to  himself  out  of  the 
sinful  carriages  of  wicked  folks,  as  that  he  neither  alloweth  nor 
approveth  of  them  in  their  sins,  nor  looseth  the  reins  unto  them 
to  sin  the  more,  nor  shall  they  be  any  whit  the  less  guilty,  or  less 
liable  to  judgment,  because  of  that,'  v.  7. 

22.  Let  no  man  regard  his  personal,  social  or  ecclesiastical 
advantages  as  constituting  any  refuge  or  palladium  to  him,  v.  9. 
External  privileges  do  but  enhance  responsibility,  if  they  are 
abused.  They  cannot  save  men  from  either  the  guilt  or  the  power 
of  sin,  V.  9.  Yet  such  is  the  perverseness  and  self-righteousness 
of  wicked  men,  that,  like  the  Jews,  they  hug  the  delusion  that  sin 
cannot  be  fatal  to  them,  because  God  has  given  them  so  many 
privileges  above  many  of  their  fellow  men.  But  the  Saviour  ad- 
dressed a  city  of  such  when  he  plainly  told  them  they  should  be 
thrust  down  to  hell. 

23.  By  nature  every  man  is  a  sinner,  and  without  divine  grace 
no  man  is  righteous  in  the  sight  of  God,  vs.  10-18.  Tholuck  well 
says  that  Paul  here  employs  these  verses  "  in  order  to  describe 
the  universal  depravity  of  the  whole  human  race."  It  makes  the 
heart  sick  to  see  the  glosses  of  Macknight,  and  the  labored  efforts 
of  Taylor  of  Norwich  and  Stuart  of  Andover  to  make  the  im- 
pression that  these  verses  do  not  prove  what  the  apostle  declares 
he  quoted  them  to  prove.  If  universal  depravity  in  the  human 
race  is  not  proved  by  these  verses,  then  are  there  no  terms,  by 
which  that  doctrine  could  be  taught.  President  Edwards  in  reply 
to  Taylor  says :  "  What  instance  is  there  in  the  Scripture,  or 
indeed  any  other  writing,  when  the  meaning  is  only  the  much 
greater  part,  where  this  meaning  is  signified  by  repeating  such 
expressions — They  are  all — they  are  all — they  are  all — together — 
every  one — all  the  world ;  joined  to  multiplied  negative  terms,  to 
show  the  universality  to  be  without  exception  ;  saying.  There  is  no 
flesh — there  is  none — there  is  none — there  is  none — there  is  none,  four 
times  over ;  beside  the  addition  of  no,  not  one — no,  riot  o?ie,  once 
and  again !  .  .  .  Here  the  thing  which  I  would  prove,  viz. :  that 
mankind  in  their  first  state,  before  they  are  interested  in  the  bene- 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  1(^14.]       THE  ROMANS.  123 

fits  of  Christ's  redemption,  are  universally  wicked,  is  declared 
with  the  utmost  possible  fulness  and  precision.  So  that,  if  here 
this  matter  be  not  set  forth  plainly,  expressly,  and  fully,  it  must 
be  because  no  words  can  do  it ;  and  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  lan- 
guage, or  any  manner  of  terms  or  phrases,  however  contrived 
and  heaped  one  upon  another,  determinately  to  signify  any  such 
thing."  Words  precisely  to  the  same  effect  are  used  by  Richard 
Watson  :  "  Whoever  reads  that  argument,  in  the  third  chapter 
of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  considers  the  universality  of 
the  terms  used.  All,  every,  all  the  world,  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  must  conclude,  in  all  fairness  of  interpretation,  that 
the  whole  human  race,  of  every  age,  is  intended."  Scott:  "  It  is 
proved  beyond  contradiction,  that  we  are  all,  in  ourselves, 
'under  sin.'  " 

23.  If  men  are  not  righteous  by  nature,  they  must  secure  help 
from  without,  a  righteousness  not  theirs  by  nature,  or.  they 'must 
perish,  v.  10.  Can  any  thing  be  clearer  than  that  they  who  are 
sick  need  a  physician  ?  The  scope  of  all  the  apostle's  reasoning 
hitherto  has  been  to  this  very  point.  Hereafter  he  wonderfully 
shows  how  the  Lord  is  our  righteousness. 

24.  If  men  are  so  benighted  as  not  to  understand  the  plainest 
truths  in  religion,  nor  even  to  make  any  hearty  efforts  to  become 
savingly  acquainted  with  God  (as  is  declared  in  v.  11);"  then  surely 
there  is  the  greatest  necessity  for  the  work  and  agency  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  men.  This  necessity  is  imperative  for 
there  can  be  no  genuine  piety  without  saving  knowledge,  and  a 
seeking  after  God. 

25.  It  is  amazing  kindness  in  the  good  shepherd  to  go  after  the 
lost  sheep.  Poor  things  !  they  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  v.  12. 
Nor  would  they  ever  find  the  path  of  safety,  or  the  green  pastures 
but  for  his  sovereign  mercy,  that  seeks  them  in  their  lost  condi- 
tion. 

26.  Men  are  not  only  lost,  but  in  that  state  they  are  unprofitable, 
useless,  v.  12.  This  aspect  of  the  character  of  fallen  men  is  often 
presented  in  God's  word. 

27.  If  a  man  does  no  good,  it  is  impossible  to  prove  that  his 
piety  is  genuine,  v.  12.  All  other  distinctions  between  men  vanish 
away  before  this,  that  some  do  good,  and  some  do  it  not.  Com- 
pare I  John  3  :  7,  8.  • 

28.  The  power  of  the  tongue  for  evil  is  immense,  incalculable, 
vs.  13,  14.  It  defiles  the  whole  nature  of  man.  It  has  the  power 
of  life  and  death,  Pr.  18  :  10.  Compare  Pr.  30  :  14.  It  is  a  fire,  a 
world  of  iniquity ;  it  sets  on  fire  the  course  of  nature ;  and  it  is 
set  on  fire  of  hell.     The  tongue  can  no  man  tame ;  it  is  an  unruly 


124  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  ia-18. 

evil,  full  of  deadly  poison,  Jas.  3  :  6,  8.  No  man  has  ever  been  too 
watchful  over  his  tongue.  The  evils  of  a  tongue  not  restrained  by- 
grace  are  legion — blasphemy,  profanity,  perjury,  cursing,  murmur- 
ing, quarreling,  foolish  talking  and  jesting,  vain  reasoning,  railing, 
reviling,  flattering,  silence  when  we  ought  to  speak,  speaking  when 
we  ought  to  be  silent,  perversion  of  facts,  lying,  detraction,  tale- 
bearing, backbiting,  whispering,  rash  and  harsh  judging,  vain 
jangling,  swelling  words,  idle  words,  boasting,  false  and  foolish 
rumors,  vows  and  promises  of  a  sinful  kind,  etc.  If  any  offend  not 
in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man. 

29.  Sin  ruins  and  defiles  everything.  All  the  faculties  and 
parts  of  soul  and  body  are  corrupted,  so  that  by  nature  we  are 
utterly  indisposed,  disabled,  and  made  opposite  to  all  good,  and 
wholly  inclined  to  all  evil,  vs.  10-18.  The  whole  head  is  sick,  the 
understanding  darkened,  the  imagination  evil,  the  memory  pol- 
luted, the  taste  degraded,  the  heart  faint,  the  hands  full  of  wicked- 
ness, the  feet  running  in  forbidden  paths,  the  lips  poisoned,  the 
eyes  full  of  adultery,  the  breath  murderous,  the  soul  sunk  down  in 
irreligion,  and  the  flesh  triumphant. 

30.  How  fearfully  prevalent  are  bloody  crimes,  v.  15.  How 
often  we  read  or  hear  of  murders,  manslaughters,  rencontres, 
duels,  shootings,  stabbings,  fightings,  acts  of  revenge,  malice, 
envy,  hatred,  woundings  and  provocations  to  violent  deeds,  toge- 
ther with  a  manifest  delight  in  wars  and  scenes  of  horrid  strife 
and  slaughter.  Good  men  should  everywhere  testify  their  abhor- 
rence of  such  things,  and  God's  wrath  against  them. 

31.  It  is  of  the  very  nature  of  sin  to  work  ruin,  to  scatter  abroad 
destruction  and  misery,  v.  16.  Like  fire  sin  destroys  everj^thing  on 
which  it  kindles.  It  has  digged  ever)-  grave.  It  is  the  parent  of 
every  sigh  from  earth,  or  groan  from  hell.  God  will  surely  not 
let  sin  or  sinners  have  their  way  always.  He  will  surely,  for  his 
own  glory,  and  the  good  of  his  saints,  set  bounds  to  lawlessness 
and  to  the  lawless.  Blessed  be  his  name  for  withholding  man  from 
compassing  all  the  wickedness,  to  which  his  heart  would  incline 
him,  and  Satan  seduce  him. 

32.  Nor  is  it  in  the  heart  of  man  to  make  oi"  to  work  peace,  to 
impart  or  to  enjoy  it,  v.  17.  As  manifesting  the  temper  of  the 
ungodly  see  how  they  have  martyred  fifty  millions  of  the  saints  in 
less  than  two  thousand  years,  on  an  average  more  than  a  million 
and  three-quarters  for  each  century,  or  more  than  an  average  of 
seventeen  hundred  every  year  during  the  Christian  era. 

33.  The  fear  of  God  is  an  essential  element  in  rightly  swaying 
the  hearts  of  men,  v.  18.  There  is  no  piety  without  it.  Where 
there  is  none  of  it,  there  is  no  safety  for  life,  liberty,  or  property. 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  9-I9-]         THE  ROMANS.  125 

Doddridge  :  "  Let  us  bless  God  that  we  have  been  preserved  from 
falling  into  such  enormities,  as  those  described  in  this  chapter,  and 
from  falling  by  them" 

34.  If  you  would  induce  men  to  be  virtuous,  persuade  them  to 
be  pious.  He,  who  fears  not  God,  will  not  regard  man.  Hodge  : 
"  Piety  and  morality  cannot  be  separated."  He,  who  is  bold 
enough  to  break  with  God,  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  keep  friend- 
ship with  man. 

35.  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  freely  quoted  the  Septuainnt 
version  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  as  Paul  does  here,  vs.  10-18.  This 
shews  the  lawfulness  of  making  and  using  translations  of  God's 
word,  and  circulating  them,  even  if  they  are  not  inspired  or  per- 
fect. 

36.  We,  who  have  both  the  law  and  the  gospel,  are  under 
manifold  obligations  to  hear,  love  and  keep  the  words  of  God. 
What  they  say  they  say  to  us  who  are  under  them,  v.  19.  Our 
responsibility  is  awfully  solemn.  To  whomsoever  much  is  given, 
of  him  shall  much  be  required. 

37.  And  now  have  we  not  fairly  reached  by  the  apostle's  argu- 
ment the  unavoidable  conclusion  that  for  men  of  every  race  and 
of  every  age  there  is  no  justification  by  the  law  ?  vs.  9-19.  Stuart : 
"■  Plainly  the  apostle's  design  is,  to  shew  that  there  is  but  one 
method  of  acceptance  with  God  now  possible ;  and  this  is  in  the 
way  of  gratuitous  pardon  or  justification."  Chalmers  :  "  Be  assured 
that  there  is  a  delusion  in  all  the  complacency  that  you  associate 
with  your  own  righteousness.  It  is  the  want  of  a  godly  principle 
that  vitiates  the  whole."  Hodge :  "■  The  office  of  the  law  is  neither 
to  justify  nor  sanctify.  It  convinces  and  condemns."  If  salvation 
is  not  a  gratuity,  all  men  are  in  a  state  of  hopeless  misery  ;  for  all 
are  sinners,  and  before  God  every  mouth  must  be  stopped  and  all 
the  world  stand  condemned. 


CHAPTER   III. 

VERSES    20-31. 

PAUL  AFFIRMS  THE  SUM  OF  HIS  ARGUMENT.    HE 

ANNOUNCES  THE  GOSPEL  SCHEME  OF  JUSTI- 
FICATION, WHICH  IS  FOR  JEW  AND  GENTILE 
INDISCRIMINATELY. 

20  Therefore  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified  in  his 
sight :  for  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin. 

21  But  now  the  righteousness  of  God  without  the  law  is  manifested,  being  wit- 
nessed by  the  law  and  the  prophets ; 

22  Even  the  righteousness  of  God  which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and 
upon  all  them  that  believe;  for  there  is  no  difference  : 

23  For  all  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God; 

24  Being  justified  freely  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ 
Jesus : 

25  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  io  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood,  to 
declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past,  through  the  forbear- 
ance of  God  ; 

26  To  declare,  /  say,  at  this  time  his  righteousness  :  that  he  might  be  just,  and 
the  justifier  of  him  which  believeth  in  Jesus. 

27  Where  ts  boasting  then?  It  is  excluded.  By  what  law  ?  of  works?  Nay; 
but  by  the  law  of  faith. 

28  Therefore  we  conclude  that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith  without  the  deeds  of 
the  law. 

29  Is  he  the  God  of  the  Jews  only  ?  is  he  not  also  of  the  Gentiles  ?  Yes,  of 
the  Gentiles  also : 

30  Seeing  it  is  one  God,  which  shall  justify  the  circumcision  by  faith,  and  un- 
circumcision  through  faith. 

3 1  Do  we  then  make  void  the  law  through  faith  ?  God  forbid ;  yea,  we 
establish  the  law. 

O  r\  THEREFORE  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  there  shall  no  flesh  be 
LJ  \j  ,  justified  in  his  sight,  for  by  the  law  is  the  knozvledge  of  sin. 
Peshito  :  Wherefore  by  the  deeds  of  the  law,  no  flesh  is  justi- 
fied before  him  ;  for,  by  the  law,  sin  is  known.  The  Doway 
(126) 


Ch.  III.,  V.  20.]  THE  ROMANS.  127 

exactly  agrees  with  the  EngHsh,  except  that  the  first  word  is 
because  instead  of  therefore.  The  parallel  passages  are  many. 
See  Rom  i  :  17  ;  Acts  13  :  39;  Gal.  2  :  16;  3:11;  Eph.  2:8,  9; 
Tit.  3  :  4-7.  Therefore  marks  the  connection  with  the  whole  fore- 
going argument.  This  is  the  conclusion  from  those  impregnable 
positions  taken  and  maintained  from  the  17th  verse  of  the  first 
chapter  to  the  19th  verse  of  this.  It  is  refreshing  to  find  even 
Macknight  thus  paraphrasing  this  verse  :  "  Wherefore,  by  works  of 
law,  whether  natural  or  revealed,  moral  or  ceremonial,  there  shall 
no  man  be  justified  meritoriously,  in  God's  sight ;  because  lazv  makes 
men  sensible  that  they  are  sinners,  without  giving  them  any  hope  of 
pardon,  consequently  instead  of  entitling  them  to  life,  it  subjects 
them  to  punishment."  With  this  Locke  substantially  agrees. 
Fernie  is  more  brief  and  very  clear :  "  The  righteousness  of  man 
in  the  sight  of  God  is  not  from  the  law,  nor  its  deeds.  For 
through  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin."  Beza  :  "  The  apostle's 
purpose  is  to  teach  that  no  man  can  be  justified  in  any  other  way 
than  by  faith  in  Christ." 

By  tJie  deeds  of  the  law  Paul  means  acts  of  obedience  required 
by  law,  by  any  law,  known  to  man.  It  is  a  miserable  drivelling 
of  Pelagian  writers  and  of  some  not  Pelagian  in  other  points, 
when  they  assert  that  Paul  here  merely  denies  that  men  can  be 
iustified  by  acts  done  in  conformity  to  the  Mosaic  ritual.  For,  as 
Whitby  says,  "  This  knowledge  of  sin  being  chiefly  by  the  moral 
law  (Rom.  7  :  7)  shows  that  the  Apostle  excludes  as  well  that,  as 
the  ceremonial,  from  Justification,  and  evident  it  is,  that  the 
antithesis  runs  all  along,  not  between  Moral  and  Cere7nonial  W orks, 
but  between  Works  in  general,  and  Faith,  vs.  20,  22."  Stuart : 
*'  Surely  the  object  of  Paul  in  the  present  case  is  to  show  that 
both  Gentiles  and  Jew^s  need  that  gratuitous  justification  which 
the  gospel  proclaims,  and  which  Christ  has  procured."  Tholuck: 
"  His  object,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  foregoing  inquiry,  had 
been  to  show  that  the  Jew  is  guilty,  because  he  does  not  keep  the 
divine  law,  outwardly  imposing  obligations  upon  him  ;  and  that, 
for  the  same  reason,  the  heathen  is  guilty,  even  as  transgressing 
that  law  implanted  by  nature  within  him  and  which  is  also  out- 
wardly obligatory."  The  reason  why  the  law  would  not  justify 
was  no  imperfection  or  fault  in  it.  The  law  has  ever  justified  un- 
sinning  angels.  In  Eden  before  his  fall  it  justified  Adam.  To  the 
innocent  it  utters  no  threat ;  against  the  unoffending,  no  curse. 
Perfect  conformity  to  all  God's  will  is  a  faultless  righteousness, 
and  never  was  by  God  rejected.  Paul  admits  that  the  doers  of  the 
law  shall  be  justified,  Rom.  2  :  13.  The  difficulty  is  that  no  mere 
man,  since  the  fall  of  Adam,  has  kept  the  law  and  without  any 


128  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  20. 

failure  done  the  commandments.  So  that  if  men  are  saved  it 
must  be  by  gratuity,  not  by  human  merits.  Rom.  3  :  27;  4:2-5, 
13-16 ;   11:6;  Eph.  2  :  8-10 ;  2  Tim.  1:9;  Tit.  3  :  5. 

No  flesh  as  explained  by  David  is  no  man  living,  Ps.  143  :  2,  and 
by  Paul  as  no  man,  Gal.  3:11.  In  Scripture  the  word  flesh  is 
used  very  variously  ;  sometimes  for  all  animal  bodies,  whether 
of  man  or  any  other  living  thing,  Lev.  13  :  10;  Num.  11  :  33; 
I  Cor.  15  :  39  ;  sometimes  for  animals,  whether  human  or  brute, 
living  on  the  dry  land.  Gen.  6:13;  sometimes  for  a  kinsman, 
or  one  of  the  same  stock.  Gen.  37  :  27 ;  2  Sam.  19:  12,  13  ;  some- 
times for  every  one  having  the  same  nature  with  ourselves,  Isa. 
58  :  7  ;  sometimes  for  the  state  of  the  present  life,  Phil,  i  :  24 ; 
sometimes  for  the  human  body  as  now  constituted,  i  Cor.  15  :  50 ; 
sometimes  for  the  best  qualities  and  powers  of  man.  Matt.  16  :  17  ; 
sometimes  for  our  corporeal  nature.  Matt.  26  :  41  ;  sometimes  for 
carnal  ordinances,  Phil.  3  :  3-6;  once  for  the  works  of  the  law, 
Gal.  3  :  2,  3  ;  and  sometimes  for  the  natural,  corrupt  state  of  man, 
Rom.  8  :  8.  In  our  verse  it  is  used  for  the  human  race,  for  men, 
embracing  Jews  and  Gentiles.  The  whole  course  of  the  apostle's 
argument  requires  us  so  to  understand  it.  The  term  flesh  is  never 
applied  to  angels,  and  our  verse  does  not  say  that  those  unfallen 
spirits  are  not  justified  by  law.  But  Paul's  argument  refers  solely 
to  the  human  race,  and  it  embraces  the  whole  of  it. 

Justified,  the  term  points  to  the  legal  standing  of  men  before 
God.  Barrow :  "  God's  justifying  us  doth  solely  or  chiefly,  im- 
port his  acquitting  us  from  guilt,  condemnation,  and  punishment, 
by  free  pardon  and  remission  of  our  sins,  accounting  us  and  deal- 
ing with  us  as  just  persons,  as  upright  and  innocent  in  his  sight 
and  esteem."  Hodge  :  "  To  justify  is  to  declare  just,  to  pro- 
nounce righteous  according  to  the  standard  of  the  law."  The 
term  is  judicial,  or  pertains  to  courts.  The  apostle's  whole  argu- 
ment goes  on  these  suppositions :  i .  that  the  moral  law  is  holy, 
just  and  good  in  its  precept,  and  its  penalty  ;  2.  that  the  obe- 
dience it  requires  is  personal,  perfect  and  perpetual ;  3.  that  God 
will  not  clear  the  guilty,  but  will  surely  condemn  the  wicked ; 
4.  what  he  has  already  and  at  length  proven  in  chapters  I.,  II.  and 
III.  viz,  that  all  men,  of  every  nation,  have  broken  the  law,  and  so 
cannot  be  accounted  otherwise  than  as  rebels  and  as  under  the  curse. 

In  his  sight,  in  his  view,  judgment  or  estimation  ;  before  him. 
In  one's  own  sight  many  a  man  is  justified.  Pr.  21  :  2;  Luke 
16  :  15.  Compare  2  Cor.  10  :  18.  In  the  sight  of  their  neighbors 
sinners  often  stand  well.  Frequently  men  justify  those,  whom  God 
condemns,  for  that  which  is  highly  esteemed  among  men  is 
abomination  in  the  sight  of  God. 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  21,  22.]        THE  ROMANS.  129 

21.  But  now  the  right eousjiess  of  God  without  the  law  is  mani- 
fested, being  witnessed  by  the  law  and  the  prophets.  Peshito  :  But 
now,  the  righteousness  of  God  without  the  law  is  manifested  ;  and 
the  law  and  the  prophets  testify  of  it.  On  the  phrase  righteous- 
ness of  God,  see  above  on  Rom.  1:17.  This  righteousness  is  here 
said  to  be  without  the  law,  literaily  without  law,  that  is  without 
deeds  done  by  man  in  obedience  to  the  precepts  of  the  law,  or  as 
Tyndale  expresses  it,  "without  the  fulfillinge  of  the  lawe."  The 
righteousness  by  which  sinners  are  saved  is  not  a  legal  righteous- 
ness. It  is  a  great  righteousness — even  the  righteousness  of  God. 
It  is  pleasing  to  God.  In  the  case  of  sinners  God  will  accept  it  and 
none  other.  This  righteousness  is  manifested,  is  shewed,  is  declared, 
is  made  known,  has  appeared,  or  has  come  abroad.  In  Rom.  i  :  17 
this  righteousness  is  said  to  be  revealed.  Yet  it  had  been  known  by 
the  church  of  God  for  long  ages.  The  doctrine  of  it  was  no 
novelty  ;  for  it  was  witnessed  (J^o^diXxA^^  attested,  Schleusner  pre- 
dicted and  promised)  by  the  law  and  the  prophets.  Moses  in  the  Pen- 
tateuch and  later  prophets  had  testified  or  borne  record  of  this  very 
way  of  securing  a  good  standing  before  God,  so  that  as  Chrysostom 
says  this  way  was  "  old,  but  concealed."  The  Old  Testament  was 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  law,  Matt.  11:13;  John  10  :  34  ;  some- 
times as  the  prophets.  Acts  10  :  43  ;  13  :  27  ;  Rom.  16  :  26  ;  some- 
times as  Moses  and  the  prophets,  Luke  16  :  29  ;  .24  :  27  ;  sometimes  as 
the  law  and  the pj'ophets,  Matt.  5  :  17  ;  7:12;  22 :  40  ;  Luke  16  :  16  ; 
Acts  13  :  15  ;  and  sometimes  as  the  law  of  Moses,  the  Psalms  and 
the  prophets,  Luke  24  :  44.  In  each  of  these  cases  all  the  holy 
Scriptures  then  written  were  designated.  How  Moses  pointed 
out  the  true  and  only  way  of  justification  for  sinners  may  be  seen 
in  the  sacrifices  and  other  rites  prescribed  in  the  law,  as  well  as  in 
the  case  of  Abraham  mentioned  in  Rom.  4  :  1-3.  David,  who 
was  a  prophet.  Acts  2  :  30,  also  taught  this  way  of  life,  Rom.  4  : 
6-8.  Habakkuk  did  the  same,  Rom.  1:17.  See  also  John  5  :  46, 
47;  Gen.  3  :  15  ;  15  :  6;  22  :  18  ;  Isa.  53  :  11  ;  Dan.  9  :  24.  Nor 
did  other  prophets  fail  to  teach  this  doctrine  of  righteousness, 

22.  Even  the  righteousness  of  God  which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that  believe  ;  for  there  is  no  differ- 
ence. It  is  clear  that  righteousness  in  this  connection  cannot  mean 
the  attribute  of  justice  in  God,  for  in  no  sense  is  that  by  faith  ; 
and  it  is  as  much  unto  and  upon  infidels  as  upon  believers.  But 
it  is  a  righteousness  received  by  faith,  not  in  God  merely,  nor  in 
the  general  truths  of  religion,  but  in  jfesus  Christ.  Stuart :  "  Most 
clearly  it  is  not  faith  which  belongs  to  Christ  himself,  but  the 
faith  of  sinners  towards  him."  In  Acts  3  :  16  Through  faith  in  his 
name  is  literally  through  faith  of  his  name.     See  also  Gal.  2  :  20. 

9 


130 


EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  V.  23. 


On  the  nature  of  faith  see  above  on  Rom.  1:8,  12,  17.  The 
righteousness  of  faith  is  the  merit  of  Christ  received  by  faith,  and 
is  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that  believe.  Some  think  that  unto  all'is 
to  be  connected  with  is  manifested  in  the  preceding  verse,  and  that 
the  rest  of  the  clause  stands  by  itself.  Stuart :  "  The  offer  is 
made  to  all  men  without  exception  ;  believers  only,  however,  are 
entitled  to  the  actual  reception  of  it."  There  is  no  error  of 
doctrine  thus  taught,  but  the  difficulty  is  in  the  grammatical  con- 
struction. It  is  better  to  regard  the  prepositions  wito  and  iipon,  as 
covering  the  whole  case,  and  excluding  all  other  justification.  We 
are  not  without  examples  of  the  accumulation  of  prepositions  in- 
tended to  be  intensive  and  to  exclude  all  counter  conceptions,  as 
in  Rom.  11  :  36.  "  Of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him  are  all 
things."  Indeed  this  very  chapter,  v.  30,  gives  an  instance  of  the 
same  kind,  where  by  and  through  are  used  to  explain  and  intensify 
the  same  idea.  We  might  even  add  other  prepositions  without 
teaching  any  error,  and  say  this  righteousness  is  unto  all,  and 
upon  all,  and  for  all,  and  over  all,  and  with  all  that  believe. 
Peshito  has  for  every  one,  and  on  every  one.  This  righteous- 
ness is  suited  to  all.  It  is  offered  to  all,  who  hear  the  gospel.  It 
is  upon  all,  who  are  willing  to  receive  it.  Neither  in  its  own 
nature,  nor  in  its  gracious  offer  is  it  confined  to  bond  or  free,  to 
rich  or  poor,  to  learned  or  ignorant,  to  rude  or  civilized,  to  Jew 
or  Gentile.  All,  all  need  it,  for  there  is  no  difference.  Peshito  & 
Rhiems :  For  there  is  no  distinction.  The  word  occurs  in  two 
other  places,  Rom.  10  :  12  ;  i  Cor.  14  :  7,  and  is  once  rendered  dif- 
ference and  once  distinction.  The  sense  is,  that  in  the  matter  in 
hand — the  sinfulness  of  our  nature,  and  the  need  of  a  gratuitous 
justification,  all  mere  men  stand  on  the  same  ground,  the  Jew  as 
truly  requiring  grace  and  mercy  as  the  Gentile. 

23.  For  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 
Peshito  :  For  they  have  all  sinned,  and  failed  of  the  glory  of  God. 
All,  that  is,  all  men,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  have  sinned,  missed  the 
mark,  erred,  done  wrong,  neglected  duty,  and  so  are  exposed  to 
the  curse  of  the  law.  And  all  have  come  short,  failed,  are  lacking, 
are  behind,  are  sadly  deficient.  They  have  failed  of  the  glory  of 
God.  This  term  may  be  taken  in  either  of  four  ways.  i.  They 
have  failed  to  honor  God  as  they  were  bound  to  do.  They  were 
made  for  his  glory,  but  they  have  been  a  shame  unto  him,  i  Cor. 
10  :  31.  2.  They  have  failed  to  secure  his  approval  or  praise, 
John  5  :  41,  44.  3.  They  have  failed  to  secure  the  glory,  which 
God  bestows  on  the  innocent,  or  on  the  penitent.  John  9  :  24 ; 
Eph.  1:14;  I  Pet.  5  :  4.  God  has  not  honored  them  as  his  friends. 
4.  Chrysostom,  Beausobre,  Slade   and   others   explain   it  of  the 


Ch.  III.,  V.  24.]  THE  ROMANS.  131 

glory  of  heaven — or  the  glorified  state.  Beza  expressly  says  that 
Paul  speaks  of  eternal  life,  which  consists  in  a  participation  of  the 
glory  of  God.  All  these  interpretations  are  coincident  and  they 
may  be  all  true.  Either  one  of  them  implies  the  others.  The  first 
is  the  righteous  ground  of  the  rest. 

24.  Being  justified  freely  by' his  grace  through  the  redemption  that 
is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Peshito :  And  they  are  justified  gratuitously, 
by  grace,  and  by  the  redemption  which  is  in  Jesus  Messiah. 
Being  justified^  a  passive  participle  in  the  masculine  plural.  It  refers 
to  Jews  and  Gentiles,  to  all  who  are  justified.  They  are  justified 
freely,  gratuitously,  or  as  Doway  and  Rheims  express  it,  gratis ; 
Coverdale,  without  deservynge  ;  in  2  Thess.  3  :  8  the  same  word  is 
rendered  for  naught ;  and  in  John  15  :  25  without^ a  cause,  \k\?L\.  is, 
all,  Avho  are  justified,  are  justified  without  any  desert  of  theirs, 
without  any  meritorious  cause  in  themselves,  but  wholly  by  God's 
grace,  or  favor.  Yet  God's  saving  grace  flows  only  in  one  channel. 
So  it  is  all  tJirough  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Redemp- 
tion, the  word  so  rendered  is  found  ten  times  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  is  with  one  exception  translated  as  here.  Chrysostom 
renders  it  here  entire  redemption.  Sometimes  the  word  means 
simply  deliverance  and  is  once  so  rendered,  Heb.  11  :  35.  But  it 
commonly  refers  to  deliverance  from  sin  and  wrath  by  Jesus 
Christ,  who  gave  his  life  a  ransom  for  us.  Eph.  1:7;  Col.  i  :  14. 
The  idea  of  redemption  may  be  either  Hebrew  or  Roman.  In 
Israel  when  a  man  was  so  heavily  in  debt  that  he  could  not  pay 
what  he  owed,  the  creditor  might  lawfully  sell  him  or  any  of  his 
family  as  servants  until  the  year  of  jubilee.  2  Kings  4:1;  Matt. 
18  :  25.  Sometimes  a  poor  man  sold  himself  even  to  a  foreigner. 
Lev.  25  :  47-49.  In  either  of  these  cases  any  one  that  was  nigh  of 
kin  to  the  poor  servant  might,  and  by  the  law  of  brotherhood  was 
bound  in  certain  cases  to  redeem  him,  by  paying  all  for  which  he 
was  in  bondage.  Again,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world  prisoners 
of  war  were  generally  put  to  death.  In  the  course  of  time  cupid- 
ity, or  in  some  cases  humanity  dictated  that  they  should,  by  their 
conquerors,  be  sold  as  servants.  Sometimes  during  the  war,  and 
often  after  it  was  over,  a  man's  country  or  his  kin  sent  money,  and 
bought  him  out  of  bondage,  thus  '  redeeming  him  with  corruptible 
things  as  silver  and  gold.'  Suidas  defines  ransom  as  "  the  price 
given  to  be  redeemed  from  the  slavery  of  the  barbarians."  For 
many  ages  redemption  was  thus  effected,  and  so  the  idea  of 
redemption  was  familiar  to  mankind.  In  the  Old  Testament 
the  same  word  is  rendered  kinsman,  avenger  and  redeemer. 
Avenging  of  blood  and  redeeming  from  bondage  both  devolved 
on  the  nearest  male  relative.     In  the  New  Testament  are  three 


132  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  25. 

words  rendered  redeem.  One  means  simply  to  buy.  It  is  found 
more  than  thirty  times.  Our  Lord  uses  it  when  he  speaks  of 
buying  a  field,  buying  oxen,  buying  victuals.  Paul  uses  it  twice  : 
"  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price,"  i  Cor.  6  :  20  ;  7  :  23.  John  uses  it 
in  Rev.  5  :  9 ;  14  :  3,  4.  "  Thou  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy 
blood."  Sometimes  another  word,  a  compound  of  the  foregoing, 
is  used.  It  occurs  four  times.  Christ  hath  r^^^^;«^^  us  from  the 
curse  of  the  law.  See  Gal.  3  :  13  ;  4  :  4,  5.  There  is  still  another 
verb  rendered  redeem,  Luke  24  :  21  ;  Tit.  2  :  14;  i  Pet.  i  :  18. 
This  is  cognate  to  the  noun  in  our  text  rendered  redemption.  Then 
we  have  tAvo  words  corresponding  to  this  noun.  They  are  both 
rendered  ransom.  For  the  first  see  Matt.  20  :  28 ;  Mark  10  :  45  ; 
for  the  second  i  Tim.  2  :  6.     The  ransom  was  the  price  of  release. 

This  redemption  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  was  effected  by  him.  The 
price  was  paid  by  him.  The  redemption  is  applied  to  us  when  we 
believe  in  him.  We  are  not  redeemed  by  Christ's  example,  pre- 
cepts, doctrines,  or  power ;  but  by  his  laying  down  his  life  a  ran- 
som for  us,  by  his  blood,  by  his  death,  by  his  stripes.  Matt.  20  :  28 ; 
Eph.  1:7;  Col.  I  :  14 ;  Heb.  9:15;  Isa.  53  :  5.  Jesus  was  every 
way  fit  to  be  our  Redeemer  by  becoming  our  kinsman,  by  taking 
upon  him  human  nature  entire  ;  but  in  such  a  way  that  he  was 
holy,  harmless  and  undefiled.  To  believers  the  effect  of  redemp- 
tion is  full,  complete,  gratuitous,  eternal  salvation.  It  brings  great 
glory  to  Christ, 

25.  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitation  through  faith  in 
his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are 
past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God.  Instead  of  set  forth  Peshito 
has  preconstituted  ;  Wichf,  ordeyned ;  Rheims,  Pool  and  Dodd- 
ridge, proposed ;  Chrysostom  and  Margin,  fore-ordained  :  Chal- 
mers, exhibited.  Every  where  else  the  word  is  rendered  pur- 
posed, and  the  cognate  noun  is  more  commonly  than  otherwise 
rendered  purpose.  But  manifestation  also  belongs  to  the  word 
for  it  is  the  word  used  to  express  shew  bread,  or  bread  of  setting 
forth.  God  has  set  him  forth  in  his  purpose,  in  sending  him  into 
the  world,  and  in  sending  forth  preachers,  2  Tim.  i  :  9-1 1  ;  i  Pet. 
I  :  20-22.  The  words  to  be  are  not  in  the  original,  and  might  as 
well  be  dropped.  If  any  thing  be  supplied,  as  would  be  better. 
Propitiation,  the  original  word  occurs  but  once  elsewhere  in  the 
New  Testament,  Heb.  8:12,  where  it  is  rendered  mercy-seat.  It 
is  doubtless  borrowed  from  the  Septuagint  version  of  the  Old 
Testament.  See  Ex.  25  :  18-20;  Lev.  16  :  13-16.  It  is  explained  in 
these  four  ways:  i.  Some  render  it  propitiatory,  or  mercy-seat  ; 
so  Whitby,  Locke,  Macknight,  Assembly's  Annotations,  Tyndale, 
Olshausen,  and  others.     The  advantages  of  this  exposition  are  first 


Ch.  III.,  V.  25-]  THE  ROMANS.  133 

that  it  takes  the  word  in  its  common  signification,  once  in  the 
Greek  Testament  and  often  in  the  Septuagint ;  secondly,  that  by- 
using  the  term  comprehensively  we  get  a  good  sense,  that  as  the 
Israelites  obtained  pardon  and  acceptance  as  public  worshippers 
by  the  sprinkling  of  blood  on  the  mercy-seat,  so  eternal  life  is  dis- 
pensed from  Christ.  The  objection  to  this  explanation  is  that  it 
presents  to  us  an  unusual  figure,  that  of  Christ  himself  as  a  mercy- 
seat.  2.  Some  render  the  word  propitiator.  This  is  the  explana- 
tion preferred  by  Cranmer  and  Rosenmuller.  It  makes  the  word 
rendered  propitiation,  which  is  an  adjective,  to  agree  with  whom. 
This  teaches  no  error,  nor  does  it  necessarily  weaken  the  true 
doctrine.  3.  Others  think  the  word  is  in  the  neuter  and  that  we 
are  to  supply  the  word  victim  or  sacrifice  after  it.  This  explana- 
tion is  preferred  by  Calvin,  Schlichting,  Le  Clerc,  Bucer,  Turrettin, 
Kypke,  Magee,  Tholuck,  Stuart,  Chalmers,  Conybeare  &  Howson, 
Haldane  and  Hodge.  4.  Others  unite  the  first  and  third  of  these. 
Hawker :  ''  Christ  indeed  is  both  the  propitiation  and  the  pro- 
pitiatory. He  is  the  propitiation,  or  sacrifice  ;  the  propitiatory  or 
mercy-seat  and  altar,  on  which  that  sacrifice  was  offered."  See 
also  Olshausen,  p.  153.  Whichsoever  of  these  we  prefer  we  may 
still  lay  fast  hold  on  the  great  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  by  which 
God  is  reconciled  to  man.  We  have  also  the  cognate  word  pro- 
pitiation twice  in  the  Scriptures,  i  John  2  :  2  ;  4  :  10.  Of  the 
correctness  of  this  rendering  there  is  no  room  for  doubt.  Then 
we  have  the  cognate  verb  make  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the 
people,  Heb.  2  :  17. 

All  these  words  no  doubt  have  allusion  to  the  mercy-seat, 
which  was  the  lid  of  the  ark  of  the  testimony.  In  the  Hebrew 
this  is  called  the  cover.  It  occurs  frequently  in  Exodus  and 
Leviticus,  once  in  Numbers  and  once  in  i  Chronicles.  Its  cog- 
nate noun  is  always  rendered  atonement  as  in  Ex.  29  :  36 ;  Lev. 
23  :  27,  28.  Over  this  lid  stood  the  two  cherubim  with  their 
wings  extended.  On  this  lid  of  the  ark  the  blood  of  the  sacri- 
fice was  sprinkled ;  over  it  rested  the  visible  glory,  and  from 
it  as  from  a  throne  God  shewed  himself  propitious.  Elsewhere 
Christ  is  called  our  passover,  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice,  and  a 
lamb,  a  lamb  slain,  yea,  a  lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  i  Cor.  5:7;  Eph.  5:2;  John  i  :  36 ;  Rev.  5  :  6,  9,  12  ; 
13:8.  All  these  forms  of  expression  clearly  point  to  atone- 
ment or  reconciliation  by  Jesus  Christ.  Olshausen :  "  Every 
sacrifice  is  intended  to  expiate  the  guilt  of  men,  and  propitiate 
the  anger  of  God,  consequently  the  sacrifice  of  all  sacrifices,  in 
which  alone  all  the  rest  have  their  truth,  must  effect  that  which 
the  others  only  foreshadow."     In  what  sense  is  Christ  our  pass- 


134  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  25 

over,  if  his  death  does  not  avert  from  us  death  and  destruc- 
tion  ?  In  what  sense  is  he  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  for  others, 
if  he  expiated  no  guilt,  endured  no  curse,  bore  no  wrath,  and 
exhausted  no  penalty  for  them  ?  In  what  sense  was  he  a  lamb 
slain,  if  he  was  not  a  victim  offered  for  the  sins  of  many  ? 
How  can  a  lamb  take  away  sin  except  as  a  sacrifice?  Christ  is 
set  forth  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood,  and  not  other- 
wise. On  faith  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  8,  12,  17.  In  his  blood: 
the  Scriptures  often  speak  of  the  blood  of  Christ  in  a  way  that 
ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  In  instituting  the  Lord's  supper 
our  Saviour  says.  This  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament ;  or, 
This  is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood.  Matt.  26  :  28 ;  Mark 
14  :  24;  Luke  22  :  20.  In  John  6  :  53-56  the  Lord  informs  us  that 
we  must  by  faith  drink  his  blood.  In  Acts  20  :  28  we  are  in- 
formed that  the  flock  of  God  was  purchased  with  his  own  blood. 
In  Rom.  5  : 9  saints  are  said  to  be  justified  by  his  blood.  In 
I  Cor.  10 :  16  the  Lord's  supper  is  called  the  communion  of  the 
blood  of  Christ.  In  Eph.  i  :  7  we  are  said  to  have  redemption 
through  his  blood.  In  Eph.  2:13  it  is  said  we  are  made  nigh 
by  the  blood  of  Christ.  In  Col.  i  :  14  we  are  said  to  have  re- 
demption through  his  blood.  In  Col.  i  :  20  we  are  said  to  have 
peace  through  his  blood.  In  Heb.  9 :  14  the  blood  of  Christ  is 
said  to  purge  the  conscience  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  liv- 
ing God,  and  it  is  said  to  do  this  much  more  than  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  goats  fitted  men  of  old  to  be  public  worshippers. 
In  Heb.  10 :  14  saints  are  said  to  enter  into  the  holiest  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus.  In  Heb.  10 :  29  Christ's  blood  is  called  the  blood 
of  the  covenant.  In  Heb.  12  :  24  it  is  called  the  blood  of  sprink- 
*ling.  In  Heb.  13:  12  Christ  is  said  to  sanctify  the  people  with 
his  own  blood.  In  Heb.  13  :  20  his  blood  is  called  the  blood 
of  the  everlasting  covenant.  In  i  John  i  :  7  it  is  said  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  God's  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.  In  Rev. 
1:5  it  is  said  he  hath  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood. 
In  Rev.  5  : 9  the  saints  in  glory  say  to  him,  Thou  hast  redeemed 
us  unto  God  by  thy  blood.  In  Rev.  7  :  14  the  saved  are  said 
to  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb.  In  Rev.  12  :  11  it  is  said  the  conquerors  overcame 
by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Indeed  this  aspect  of  truth  is  both 
prominent  and  permanent.  Two  remarks  may  here  be  fairly 
made.  One  is  that  the  Jewish  church  lived  under  a  dispensa- 
tion, wherein  almost  all  things  were  purged  with  blood,  the  altar, 
the  mercy-seat,  the  tabernacle  and  the  worshippers,  Heb.  9:21, 
22  ;  10  :  19.  So  that  the  significance  of  blood  as  a  sacrifice,  expiat- 
ing guilt,  was  well  understood  by  all  Israel.     The  other  remark  is 


Ch.  III.,  V.  25.]  THE  ROMANS.  135 

that  if  the  Scriptures  teach  any  thing  clearly  and  by  a  great 
variet}'-  of  terms  and  phrases,  they  do  teach  that  Jesus  Christ  shed 
his  blood,  not  for  his  own  sins,  for  he  had  none  ;  but  for  the  sins 
of  his  people.  He  suffered  the  just  for  the  unjust.  And  faith  in 
his  blood,  reliance  on  his  sacrifice,  is  the  only  way  of  salvation  to 
men  ordained  by  God.  If  this  truth  be  not  received,  we  hear  the 
Gospel  in  vain ;  for  God  has  set  forth  his  Son  to  declare,  shew, 
point  out,  or  manifest  his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that 
are  past.  The  righteousness  here  spoken  of  cannot  be  God's  attri- 
bute of  justice ;  for  in  the  case  of  sinners,  for  whom  no  full  and 
complete  atonement  is  made,  justice  calls  for  condemnation,  which 
would  be  giving  every  sinner  his  due ;  but  this  righteousness  is 
for  a  very  different  end,  even  for  remission  of  sins.  Nor  can  the 
term  righteousness  here  mean  God's  method  of  justification  for 
the  remission  of  sins,  for  that  is  tautology.  Locke  explains  it  of 
God's  righteousness  in  keeping  his  word,  but  how  can  God's 
veracity  procure  the  remission  of  sins  till  they  are  atoned  for  ? 
The  righteousness  of  God  undoubtedly  points  to  Christ's  complete 
fulfilment  of  the  precepts  of  the  law,  and  his  endurance  of  its 
whole  penalty  in  our  room  and  stead.  Thus  believers  in  Christ 
are  so  perfectly  righteous  in  the  eye  of  the  law  that  they  are  said 
to  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God,  2  Cor.  5:21.  But  see  above 
on  Rom.  1:17.  This  righteousness,  imputed  by  God  and  received 
by  faith,  secures  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past.  The  word  here 
rendered  remission  is  not  found  elsewhere,  but  no  better  rendering 
has  been  proposed.  The  word  literally  means  passing  by.  But  it 
is  one  of  the  glories  of  God  that  he  passeth  by  the  transgression  of 
his  people,  Mic.  7:18.  When  the  apostle  speaks  of  the  remission 
of  sins,  he  means  all  sorts  of  sins,  sins  against  God  and  against  man, 
sins  of  omission  and  of  commission,  open  sins  and  secret  sins. 
The  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.  The  phrase,  sins 
that  are  past,  is  capable  of  two  constructions.  One  is  that  the 
apostle  declares  remission  for  sins  already  committed  by  any  one. 
God  actually  forgives  no  sin  till  it  is  committed,  but  in  accepting 
a  sinner  who  believes,  God  gloriously  purposes  and  promises  no 
more  to  impute  sin  to  him,  and  he  never  does  judicially  condemn 
him,  but  puts  away  his  sin  as  soon  as  committed,  2  Sam.  12113. 
Howbeit  a  believer  by  sin  incurs  God's  fatherly  displeasure  and 
chastisements.  But  there  is  to  such  no  forensic  condemnation. 
For  the  remission,  some  would  read  through  the  remission.  But  there 
is  a  grammatical  difficulty  in  the  way.  Nor  could  we  then  retain 
the  accepted  meaning  of  the  word  righteousness.  God  has  de- 
clared a  righteousness  of  such  an  excellent  nature  that  he  can 
grant  the  remission  of  sins  in  a  way  honorable  to  himself  and  safe 


136  EPIS  TLE   TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  26. 

for  man.  Brown :  "  Though  God  decreed  from  all  eternity  to 
pardon  the  sins  of  his  own  chosen,  and  so  their  sins  may  be  said, 
in  so  far,  to  be  pardoned  intentionally  before  they  are  committed, 
and  laid  our  sins  on  Christ,  who  in  due  time  satisfied  for  them  and 
so  meritoriously  they  may  be  said  to  be  pardoned,  yet  they  are  not 
actually  pardoned,  until  the  sinner,  convinced  of  a  necessity,  flee 
in  to  that  price,  and  lean  to  it.  .  .  In  justification  they  have  their 
iniquities  pardoned,  all  their  by-past  transgressions  are  covered  and 
remitted."  Another  and  more  common  construction  of  the  phrase, 
sins  that  are  past,  refers  it  to  sins  committed  under  the  former  dis- 
pensation. Some  give  it  no  other  construction.  This  seems  to 
derive  strength  from  the  phrase,  at  this  time,  in  the  next  verse. 
If  we  supply  ««<3^  between  the  verses  this  will  be  grammatical  and 
right.  Thus  Ferme :  "  To  be  past  here  signifies  that  the  world 
had  lived  in  them,  and  that  they  had  reigned  in  the  world  before 
Christ  was  known."  Doddridge  :  "  This  remission  extends  not 
only  to  the  present,  but  former  age,  and  to  all  the  offences  which 
are  long  since  past,  according  to  the  forbearance  of  God,  who  has  for- 
borne to  execute  judgment  upon  sinners,  in  reference  to  that 
atonement  which  he  knew  should  in  due  time  be  made."  There 
is  no  doubt  of  either  of  the  following  truths ;  i.  God  had  a  people 
justified,  redeemed  and  saved,  before  the  coming  of  Christ.  2. 
All,  who  have  ever  been  saved  had  redemption  in  the  blood  of 
Christ.  3.  There  is  no  more  difficulty  in  giving  prospective  than 
there  is  in  giving  retrospective  efficacy  to  the  work  of  Christ. 
One  is  startled  at  Olshausen :  "  In  the  O.  T.  there  was  no  real  but 
only  a  symbolical  forgiveness  of  sins."  But  of  old  believers 
looked  to  Messias  to  come  as  we  look  to  Messias  already  come. 
They  were  saved  as  we  are  by  reliance  on  a  Redeemer,  John  8  :  56. 
Compare  i  Kings  8  :  30;  Ps.  32  :  i  ;  103  :  3  ;  130  :  4,  and  many  other 
places. 

All  this  propitiation,  righteousness  and  remission  are  secured 
to  men  through  the  forbearance  of  God,  i.  e.  through  his  long-suffer- 
ing whereby  he  delays  to  punish  those  who  richly  deserve  his 
wrath,  and  holds  back  the  merited  stroke  of  vengeance  from  those' 
who  have  insulted  him.  See  above  on  Rom.  2  :  4.  How  patient 
and  merciful  is  God  in  giving  time  and  opportunity  to  repent 
and  believe  the  Gospel.  How  great  is  his  mercy  in  setting  forth 
Christ 

26.  To  declare,  I  say,  at  this  time  his  righteousness :  that  he  might 
be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believeth.  The  words  rendered 
declare  and  righteousness  are  quite  the  same  and  teach  the  same  as 
they  do  in  v.  25.  At  this  time  no  doubt  refers  to  the  Gospel  dis- 
pensation.    Some,  as  has  been  stated  above,  think  it  is  set  over 


Ch.  III.,  V.  27.]  THE  ROMANS.  137 

against  sins  that  are  past,  as  pertaining  solely  to  the  old  dispensa- 
tion. And  it  is  certainly  true  that  believers  in  all  ages  have 
obtained  remission  of  sins  and  acceptance  solely  by  one  and  the 
same  glorious  righteousness.  It  is  added  that  this  righteousness 
is  manifested  that  God  might  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him  that 
believeth.  It  is  God  that  justifieth.  None  else  can  do  it.  None 
else  has  jurisdiction  in  the  moral  government  of  the  world.  It  is 
God's  law  that  is  broken.  Even  when  men  sin  against  each  other, 
their  great  offence  is  against  God,  Ps.  5 1  :  4.  Jehovah  is  judge  of 
all  the  earth.  None  else  is  fit  to  dispense  pardons  and  salvation. 
To  give  up  this  prerogative  to  others  would  be  to  deny  himself. 
God  often  condemns  men  and  deeds,  which  mortals  justif)jf;  and 
he  as  often  justifies  men  and  deeds,  which  mortals  condemn.  He 
is  right  in  all  cases.  He  is  not  governed  by  appearances.  He 
judges  by  the  ken  of  omniscience.  Consequently  there  are  no 
errors  committed  in  his  awards.  Whom  he  will  he  justifies  and 
whom  he  will  he  condemns ;  but  whether  he  saves  or  destroys  he 
acts  righteously.  If  men  are  cast  off  for  their  sins,  if  condign 
punishment  banishes  them  from  God,  none  can  complain  of  any 
want  of  equity,  for  they  receive  the  reward  of  their  evil  deeds.  In 
like  manner  when  God  for  Christ's  sake  forgives  and  accepts  the 
sinner,  when  he  imputes  to  him  the  infinite  merits  of  Christ,  and 
clothes  him  in  the  righteousness  wrought  out  by  the  obedience 
and  sufferings  of  his  great  substitute,  justice  is  satisfied,  the  law' is 
satisfied  ;  for  Christ  finished  the  work  of  reconciliation  ;  yea,  both 
in  its  precept  and  in  its  penalty  he  magnified  the  law  and  made  it 
honorable,  so  that  now  when  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and 
just  to  forgive  our  sins  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness, 
I  John  I  :  9.  This  justification  is  to  him  that  believeth,  and  to  none 
else.  Unbelief  rejects  a  free  gratuitous  salvation.  It  stubbornly 
refuses  submission  to  God's  method  of  justification.  It  is  impos- 
sible that  one,  who  rejects  the  only  remedy  provided,  should  escape 
death.  The  unbeliever  will  not  come  to  Christ,  John  5  :  40.  On 
faith  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  8,  12,  17.  Here  the  literal  rendering 
is  him  who  is  of  the  faith  of  Jesus,  but  the  English  version  gives 
the  exact  meaning  and  in  idiomatic  phrase. 

27.  Where  is  boasting  then  f  It  is  excluded.  By  what  law  ?  of 
works  ?  Nay ;  but  by  the  lazv  of  faith.  Boasting,  often  rendered 
rejoicing  or  glorying ;  everywhere  else  used  in  a  good  sense.  Here 
the  apostle  declares  that  by  the  Gospel  plan  of  salvation,  self-esteem, 
self-righteousness,  self-complacency,  self-approbation  are  cut  up 
by  the  roots.  The  accepted  worshipper  never  makes  mention  of 
his  own  merits,  or  of  his  own  works  as  a  ground  of  acceptance 
with  God.     He  abases  himself  and  exalts  God.     He  is  nothing ; 


138  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  28-30. 

Christ  is  all  in  all.  His  righteousnesses  are,  not  only  in  God's 
esteem  but  in  his  own  also,  as  filthy  rags.  Were  he  to  rejoice  in 
his  own  doings,  he  would  boast  in  a  thing  of  naught.  Self-glory- 
ing is  excluded,  or  shut  out,  not  by  the  rule,  plan  or  scheme  of 
works,  but  by  the  rule,  which  now  should  govern  the  world,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  by  which  we  shall  be  judged  ;  the  scheme 
of  faith  in,  by  and  through  Jesus  Christ.  For  the  meaning  of  the 
word  law  compare  Isa.  2:3;  42  :  4. 

28.  Therefore  we  conclude  that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith  without 
the  deeds  of  the  law.  We  conclude,  literally  we  reckon,  reason, 
count,  or  judge  ;  Tyndale  has  suppose  ;  Cranmer,  holde  ;  Genevan, 
gather;  Rheims,  account;  or  we  reason  out.  We  reach  this  con- 
clusion by  a  fair  and  logical  process,  viz. :  that  a  man  is  justified 
by  faith,  i.  e.  by  faith  alone,  without  anything  on  man's  part  but  a 
simple  reception  of  Christ's  righteousness.  Without  the  deeds  of  the 
laiu,  literally  without  deeds  of  law,  i.  e.  deeds  performed  in  obedi- 
ence to  any  law,  the  law  of  nature,  the  moral  law,  the  law  of  cere- 
monies, or  any  other  law.  On  deeds  of  law  see  above  on  Rom. 
3  :  20.  Simple  faith  in  Christ,  a  hearty  reception  of  him  secures 
salvation.  So  clear  and  direct  is  this  testimony  that  the  Doway 
Bible  has  a  note  flatly  denying  that  the  apostle  here  excludes  such 
works  "  as  follow  faith,  and  proceed  from  it."  But  the  apostle, 
both  by  his  terms  and  by  his  train  of  reasoning,  excludes  all  works 
of  man  from  any  and  from  all  share  in  his  own  justification.  That 
is  precisely  the  point  of  his  whole  argument,  and  what  he  has 
asserted  over  and  over  again. 

29.  Is  he  the  God  of  the  Jews  only  ?  is  he  not  also  of  the  Gentiles  ? 
Yes,  of  the  Ge?itiles  also.  The  Jews  themselves  could  not  with  any 
show  of  truth  deny  that  Jehovah  created,  fed  and  governed  all 
nations ;  that  he  did  much  good  to  them,  filling  their  hearts  with 
food  and  gladness,  making  many  of  them  the  objects  of  his  special 
care.  Jehovah  was  much  more  than  a  national  God.  He  was 
God  over  all.  We  should  not  therefore  be  surprised  to  find  him 
offering  mercy  and  grace  to  all  nations  on  the  same  terms  without 
money  and  without  price. 

30.  Seei?ig  it  is  one  God,  which  shall  justify  the  circumcision  by 
faith,  and  uncircumcision  through  faith.  God  is  one,  and  has  no 
divided  counsels.  He  does  not  save  one  sinner  in  one  way  and 
another  sinner  in  another  way.  The  Jews  themselves  hold  that 
the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord,  and  that  the  nations  have  no  real 
God  but  the  same,  who  is  the  God  of  Israel.  Why  then  should  any 
cavil  against  God  for  justifying  Jew  and  Gentile  in  the  same  way, 
viz. :  by  faith,  or  through  faith  ?  Some  attempt  to  make  a  distinc- 
tion between  these  forms  of  expression,  but  they  quite  fail  to  make 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  3I.20,]  THE  ROMANS.  139 

it  obvious.  Both  words  mean  the  same  thing.  Locke  thinks  that 
in  this  verse  the  apostle  has  special  reference  to  Zechariah  14  :  9, 
"  The  Lord  shall  be  King  over  all  the  earth  :  in  that  day  shall  there 
be  one  Lord,  and  his  name  one." 

31.  Do  we  then  make  void  the  law  through  faith  ?  God  forbid  : 
yea,  we  establish  the  law.  For  make  void  we  have  various  meanings 
and  paraphrases,  all  however  confirming  the  true  doctrine,  as 
Peshito,  nullify ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Rheims,  Vulgate  and  Dow- 
ay,  destroy ;  Genevan,  make  unprofitable ;  Locke  and  Mac- 
knight,  make  useless ;  Conybeare  and  Howson,  bring  to  naught. 
The  meaning  is,  Do  we,  by  teaching  that  life  to  man  is  solely  by 
grace  through  faith,  put  dishonor  upon  any  other  revelations  God 
has  made  to  man  ?  By  no  means.  Verily  not  at  all.  On  the  un- 
happy rendering  God  forbid  see  above  on  Rom.  3  :  4.  For  estab- 
lish Coverdale,  Tyndale  and  Cranmer  have  mayntayne  ;  Dutch 
Annotations  and  Stuart,  confirm.  We  contend  that  so  far  from 
making  useless  the  law — all  the  law  God  has  ever  given — we 
assign  to  it  its  true  use  as  giving  the  knowledge  of  sin,  shewing 
the  necessity  of  a  better  righteousness  than  men  ever  attain  to  by 
their  own  works,  furnishing  a  perfect  rule  of  life,  and  bringing 
great  glory  to  God,  its  author,  because  as  a  transcript  of  his 
character  it  is  holy,  just  and  good. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  All  attempts  at  justification  by  our  own  works  are  vain  and 
presumptuous,  v.  20.  They  all  go  on  the  supposition  that  God  is 
not  holy  and  omniscient,  or  that  man  is  not  sinful  and  guilty. 
Ever}^  thoughtful  man  knows  that  in  countless  ways  he  has 
offended  in  thought,  word  and  deed.  Both  by  original  and  actual 
sin  every  man  is  wholly  broken  and  bankrupt,  without  strength, 
merit,  holiness  or  righteousness.  Left  to  themselves  men  are  in 
as  hopeless  and  helpless  a  state  as  are  the  fallen  angels,  John  8  :  41, 
44.  Man  cannot  be  justified  by  a  law,  which  wholly  condemns 
him.  Scott :  "  There  is  no  law  of  God,  which  any  man  has  kept : 
therefore  no  law  by  the  deeds  of  which  any  man  can  be  justified." 
It  is  worse  than  common  folly  to  seek  life  by  a  door  that  is  for 
ever  shut  against  us. 

2.  Though  the  law  cannot  save  but  must  condemn  us,  yet  in 
other  respects  it  is  of  excellent  use.  By  it  we  learn  our  sinfulness 
and  ruin,  v.  20.  It  shows  what  sin  is,  how  much  sin  is  chargeable 
to  us,  and  what  sin  deserves.  It  shews  us  the  pure  and  exalted 
character  of  God.  It  teaches  us  what  our  duty  is.  But  it  cannot 
both  justify  and  condemn.     It  cannot  give  the  knowledge  of  sin 


I40 


EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  21-26. 


and  of  salvation  too.  Brown  :  "  Much  of  our  ignorance  of  our  sin- 
ful condition,  of  the  sinful  nature  of  many  of  our  actions,  of  the 
vileness  and  abominableness  of  sin,  and  of  the  just  and  dreadful 
desert  thereof  floweth  from  our  being  strangers  to  the  law  :  and 
much  humble  and  diligent  study  of  the  law  would  help  us  to  dis- 
cover many  latent  corruptions,  and  to  be  better  acquainted  with 
the  stratagems  of  sin,  and  the  dangerous  snares  we  are  drawn  into 
thereby."  Any  teaching,  therefore  which  represents  the  law  as 
useless  or  of  none  effect,  is  false  and  mischievous. 

3.  But  though  the  law  condemns  us  there  is  a  way  of  salvation. 
Nor  can  we  ever  sufficiently  praise  and  bless  God  for  making  it 
known  to  us.  It  is  a  matter  of  pure  revelation,  v.  21,  as  well  as  a 
matter  of  pure  and  sovereign  mercy.  Scott :  "  Proud  men  will  be 
offended  at  this,  apd  strive  to  establish  some  distinction  between 
themselves  and  more  scandalous  and  vulgar  sinners  :  but  they  labor 
in  vain.  .  .  The  meanest  and  most  guilty  of  the  human  species, 
who  comes  in  God's  appointed  and  manifested  way,  shall  be  justi- 
fied freely  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  of  his  Son  :  while 
all,  who  persist  in  the  attempt  of  justifying  themselves,  will  as- 
suredly perish  under  the  wrath  of  God." 

4.  It  would  surely  free  us  from  many  foolish  notions  and  from 
much  self  flattery  and  self  delusion,  if  we  would  but  remember 
that  all  our  judgments  and  actions  must  undergo  the  scrutiny  of 
God.  It  is  only  as  acts,  words  or  thoughts  are  good  or  bad  i>t  his 
sight  that  they  shall  affect  us  hereafter.  Our  hearts  are  so  deceit- 
ful and  our  minds  are  so  corrupt  that  not  only  will  most  private 
opinions,  but  many  public  judgments  also  be  set  aside,  in  part  or 
in  whole,  at  the  last  day.  Men  search  not  the  heart,  men  are  vile, 
men  love  darkness  and  falsehood,  men  are  slow  to  find  any  fault 
with  themselves.  But  to  God,  who  is  our  judge,  all  things  are 
naked  and  open ;  he  never  clears  the  guilty,  he  never  condemns 
the  innocent.  He  is  holy.  The  stars  are  not  pure  in  his  eyes. 
Oh  that  men  would  cease  to  flatter  either  their  neighbors  or  them- 
selves. 

5.  Sad  as  is  our  case  by  nature,  it  is  not  beyond  remedy. 
Though  we  are  prisoners  of  ignorance,  of  guilt,  of  corruption  and 
of  misery,  yet  we  are  prisoners  of  hope.  Even  we  can  have  a  right- 
eousness commensurate  to  the  demands  of  God's  law  and  every 
way  suited  to  our  case,  vs.  21,  22,  25,  26.  Nothing  in  the  whole 
book  of  God  more  concerns  us  than  this.  Nothing  more  sets 
forth  the  divine  wisdom  or  glory.  Nothing  else  reconciles  justice 
in  God  with  good  hope  in  man.  True  it  is  not  originally  our  right- 
eousness, Dan.  9  :  18;  Rom.  10  :  3  ;  Phil.  3:9;  nor  righteousness 
by  the  law,    Gal.  3:21;    nor  righteousness  of  the  law,    Rom.    2  : 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  21,  26.]         THE  R  OMA  NS.  141 

26;  10:  5;  nor  righteousness  by  works ^  Tit.  3:  5;  nor  righteous- 
ness in  the  law,  Phil.  3  :  6.  But  it  is  and  is  called  the  right- 
eousness of  God,  Rom.  i  :  17 ;  3  :  21,  22,  25,  26;  10  :  3  ;  the  right- 
eousness which  is  of  God,  Phil.  3:9;  righteousness  by  faith  of 
Jesus  Christ,  Rom.  3  :  22 ;  righteousness  through  the  faith  of 
Christ,  Phil.  3:9;  Rev.  5:9;  righteousness  7iot  our  own,  Phil.  3:9; 
righteousness  imputed,  Rom.  4:6,  10,  11.  This  righteousness  is  the 
fine  linen,  clean  and  white,  in  which  the  redeemed  in  glory  are 
arrayed.  Rev.  19  :  8.  It  is  celebrated  in  all  ages  of  the  church. 
The  true  doctrine  on  this  matter  has  not  been  at  any  time  a  nov- 
elty ;  but  has  been  in  some  form  declared  from  the  beginning, 
though  often  obscured  and  sometimes  denied  by  wicked  teachers. 
See  Ps.  24  :  5  ;  85  :  10,  13 ;  89  :  16;  145  :  7 ;  Isa.  42  :  21  ;  45  :  8,  24, 
25;  46:  13;  53  :  II;  54:17;  56:  l;  61  :  II  ;  62  :  i,  2;  Jer.  23  :  5  ; 
Dan.  9  :  24;  Hos.  10:  12.  Haldane :  "To  Balaam,  who  beheld  the 
Saviour  at  a  distance  he  appeared  as  a  star  ;  There  shall  come  a  star 
out  of  Jacob,  Num.  24  :  17  ;  while  to  Malachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets, 
on  his  nearer  approach,  he  appeared  as  the  sun  of  righteousness^' 
Mai.  4  :  2.  This  righteousness  is  manifested,  declared.  The  way 
of  salvation  by  it  is  clearly  pointed  out  in  both  Testaments.  Were 
men  not  perverse  and  filled  with  hatred  to  the  truth,  they  would 
all  at  once  receive  it.  It  suits  their  case  exactly.  It  is  without 
law,  i.  e.  without  deeds  done  in  obedience  to  law.  It  is  by  faith, 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Simply  believe.  It  is  perfect  and  needs  no 
addition,  no  amendment,  no  work  of  man  or  angel  to  complete  it. 
It  is  just  what  all  men  need.  It  is  unto  all  and  upon  all  that  re- 
ceive it.  Prince  and  peasant,  Jew  and  Gentile,  bond  and  free,  old 
and  young  alike  need  it  and,  on  accepting  it,  are  alike  adorned 
with  it.  This  is  the  righteousness  of  God.  i.  He  devised  it, 
wrought  it  out,  and  applies  it.     2.  He  freely  gives  it,  Rom.  5:17. 

3.  He  graciously  accepts  it.     He  will  from  man  accept  none  else. 

4.  He  is  well  pleased  with  it,  delights  in  it,  and  bestows  all  bless- 
ings on  those,  who  lay  hold  of  it,  Isa.  42  :  21  ;  Rom.  8  :  32.  5.  This 
is  the  great  righteousness.  It  is  the  most  glorious  robe  worn  by 
any  creature  in  heaven.     The  robe  of  innocence  is  not  so  radiant. 

This  righteousness  is  exclusive  of  all  other  righteousness.  We 
must  take  this  alone,  or  not  at  all.  Chalmers :  "  The  foundation 
of  your  trust  before  God  must  be  either  your  own  righteousness 
out  and  out,  or  the  righteousness  of  Christ  out  and  out.  .  .  If  you 
are  to  lean  upon  your  own  merit,  lean  upon  it  wholly.  If  you  are 
to  lean  upon  Christ,  lean  upon  Him  wholly.  The  two  will  not 
amalgamate  together ;  and  it  is  the  attempt  to  do  so,  which  keeps 
many  a  weary  and  heavy-laden  inquirer  at  a  distance  from  rest, 
and  at  a  distance  from  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.     Maintain  a  clear 


142  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IL,  vs.  21-26. 

and  consistent  posture.  Stand  not  before  God* with  one  foot  upon 
a  rock,  and  the  other  upon  a  treacherous  quicksand  .  .  .  Make  no 
reservations  .  .  .  We  call  upon  you,  not  to  lean  so  much  as  the 
weight  of  one  grain  or  scruple  of  your  confidence  upon  your  own 
doings — to  leave  this  ground  entirely,  and  to  come  over  entirely  on 
the  ground  of  a  Redeemer's  blood  and  a  Redeemer's  righteous- 
ness. Then  you  may  stand  firm  and  erect  on  a  foundation  strong 
enough  and  broad  enough  to  bear  you.  You  will  feel  that  your 
feet  are  on  a  sure  place." 

Nothing  is  of  more  importance  than  our  views  and  treatment 
of  this  righteousness  of  God.  Yet  no  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  is 
more  maligned  or  slandered.  Many  will  hear  you  with  apparent 
candor  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  on  the  morality  or  benevo- 
lence of  the  Gospel ;  but  the  moment  you  summon  their  attention 
to  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  the  ground  of  a  sinner's  accep- 
tance, they  are  offended,  or  begin  to  stumble.  Hence  error  on 
this  subject  is  rife.  One  contends  that  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  this  chapter  and  generally  in  Paul's  writings  means  a  system  of 
morals  approved  by  God  ;  another,  God's  mercy ;  another,  God's 
attribute  of  justice  ;  another,  God's  method  of  justifying  sinners ; 
another,  God's  method  of  saving  sinners.  These  teachings  are 
not  all  alike  wide  of  the  truth.  One  may  so  explain  either  of  the 
last  two,  as  to  embrace  enough  of  the  Gospel  to  be  saved  thereby. 
But  how  can  man  be  saved  by  God's  attribute  of  justice,  when  it 
pours  curses  on  the  head  of  every  transgressor  ?  Or  how  can 
God's  mercy  save  a  sinner,  if  he  is  to  enter  heaven  trampling  on 
the  divine  government,  and  eternally  standing  naked  before  God, 
with  not  one  precept  of  the  law  fulfilled  and  with  all  his  sins  un- 
atoned  ?  Or  how  can  any  code  of  morals  be  any  purer  or  better 
than  that  of  Sinai,  which  is  holy,  just  and  good,  and  which  only 
failed  to  secure  life  because  the  flesh  has  proved  itself  wholly 
unable  to  keep  its  precepts  and  so  meet  its  demands  ?  Rom.  8  :  3. 
Why  will  not  men  allow  God,  in  executing  his  glorious  plans  to 
provide  for  believing  sinners  a  righteousness  equal  in  all  respects 
to  the  demands  of  the  precept  and  the  penalty  of  God's  law,  a 
righteousness  resulting  from  the  perfect  fulfilment  of  all  the  law 
requires  in  the  way  of  obedience  or  suffering  ?  Why  will  men 
write  treatises  on  justification  and  never  mention  the  word  right- 
eousness, and  never  say  that  by  it  the  believer  is  righteous  ?  Did 
Paul  so  write  ?  Why  will  men  cavil,  and  higgle,  and  boggle,  and 
make  a  thousand  pleas  and  excuses,  and  state  a  thousand  diffi- 
culties, respecting  a  doctrine  and  a  scheme  so  honorable  to  God, 
so  safe  for  man,  so  suited  to  advance  the  divine  glory,  and  so  fully 
meeting  the  demands  of  an  enlightened  conscience  ?     Nor  should 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  21-26.]       THE  ROMANS.  143 

men  be  offended  at  this  doctrine,  nor  at  the  frank  and  earnest 
assertion  of  it.  It  alone  gives  ground  of  good  hope  to  sinners. 
tt  alone  harmonizes  many  of  the  statements  of  Scripture.  It  alone 
shews  how  God  can  be  just  when  he  justifies  the  ungodly.  It 
has  been  the  joy  of  believers  in  long  ages  gone  by.  Nothing  in 
Scripture  has  been  more  clearly  stated  or  firmly  held.  See  the 
author's  "Grace  of  Christ,"  Chapter  XXI.  Guyse:  "By  the 
righteousness  of  God  I  mean  the  mediatorial  Suretyship  Right 
eousness  of  Jesus  Christ  God-man,  which  consists  in  his  active 
and  passive  obedience  to  the  law,  in  the  room  and  stead  of  sin- 
ners, which  for  its  transcendent  excellence  and  glory,  as  well  as 
on  other  accounts,  may  be  styled  the  righteousness  of  God." 

It  is  true  this  doctrine  is  very  humbling  to  the  sinner.  He 
had  no  part  in  devising  this  righteousness,  nor  in  providing  it, 
nor  in  manifesting  it ;  nor  can  he  add  anything  to  it.  Nor  can  he, 
without  humbling  his  heart,  avail  himself  of  it.  All  he  can  do  is 
to  put  on  this  blessed  robe,  wear  it,  and  adore  the  grace  that  pro- 
vided it.  This  he  ought  to  do;  for  it  is  in  several  respects  a 
wonderful  righteousness :  i .  None  but  God  could  have  devised  a 
plan,  in  which  all  the  demands  of  the  law  should  be  fully  met, 
precept  and  penalty  magnified,  and  justice  and  mercy,  truth  and 
grace  reconciled.  2.  None  but  he,  who  was  both  God  and  man, 
could  render  an  obedience  and  suffer  a  curse  so  as  to  bring  in  such 
a  righteousness.  Our  Surety  must  be  man  to  sympathize,  and 
suffer,  and  obey.  He  must  be  divine  to  supererogate,  or  to  give 
infinite  value  to  what  he  did  and  suffered.  Jesus  Christ  was 
called  and  anointed  to  the  very  end  that  he  might  be  every  way 
prepared  for  this  work  and  this  suffering,  which  have  no  parallel 
in  the  universe.  3.  Such  is  the  mystery  of  love  and  wisdom  dis- 
played in  this  whole  scheme  that  without  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  no  man  would  ever  receive  it,  or  in  anywise  credit  the 
truth  of  it,  I  Cor.  2  :  14.  To  each  believer  it  becomes  known  by 
what  Christ  and  Paul  did  not  hesitate  (and  why  should  we  hesi- 
tate?) to  call  a  revelation,  Luke  10:22;  Gal.  i  :  16.  4.  This 
righteousness  is  entire — wanting  nothing  ;  perfect — without  spot 
or  defect ;  complete — full  in  every  particular.  If  justice  or  con- 
science demands  a  sinless  Surety,  a  spotless,  bleeding  victim,  a 
holy  faultless  substitute  both  in  keeping  the  law  and  in  bearing  its 
curse,  behold  the  Lamb  of  God.  It  was  by  his  being  made  a 
curse  for  us,  and  in  no  other  way  that  we  are  redeemed  from  the 
curse  of  the  law.  Gal.  3:13.  It  was  by  his  obedience  to  all  the 
divine  requirements  that  many  are  made  righteous,  Rom.  5  :  19. 
5.  This  righteousness  has  no  end.  It  is  infinite  in  duration.  It 
is  an  everlasting   righteousness,  Dan.  9 :  24.      And  it  is  infinite 


144  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  vs.  21-25 

in  value.  It  cannot  be  exhausted.  The  righteousness,  which 
superabounds  at  all,  can  have  no  limit.  It  is  the  peculiar  glory 
of  him  who  wrought  it  out  and  brought  it  in,  that  there  is  none 
like  him,  none  with  him,  none  beside  him.  His  undertaking  was 
unique.  His  glory  is  unparallelled.  He  deservedly  has  a  name 
above  every  name. 

This  righteousness  is  unto  and  upon  men,  not  within  nor  from 
them.  It  is  not  inherent,  nor  infused,  nor  imparted.  But  it  is 
imputed,  counted,  reckoned  to  believers;  for  it  \%  of  faith,  tJirough 
faith  and  by  faith,  Rom.  4:11,13;  9  :  30;  Phil.  3:9.  It  is  unto 
and  upon  them  that  believe,  vs.  22,  25.  Men  are  the  children  of 
God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  Gal.  3  :  26.  This  faith  has  Christ  for 
its  chief  object.  Nor  has  there  ever  been  but  this  one  way  of 
salvation  for  sinners,  vs.  21,  22.  The  Gospel  was  preached  to 
Abraham,  and  by  it  all  the  saints  have  been  justified.  The  Jew 
and  the  Gentile,  the  babe  in  Christ  and  the  man  of  hoary  head, 
the  antediluvian  and  the  last  man  that  shall  be  saved  all  come  to 
God,  and  obtain  life  in  one  and  the  same  way.  Hawker :  "  The 
Lord,  whose  righteousness  it  is,  gives  it  to  all  with  an  equal 
hand,  and  loves  all  with  an  equal  love,  and  justifies  all  with  an 
equal  freeness  of  grace.  For  it  is  not  what  they  are  in  themselves, 
but  what  they  are  in  Christ,  which  makes  them  the  objects  of  the 
divine  favor.  .  .  He  that  hath  little  faith,  and  is  in  Christ,  is  as 
completely  justified  by  Christ,  as  he  that  hath  the  largest  por- 
tions of  faith  to  apprehend  with  greater  delight  his  mercies." 

6.  The  portion  of  this  epistle  now  under  consideration  casts 
much  light  on  the  right  manner  of  preaching.  It  instructs  us  to 
shew  men  their  sinful  and  ruined  estate  by  nature,  the  impossibility 
of  having  any  good  standing  before  God  by  their  own  works  of 
morality  or  of  reformation,  and  then  to  proclaim  a  free  and  full 
salvation  by  grace  alone,  for  rich  and  poor,  rude  and  learned,  polite 
and  vulgar.  Hodge  :  "  All  modes  of  preaching  must  be  erroneous, 
which  do  not  lead  sinners  to  feel  that  the  great  thing  to  be  done, 
and  done  first,  is  to  receive  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  turn  to 
God  through  him.  And  all  religious  experience  must  be  defec- 
tive, which  does  not  embrace  distinctly  a  sense  of  the  justice  of 
our  condemnation,  and  a  conviction  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  work 
of  Christ,  and  an  exclusive  reliance  upon  it  as  such."  Ministers 
are  not  sent  to  amuse  men  with  novelties,  nor  to  show  their  own 
learning,  ingenuity  or  oratory,  nor  to  correct  the  philosophical, 
pohtical  or  financial  errors  of  mankind,  but  to  proclaim  the  Gos- 
pel. "  Preach  the  preaching  that  I  bid  thee."  "  What  is  the 
chaff  to  the  wheat  ?  " 

7.  Nor  need  there  be  any  great  diversity  in  the  manner  of  an- 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  23-25.]       THE  ROMANS.  145 

nouncing  God's  truth  in  different  places.  Climate,  government, 
manners,  rites,  customs  in  a  nation  may  produce  some  considera- 
ble outward  effects.  But  in  the  matter  of  guilt,  the  necessity  of 
the  new  birth  and  of  a  gratuitous  justification,  "  there  is  no  differ- 
ence," V.  22.  Never  was  a  people  found,  to  whom  all  the  blessings 
of  the  Gospel  were  not  suited  and  seasonable.  Every  one  needs 
all  that  is  promised. 

8.  Paul  would  have  us  never  forget  that  depravity  is  universal, 
V.  23.     He  had  before  proven  this  at  length,  vs.  9-18. 

9.  Sad  is  the  state  of  man,  that  in  every  sense  of  the  phrase  he 
has  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  v.  23.  Should  there  be  no 
remedy  for  this,  utter  ruin  must  follow. 

10.  Let  us  loudly  and  earnestly  proclaim  the  doctrine  oi  free 
grace,  unbought  mercy,  undeserved  favor,  v.  24.  The  humble 
will  hear  it  and  be  glad.  The  proud  may  be  offended  at  it,  but  if 
anything  can  bring  down  their  high  looks,  this  will.  At  all  events 
this  doctrine  is  true,  is  taught  by  God,  is  found  in  all  the  Scrip- 
tures, is  necessary  to  be  believed,  and,  if  rejected  by  men,  they  are 
left  without  excuse. 

11.  And  with  it  let  us  bring  forth  the  glories  oi redemption,  v. 
24.  How  can  we  ever  bless  God  enough  for  such  an  expression 
of  his  love  and  kindness,  his  wisdom  and  condescension  ?  Redemp- 
tion will  enter  into  the  songs  of  the  ransomed,  while  eternity 
endures.  It  was  provided,  when  wrath  might  justly  have  been 
sent ;  when  the  whole  plan  must  be  devised,  executed  and  applied 
by  him,  against  whom  man  had  sinned ;  when  it  cost  more  than 
could  have  been  paid  by  any  but  a  divine  sufferer,  and  when  the 
state  of  man  was  such  that  unless  the  Father  should  give  him  faith 
he  would  utterly  reject  all  the  mercy  and  grace  offered  in  the 
gospel. 

12.  There  is  no  mistake  in  the  scriptural  method  of  salvation. 
It  is  set  forth  by  God  himself,  v.  25.  Yes,  he,  who  is  the  way,  the 
truth  and  the  life,  has  declared  it. 

13.  Nor  let  us  ever  be  offended  but  rather  admire  and  adore, 
when  we  read  and  hear  that  all  the  salvation  wrought  for  us  is  by 
blood,  V.  25.  "  Without  the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remis- 
sion," Heb.  9  :  22.  Olshausen :  "As  the  vial  of  balsam,  if  it  is  to 
refresh  all  those  who  are  in  the  house  by  the  odor  of  its  contents, 
must  be  opened  and  poured  forth,  so  also  did  the  Redeemer 
breathe  forth  into  the  dead  world  that  fulness  of  life  which  was 
contained  in  him,  by  pouring  forth  his  holy  blgod,  the  supporter 
of  his  life,  and  this  voluntarily,  since  none  could  take  his  life  from 
him,  John  10  :  18."  Brown:  "Christ  was  a  testator,  and  a  testa- 
ment is  of  no  force  until  the  testator  die,  Heb.  9  :  i6,- 17."     The 


146  EPIS  TLE    TO         [Ch.  III.,  vs.  25,  26. 

best  men  know  not  which  most  to  admire,  the  love  of  the  Father 
in  giving  his  Son,  John  3  :  16;  and  in  not  sparing  him,  but  dehv- 
ering  him  up  to  death,  Rom.  8:32;  or  the  love  of  the  Son  in  com- 
ing in  the  flesh,  in  suffering  all  his  enemies  could  do  to  him,  and 
in  laying  down  his  own  life  a  ransom.  Nor  need  such  a  point  be 
settled,  nor  can  it  be  determined.  In  either  case  we  are  lost  among 
the  infinites.     None  can  gauge  the  compassion  of  God. 

14.  If  men  were  duly  sensible  of  their  sad  case  by  nature,  sunk 
down  as  they  are  in  guilt,  pollution  and  misery,  they  surely  would 
not  stand  carping  and  asking  foolish  questions,  and  sometimes 
venting  blasphemies  against  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  when 
we  speak  to  them  of  the  remission  of  sins,  v.  25.  Let  us  magnify 
the  grace  of  God  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  i.  To  how  many 
sinners  does  he  extend  pardon.  2.  How  many  sins  in  each  case 
does  he  pardon.  3.  How  terribly  aggravated  are  many  of  the 
sins  remitted.  They  have  been  long  persisted  in.  They  have 
been  committed  against  light,  against  vows,  against  warnings, 
against  mercies,  against  convictions.  4.  Jehovah  remits  our  sins 
so  freely,  without  money  and  without  price.  5.  Then  God  for- 
gives for  ever.  His  gifts  are  without  repentance.  6.  He  so  par- 
dons as  not  to  weaken  government.  His  forgiveness  is  not  con- 
nivance at  sin ;  it  is  not  hushing  up  a  bad  case ;  it  is  remission 
wholly  consistent  with  righteousness.  7.  It  is  not  bare  pardon. 
It  is  accompanied  with  acceptance,  adoption,  the  indwelling  of  the 
Spirit  and  great  grace.     8.  It  is  followed  by  eternal  glory. 

15.  Every  thing  is  traced  to  God  at  last,  v.  25.  If  Jesus  Christ 
comes,  he  is  sent  of  God.  If  a  propitiation  is  made,  it'is  made  by 
divine  arrangement  and  by  a  divine  person.  If  righteousness  is 
provided,  it  is  the  righteousness  of  God.  "  Of  him,  and  through 
him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever. 
Amen,"  Rom.  11  :  36. 

16.  As  God  has  very  graciously  set  forth  and  declared  his 
plan  for  man's  salvation,  so  let  us  concur  in  this  amazing  bene- 
volence, and  beneficence,  and  spread  the  good  news  and  make 
known  the  joyful  tidings  in  all  their  fulness.     Let  us  be  imitators 

•  of  God,  vs.  25,  26.  In  particular  let  us  hold  forth  the  truth  that  the 
salvation  of  the  Gospel  is  all  the  richer  because  it  is  not  in  deroga- 
tion of  justice.  Clarke  :  "  Because  Jesus  was  an  atojiement,  a  ran- 
som price  for  the  sin  of  the  world,  therefore  God  can  consistently 
with  his  justice,  pardon  every  soul  that  beHeveth  in  Jesus."  This 
is  the  only  way  oi  salvation  that  duly  honors  the  spotless  purity, 
and  inflexible  justice  of  God.  All  others  represent  the  saving  of 
the  sinner  as  in  some  way  a  conniving  at  sin.  Some  are  so  opposed 
to  the  idea  of  punishing  sin  in  the  person  of  Christ,  and  so  averse 


Ch.  III.,  V.  27-]  THE  ROMANS.  147 

to  the  doctrine  of  divine  justice  in  all  things  that  for  just  in  v.  26 
they  propose  to  read  clement  or  merciful.  This  is  sufficiently- 
answered  by  Whitby,  who  says  that  the  word,  rendered  just,  "  is 
used  about  eighty  times  in  the  New  Testament,  and  not  once  in  the 
sense  of  clemency."  Hodge:  "  In  the  Gospel  all  is  harmonious; 
justice  and  mercy,  as  it  regards  God  ;  freedom  from  the  law  and 
the  strongest  obligations  to  obedience,  as  it  regards  men."  And 
herein  is  a  marvellous  thing  revealed  to  us,  not  merely  that  "  God 
should  be  faithful  to  his  promises,  and  merciful,  when  justifying 
believers.  But  that  he  should  be  just  in  such  an  act,  might  have 
seemed  incredible,  had  we  not  received  such  an  account  of  the 
atonement." 

17.  And  here  comes  up  fairly  and  prominently  the  doctrine  of 
justification,  v.  27.  No  subject  is  more  important ;  for  Luther 
truly  says :  "  The  article  of  justification  being  lost,  all  Christian 
doctrine  perishes  with  it."  This  witness  is  true.  Let  us  then 
look  a  little  into  this  matter.  Remarks  offered  on  v.  23  need  not 
be  here  repeated.  See  on  that  place.  One  rarely  meets  with  a 
better  definition  than  this :  "  Justification  is  an  act  of  God's  free 
grace  wherein  he  pardoneth  all  our  sins,  and  accepteth  us  as 
righteous  in  his  sight,  only  for  the  righteousness  of  Christ  imputed 
to  us,  and  received  by  faith  alone."  i.  Justification  is  an  act,  not 
a  work  or  series  of  acts.  It  is  a  sentence  passed  by  God,  an  ac- 
quittal of  one,  who  has  been  under  condemnation.  It  is  perfect 
in  itself.  It  is  not  progressive.  Every  man  is  wholly  justified  or 
wholly  condemned — either  in  favor  with  God,  or  out  of  favor  with 
God.  There  is  no  middle  ground.  2.  Justification  is  an  act  of 
God.  He  is  the  just ijii'r,  v.  26.  See  also  v.  30.  "  It  is  God  that 
justifieth,"  Rom.  8  :  33.  The  reasons  are  obvious.  {A)  It  is  God's 
law  that  is  violated  and  God's  government  that  is  insulted  by 
sinners,  and  he  only  has  jurisdiction.  (B)  He  alone  is  competent 
to  decide  when,  how  and  upon  what  grounds  transgressors  may 
be  restored  to  the  divine  favor.  (C)  From  all  the  awardsof  men,  all 
judgments  of  mortals  there  lies  an  appeal  to  the  tribunal  of  God 
and  there  human  judgments  may  be  reversed.  But  the  sentence 
of  justification  cannot  be  set  aside,  because  it  is  pronounced  by  a 
tribunal  from  which  lies  no  appeal.  The  Homily  of  the  Church  of 
England  on  this  subject  justly  says  :  "  Justification  is  the  office  of 
God  only,  and  is  not  a  thing  Avhich  we  render  unto  him,  but 
which  we  receive  of  him."  (B)  God  is  one  and  will  not  deny 
himself.  He  is  of  one  mind,  and  who  can  turn  him  ?  Job  23  :  13. 
"  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else ;  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none 
like  me,  declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  from  ancient 
times  the  things  that  are  not  yet  done,  saying,  my  counsel  shall 


148  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  27. 

stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure,"  Isa.  46  :  9,  10.  The  sentence 
of  justification  is  therefore  irreversible.  What  if  Satan  and  the 
whole  world  shall  hate,  and  curse,  and  accuse  the  believer,  his 
judgment  is  with  his  God.  It  is  a  small  matter  to  such  a  one  to 
have  his  name  cast  out  as  evil,  3.  Justification  is  an  act  of  God's 
free  grace.  So  says  Paul:  "Justified  freely  by  his  grace,"  v.  24- 
Eternal  life  is  the  gift  of  God,  Rom.  6  :  23.  Compare  Rom.  5  : 
16-19  ;  I  Cor.  6  :  II  ;  Eph.  2  :  7-10;  Tit.  3  :  5-7.  If  man's  justifi- 
cation were  not  wholly  gratuitous,  it  would  not  be  possible,  for  he 
has  broken  the  law.  He  is  a  sinner.  He  is  by  nature  justly  con- 
demned by  a  law  that  is  holy,  just  and  good.  By  human  merits, 
by  works  of  law,  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh,  no  man 
living  he  justified  in  the  sight  of  God,  Rom.  3  :  20;  Gal.  2  :  16. 
From  first  to  last  a  sinner's  justification  is  of  grace.  Nor  is  this 
grace  less  free  or  less  glorious  because  it  is  bestowed  entirely 
through  the  channel  of  Christ's  priesthood  ;  for  it  was  God  that 
gave  Christ  as  a  surety,  that  accepted  his  work,  that  for  his  sake 
remits  sins  and  that  bestows  the  very  faith,  with  which  men 
believe.  So  that  it  is  all  of  God's  grace.  The  Lord  justifies  the  un- 
godly, Rom.  4:5;  because  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly,  Rom.  5  :  6. 
Even  Macknight  admits  that  Paul's  "  plain  meaning  is,  that  men 
are  justified  by  faith,  and  not  meritoriously,  by  perfect  obedience 
to  any  law  whatever."  Nor  should  we  ever  forget  that  all  men 
are  guilty.  "  For,"  says  Haldane,  "  if  there  had  been  any  except- 
ed, there  would  have  been  two  different  methods  of  justification, 
and  consequently  two  true  religions,  and  two  true  churches,  and 
believers  would  not  have  had  that  oneness  of  communion,  which 
grace  produces."  4.  In  justification  there  is  granted  a  full  par- 
don of  all  sins.  (A)  If  one  sin  remained  unforgiven,  it  would  blast 
all  hope.  It  is  expressly  said  of  him  that  he  "  forgiveth  all  thine 
iniquities,"  Ps.  103  :  3.  This  forgiveness  therefore  is  total.  (B)  It 
is  effectual,  "  In  those  days,  and  in  that  time,  saith  the  Lord,  the 
iniquity  of  Israel  shall  be  sought  for,  and  there  shall  be  none ;  and 
the  sins  of  Judah,  and  they  shall  not  be  found  :  for  I  will  pardon 
them  whom  I  reserve,"  Jer.  50  :  20.  (C)  This  justification  is  not 
granted  on  account  of  any  thing  in  man.  God  is  self-moved  to 
the  whole  thing :  "  I,  even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy  trans- 
gressions for  my  own  sake,  and  will  not  remember  thy  sins,"  Isa. 
43  :  25.  (D)  This  pardon  is  expressed  in  a  great  variety  of  ways, 
such  as  not  imputing,  not  remembering,  taking  away,  removing, 
scattering  like  a  thick  cloud,  washing,  cleansing,  burying,  blotting 
out,  remitting,  hiding  the  face  from  beholding,  etc.  All  this  par- 
don is  by  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  the  blood  of  Christ.  On  this 
point  the  Scripture  is  full  and  clear.     See  above  on  v.  26. 


Ch.  III.,  V.  27.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  149 

So  important  is  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  and  so  much  is  said  of  it,  that  there  have  not  been  wanting  a 
set  of  divines,  who  have  maintained  that  pardon  was  the  whole  of 
justification.  But  the  Scriptures  so  clearly  teach  the  contrary 
and  the  friends  of  sound  theology  have  been  so  earnest  in  main- 
ing  the  true  doctrine  that  even  Mr.  Barnes,  whom  none  will 
suspect  of  seeking  too  much  after  old  ideas,  in  a  tract  on  Justification 
says :  "  Justification  in  the  gospel  does  not  mean  mere  pardon.  It 
has  been  supposed  by  many  that  this  is  all  that  is  denoted  by  it. 
But  there  are  insuperable  objections  to  this  opinion.  One  is  that 
it  is  a  departure  from  the  common  use  of  language.  When  a  man 
who  has  been  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  is  pardoned  before  the 
term  of  his  sentence  is  expired,  we  never  think  of  saying  that  he 
is  justified.  The  offence  is  forgiven  and  the  penalty  is  remitted  ; 
but  the  use  of  the  word  justify  in  his  case  would  convey  a  very 
different  idea  from  the  word  pardon.  Another  objection  is  that 
the  sacred  writers  have  so  carefully  and  so  constantly  used  the 
word  Justify.  If  mere  pardon  or  forgiveness  were  all  that  is  in- 
tended, it  is  difficult  to  see  why  another  word  has  been  constant- 
ly employed,  and  a  word  so  different  in  its  signification.  And 
another  objection  is,  that  mere  forgiveness  is  not  all  that  the  case 
seems  to  demand.  There  was  required  a  reinstating  in  the  favor 
of  God  ;  a  restoration  to  forfeited  immunities  and  privileges,  and 
a  purpose  in  regard  to  future  treatment  which  is  not  necessarily 
involved  in  the  word  pardon." 

Indeed  mere  pardon  leaves  a  sinner  for  ever  to  stand  naked 
before  God.  It  grants  him  no  robe  of  righteousness.  Nor  would 
it  ever  meet  all  the  demands  of  an  enlightened  conscience. 

It  is  therefore  a  doctrine  full  of  comfort  that, 

5.  The  believer  is  not  only  forgiven.  He  is  also  taken  into  favor 
— "accepted  in  the  Beloved."  His  standing  is  good  before  God. 
"God  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  his  God,"  Heb.  11  :  16; 
and  though  he  suffer,  he  is  not  ashamed,  2  Tim.  1:12.  He  is  a 
friend,  a  child,  an  heir,  an  heir  of  God,  and  a  joint  heir  with  Christ. 
Perfect  pardon  would  save  one  from  hell.  It  would  give  him  no 
title  to  heaven.  It  would  take  off  our  chains,  but  it  would  put  no 
rings  on  our  fingers.  It  would  turn  the  rebel  loose,  but  it  would 
give  him  no  ticket  to  the  king's  table.  It  would  lift  the  curse,  but 
it  would  of  itself  give  us  no  authority  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  no 
right  to  the  tree  of  life,  John  1:12;  Rev.  22  :  14.  The  redeemed  are 
not  held  for  ever  in  the  state  of  mere  abjects,  no,  nor  of  abjects  at 
all.  By  grace  through  righteousness  they  have  a  title  to  heaven. 
That  righteousness  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  2  Pet.  1:1,  and 
is  their  own  b}'^  a  gracious  gift,  and  to  all  the  ends  of  a  complete 


150  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  III.,  v.  27. 

justification.  See  above  on  verses  22,  25,  26,  and  the  extended 
statement  of  this  righteousness  in  Doctrinal  and  Practical  Remarks 
No.  4  of  this  section.  6.  This  righteousness  is  made  ours  by  the 
imputation  of  God.  In  the  next  section  this  subject  will  be  dis- 
tinctly brought  up  by  the  apostle  himself,  Rom.  4  :  3,  5,  6,  8.  It  is 
wholly  idle  for  men  to  endeavor  to  cover  this  doctrine  with 
odium  and  to  overthrow  it  by  saying  that  we  claim  to  be  saved 
by  ?i putative  or  supposed,  and  not  by  a  real  righteousness;  or  to 
assert  that  the  term  imputed  is  not  a  fit  term  because  unintelli- 
gible ;  or  that  we  can  better  express  the  Scripture  doctrine  in 
some  other  way.  There  is  no  more  mystery  in  imputing  righteous- 
ness than  in  imputing  sin.  But  see  the  next  section.  7.  The 
righteousness  of  Christ  is  received  by  faith  alone.  On  the  nature 
and  office  of  faith  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  8,  12,  17.  When  we  say 
by  faith  alone,  we  mean  to  say  that  our  reception  of  it  is  by  faith, 
not  by  love,  not  by  patience,  not  by  repentance,  nor  by  any  other 
grace  ;  nor  by  works,  which  we  have  done  or  can  do.  Faith  is 
a  receiving  grace,  John  i  :  12.  Its  office  is  to  take  Christ  as  he  is 
freely  offered,  in  all  the  fulness  of  his  merits,  in  all  the  blessed- 
ness of  his  mediation.  Calvin  :  "■  You  now  see  how  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  When  therefore  we  are 
justified,  the  efficient  cause  is  the  mercy  of  God,  the  meritorious 
cause  is  Christ,  the  instrumental  cause  is  the  word  in  connection 
with  faith.  Hence  faith  is  said  to  justify,  because  it  is  the  instru- 
ment by  which  we  receive  Christ,  in  whom  righteousness  is  con- 
veyed to  us."  How  sadly  therefore  does  a  modern  writer  pervert 
the  true  doctrine  of  justification  when  he  says  that  "  we  are  justi- 
fied by  faith  and  holiness ;  "  for  what  is  holiness  but  conformity  to 
law,  the  very  law  which  we  have  broken,  and  which  denounces 
curses  on  him  who  has  sinned  even  once?  James  2:10.  Such 
teaching  presents  altogether  another  scheme  and  has  no  counte- 
nance from  God's  word.  From  such  error  how  pleasant  it  is  to  turn 
away  to  such  a  sentence  as  this  from  Tholuck  :  *'  By  the  believing 
appropriation  of  that,  which  Jesus  Christ,  during  the  whole  course 
of  his  blessed  life,  until  it  terminated  in  his  bloody  death,  was,  and 
did,  for  the  human  race,  men  are  made  partakers  of  justification 
before  God."  O  yes !  This  is  our  life.  Brown  :  "  There  is  such 
a  privilege  vouchsafed  upon  sinners  who  have  fled  in  to  Christ  by 
faith,  as  justification,  whereby  they  get  their  iniquities  and  trans- 
gressions pardoned,  only  because  of  the  propitiation  which  Christ 
made  by  his  bloody  sacrifice ;  so  as  they  are  accepted  of  as 
righteous,  not  for  any  thing  in  themselves,  or  done  by  them,  but 
allenarly  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  imputed  to  us,  and  ac- 
cepted by  faith." 


Ch.  III.,  vs.  27-31.]       THE  ROMANS.  151 

18.  The  whole  aim  of  ^he  gospel  plan  is  to  exalt  God  and  abase 
man,  v.  27.  What  say  you,  Dear  Reader,  to  such  a  result?  Do 
you  approve  it?  Your  temper  here  is  decisive.  Scott:  "The 
apostle  decides  that  all  boasting  by  any  of  the  human  race  is 
excluded,  and  can  have  no  admission,  in  consistency  with  truth 
and  justice."  Does  such  a  view  offend  you  ?  or  do  you  glory 
in  it  that  while  you  justly  lose  all  self-gratulation,  Christ  rises 
higher  and  higher  ?     Are  you  satisfied,  if  Christ  is  glorified  ? 

19.  When  first  principles  or  leading  truths  in  religion  are 
settled,  hold  on  to  them,  v.  28.  Never  let  them  go.  Let  the  state 
of  your  mind  be  a  rational,  fixed,  unalterable  conclusion.  This  is 
not  obstinacy,  nor  prejudice.     It  is  practical  wisdom. 

20.  Any  scheme  of  religious  belief,  which  represents  Jehovah 
as  a  partial  God  is  false,  and  is  dishonorable  to  him,  v.  29.  He  is 
kind  to  all.  His  tender  mercies  are  over  all.  He  sends  rain  and 
sun  and  zephyrs  and  food  to  all.  He  is  Lord  of  all.  Chrysos- 
tom  :  "  The  same  is  the  Master  of  both  these  and  those."  Hodge  : 
"  God  is  a  universal  Father,  and  all  men  are  brethren."  No 
people  need  pique  themselves  on  their  privileges,  as  though 
oracles  and  ordinances  had  made  or  would  make  them  better, 
without  saving  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 

21.  The  unity  of  God  is  a  great  truth  and  of  great  use,  v.  30. 
It  should  never  be  doubted.  It  is  necessary  to  be  believed  on 
many  accounts.  If  God  is  not  one,  divine  counsels  cannot  be 
harmonious,  moral  government  cannot  be  every  where  the  same, 
and  the  mode  of  worship  by  one  mediator  cannot  be  suited  to  all. 
In  short  error  on  this  point  is  fundamental,  for  "  there  is  one  God 
and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  man  Christ  Jesus," 
I  Tim.  2:5. 

22.  We  need  not  fear  to  publish  the  doctrines  of  free  grace  and 
abounding  mercy  in  the  most  earnest  manner,  lest  we  should 
weaken  the  respect  of  men  for  the  law  of  God,  v.  31.  The 
Almighty  can  vindicate  his  own  honor  and  maintain  the  dignity 
of  his  own  government,  without  our  assistance.  Our  wisdom  and 
our  business  is  to  obey  his  will  and  proclaim  his  readiness  to  save 
and  bless  all  penitent  sinners.  Olshausen  :  "  The  gospel  estab- 
lishes the  law,  because  it  is  the  most  sublime  manifestation  of  the 
holiness  and  strictness  of  God.  Sin  never  appears  more  fearful 
than  at  Golgotha ;  where,  on  account  of  it,  God  spared  not  his 
own  Son."  Calvin  :  "  Let  us  bear  in  mind  so  to  dispense  the  Gos- 
pel that  by  our  mode  of  teaching,  the  law  may  be  confirmed  ;  but 
let  it  be  sustained  by  no  other  strength  than  that  of  faith  in  Christ." 
Chrysostom  :  "  Three  things  Paul  has  demonstrated,  first,  that 
without  the  law  it  is  possible  to  be  justified,  next,  that  this  the 


152  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  III.,  V.  31. 

law  could  not  effect,  and  that  faith  is  not  opposed  to  the  law." 
Bengel :  "  This  is  the  great  evangelical  paradox,  for  in  the  law  God 
is  seen  to  be  just  while  he  condemns,  in  the  gospel  just  while  he 
justifies  sinners."  Brown  :  "  Licentious  spirits,  who  love  not  to 
be  bound  by  the  law  of  God,  liking  rather  to  walk  according  to 
the  lusts  of  their  own  heart,  are  ready  to  turn  the  grace  of  God 
into  lasciviousness,  and  to  suck  rank  poison  from  the  most  com- 
fortable points  of  truth.  .  .  It  is  no  new  thing  to  see  men  of  cor- 
rupt minds,  loving  to  follow  pernicious  principles,  smoothing  over 
their  corrupt  opinions  with  fair  and  specious  colors,  and  pretend- 
ing a  gospel  privilege  warranting  them  thereto,  and  so  with  fair 
shews  of  reason  and  plausible  pretexts,  hide  their  damnable  and 
soul-destroying  designs  and  practices."  Scott  :  "  Whatever 
Pharisees,  Sadducees,  or  infidels  rhay  object ;  whatever  Antino- 
mians,  or  Enthusiasts  may  plead,  or  profess ;  the  doctrine  of  faith 
establishes  the  law  in  its  real  honor,  and  lays  the  true  foundation 
for  all  holy  obedience  ;  and  this  doctrine  alone  *  establishes  the 
law.'  " 

23.  How  wondrously  the  undertaking  of  Christ  exalts  him 
and  endears  him  to  his  saints.  Even  here  they  admire  the  ever- 
lasting bulwarks  of  strength,  with  which  he  has  surrounded  Zion. 
Hawker :  "  PRECIOUS  Lord  Jesus,  be  thou  my  propitiation,  my 
high  priest,  my  altar,  the  Lord  my  righteousness  now ;  and  sure 
I  am  thou  wilt  be  my  everlasting  glory." 

Note.  I  cannot  forbear  to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  the 
last  ten  or  twelve  pages  of  Chrysostom's  Seventh  Homily  on  this 
epistle.  It  is  searching  ;  it  is  eloquent,  it  is  eminently  practical ;  it 
breathes  that  exalted  spirit  of  a  noble  nature,  refined  by  grace,  for 
which  he  was  so  remarkable.  Portions  of  it  would  have  been 
here  quoted,  but  it  was  found  to  be  best  as  a  whole. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

VERSES  1-15. 

PAUL  CONTINUES  HIS  ARGUMENT,  GIVES  THE 
EXAMPLES  OF  ABRAHAM  AND  THE  TESTI- 
MONY OF  DAVID,  AND  SHEWS  THAT  RITES 
NEVER    JUSTIFIED. 

What  shall  we  say  then  that  Abraham  our  father,  as  pertaining  to  the  flesh,  hath 
found  ? 

2  For  if  Abraham  were  justified  by  works,  he  hath  whereof  to  glory ;  but  not 
before  God. 

3  For  what  saith  the  Scripture .'  Abraham  believed  God,  and  it  was  counted 
unto  him  for  righteousness. 

4  Now  to  him  that  worketh  is  the  reward  not  reckoned  of  grace,  but  of  debt. 

5  But  to  him  that  worketh  not,  but  believeth  on  him  that  justifieth  the  ungodly, 
his  faith  is  counted  for  righteousness. 

6  Even  as  David  also  describeth  the  blessedness  of  the  man,  unto  whom  God 
imputeth  righteousness  without  works, 

7  Saying,  Blessed  are  they  whose  iniquities  are  forgiven,  and  whose  sins  are 
covered. 

8  Blessed  is  the  man  to  whom  the  Lord  will  not  impute  sin. 

9  Cometh  this  blessedness  then  upon  the  circumcision  only,  or  upon  the  uncir- 
cumcision  also  ?  for  we  say  that  faith  was  reckoned  to  Abraham  for  righteousness. 

10  How  was  it  then  reckoned?  when  he  was  in  circumcision  or  in  uncircumci- 
sion  ?     Not  in  circumcision,  but  in  uncircumcision. 

1 1  And  he  received  the  sign  of  circumcision,  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the 
faith  which  he  had  yet  being  uncircumcised  :  that  he  might  be  the  father  of  all 
them  that  believe,  though  they  be  not  circumcised ;  that  righteousness  might  be 
imputed  unto  them  also  : 

12  And  the  father  of  circumcision  to  them  who  are  not  of  the  circumcision 
only,  but  who  also  walk  in  the  steps  of  that  faith  of  our  father  Abraham,  which  he 
had  being  yet  uncircumcised. 

1 3  For  the  promise,  that  he  should  be  the  heir  of  the  world,  was  not  to  Abra- 
ham, or  to  his  seed,  through  the  law,  but  through  the  righteousness  of  faith. 

14  For  if  they  which  are  of  the  law  be  heirs,  faith  is  made  void,  and  the  prom- 
ise made  of  none  effect: 

1 5  Because  the  law  worketh  wrath :  for  where  no  law  is,  there  is  no  trans- 
gression. 

^  (153) 


154  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  i. 

1WHA  T  shall  we  say  then,  that  Abraham  our  father  as  pertaining 
,  to  the  flesh,  hath  found?  The  connection  with  the  preceding 
argument  is  marked  by  the  particle  rendered  then;  q.  d.  if  we 
maintain  such  doctrine  respecting  the  necessity  of  a  gratuitous 
justification,  without  any  human  merits,  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
case  of  Abraham  ?'  The  general  tone  of  the  verse  is  not  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Rom.  3  :  i,  3>  5-  It  is  virtually,  perhaps  not 
formally,  the  language  of  an  objector.  As  pertai7iing  to  the  flesh 
is  the  most  difficult,  clause  in  the  verse.  Our  version  connects 
it  with  fatJier.  This  is  supported  by  Chrysostom,  Theophylact, 
Vulgate,  Erasmus,  Limborch,  Wiclif,  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cran- 
mer,  Genevan,  Rheims,  Doway,  Calvin,  Doddridge,  Locke  and 
others.  Not  a  few  put  it,  as  in  some  of  the  best  MSS.,  after  hath 
fou?id.  This  reading  is  sustained  by  the  original,  Peshito,  Arabic, 
Beza,  Ferme,  Piscator,  Brown,  .Evans,  Hammond,  Whitby,  Mac- 
knight,  Olshausen,  Haldane,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  Hodge  and 
others.  If  the  collocation  of  words  in  the  authorized  version  is 
correct,  the  phrase  merely  teaches  that  the  Jews,  of  whom  Paul 
was  one,  were  of  the  lineage  of  Abraham.  If  the  latter  view  is 
right  (and  probably  it  is)  then  the  word  flesh  must  have  another 
meaning.  Dutch  Annotations  :  "  Some  take  this  word  flesh  for 
the  state  of  an  unregenerate  man :  but  that  cannot  be  here,  be- 
cause Abraham  was  regenerated  long  before,  and  had  served  God, 
before  this  testimony  in  Gen.  15:6  was  given."  Nor  is  the  ex- 
planation of  Diodati  that  flesh  means  "  considered  in  himself,  in 
his  own  natural  state,"  free  from  objection.  Wetstein,  Michaelis 
and  Clarke  think  flesli  here  refers  to  the  sign  of  circumcision  in 
Abraham's  flesh.  Circumcision  was  probably  included  in  the 
apostle's  idea.  But  may  we  not  give  a  more  extended  meaning 
to  the  term  flesli?  In  more  than  one  place  in  Script^^re  flesh 
seems  to  designate  carnal  ordinances — all  those  in  which  a  Jew 
was  apt  to  value  himself.  Gal.  6  :  12;  Phil.  3  :  3-6.  Compare 
Heb.  7  :  16;  9  :  10.  But  at  least  once  Paul  hy  flesh  seems  to  un- 
derstand works  of  the  law,  Gal.  3  :  2,  3.  Hammond  thinks  that  in 
our  verse  as  pertaining  to  the  flesh  means  the  same  as  by  works  in  v. 
2.  For  the  various  significations  of  the  term  flesh  see  above  on 
Rom.  3  :  20.  If  we  are  right  thus  far,  then  we  may  read  the  verse 
as  Peshito  :  "  What  then  shall  we  say  concerning  Abraham  the 
patriarch,  that  by  the  flesh  he  obtained  ?  "  or  with  Hammond, 
"  What  shall  we  say  then?  shall  we  say  that  Abraham  our  father 
found  according  to  the  flesh?  "  Found,  in  Heb.  9  :  12  obtained;  in 
Luke  9:12  got,  i.  e.  secured,  or  obtained.  We  have  the  same 
verb  in  Luke  i  :  30;  Heb.  4  :  16  find  grace;  in  2  Tim.  i  :  18  fi^id 
mercy;  in  Acts  17  :  2"/  find  Ood;  in  Matt.  10  :  i<)find\\iQ.     In  the 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  2,  3.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  155 

verse  something  is  to  be  supplied.  Hath  Abraham  found  life,  or 
acceptance,  or  justification  by  the  flesh,  or  by  works?  Beza  fairly 
states  the  course  of  argument :  "  In  whatever  way  Abraham,  the 
father  of  believers  was  justified,  in  the  same  must  all  his  children 
(that  is,  all  believers)  be  justified ;  but  Abraham  was  not  justified, 
and  made  the  father  of  the  faithful,  by  any  of  his  own  works, 
either  preceding  or  following  his  faith  in  Christ."  The  verse  is  in 
the  form  of  interrogatory  or  perhaps  challenge.  If  a  question  is 
asked,  the  answer  is  supposed  to  be  in  the  negative.  If  a  chal- 
lenge is  given,  silence  is  the  proper  sequent. 

2.  For  if  Abraham  were  justified  by  works,  he  hath  whereof  to 
glory :  but  not  before  God.  This  verse  also  is  elliptical.  The  sense 
is  that  if  Abraham  Avere  justified  by  works,  he  had  cause  for 
boasting;  but  it  can  be  shown  that,  however  distinguished  among 
believers,  he  had  no  such  cause  of  boasting  before  God.  Calvin  : 
"  He  calls  that  glorying  when  we  pretend  to  have  any  thing  of 
our  own  to  which  a  reward  is  supposed  to  be  due  at  God's  tribu- 
nal." Macknight  gives  the  sense  of  the  verse  in  his  paraphrase  : 
''^  For  if  Abraham  were  justified  meritoriously  by  works  of  any  kind, 
he  migJit  boast  that  his  justification  is  no  favor,  but  a  debt  di^e  to 
him  :  But  such  a  ground  of  boasting  he  hath  not  before  God''  And 
this  the  apostle  at  once  proceeds  to  prove. 

3.  For  what  saith  the  Scripture?  Abraham  believed  God,  and  it 
was  counted  unto  him  for  righteousness.  The  sacred  writer  here 
relied  on  is  Moses  himself,  whom  all  the  Jews  professed  to  receive 
as  an  infallible  witness.  This  testimony  is  found  in  Gen.  15  :  6, 
and  is  given  without  any  change  (except  in  the  connecting  parti- 
cle) from  the  Septuagint  version,  which  differs  slightly  in  form, 
though  not  in  import,  from  the  Hebrew,  and  not  more  than  the 
English  version  here  differs  from  that  in  Gen.  15:6.  Scripture, 
see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  2.  Believed,  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  8,  12,  17. 
Righteousness,  see  above  Doctrinal  and  Practical  Remark  No.  4  on 
Rom.  3:21,  22,  25,  26.  Here  we  meet  with  the  verb  was  counted, 
in  the  sense  of  reckoned  or  imputed.  It  occurs  in  ten  other  places 
in  this  chapter  in  the  same  sense,  see  vs.  4,  5,  6,  8,  9,  10,  11,  22,  23, 
24.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  whole  argument  of  this  chapter 
turns  very  much  on  a  right  understanding  of  this  term.  On  the 
meaning  of  it  see  the  author's  "  Studies  in  the  Book  of  Psahns,"  on 
Ps.  32  :  2,  p.  398.  The  Greek  v\^ord  rendered  impute  sometimes 
means  to  number,  count,  esteem,  think,  reason,  conclude  and 
then  to  reckon,  impute,  set  to  the  account  or  lay  to  the  charge  of 
one.  The  corresponding  Hebrew  word  has  a  yet  wider  range  of 
rendering,  according  to  its  connections,  but  in  two  conjugations 
is  fitly  rendered  impute,  in  the  sense  of  reckon,  count,  account. 


156  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  3. 

The  word  occurs  often.  There  is  seldom  cause  of  reasonable 
doubt  as  to  the  fit  rendering  in  any  given  case.  We  get  our  word 
impute  from  the  Latin.  Its  classical  use  assigns  to  it  these  signi- 
fications, to  impute,  ascribe,  charge,  lay  blame,  account,  reckon. 
Its  theological  use  as  fully  authorizes  us  to  employ  it  in  the  sense 
of  imputing  merit  as  blame.  The  English  word  impute  has  the 
same  significations,  to  reckon,  ascribe,  attribute,  set  to  the  account 
of  one,  to  reckon  to  one  what  does  not  belong  to  him.  So  that  in 
Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin  and  English  you  will  seldom  find  a  word 
better  understood.  A  few  things  are  very  noticeable  here.  i. 
Although  we  certainly  know  that  there  were  pious  men  before 
Abraham,  as  Abel,  Enoch  and  Noah,  yet  the  man  whose  justifica- 
tion is  first  distinctly  and  formally  stated  in  scripture  is  Abraham. 
2.  His  justification  is  not  simply  announced  as  a  fact,  but  the 
means  and  ground  of  it  are  given.  '3.  In  verses  23,  24  of  this  same 
chapter  we  are  told  that  this  is  a  model  case,  a  real  pattern  for  the 
instruction  of  men  in  all  coming  ages :  "  Now  it  was  not  written 
for  his  sake  alone,  that  it  was  imputed  to  him  ;  but  for  us  also,  to 
whom  it  shall  be  imputed,  if  we  believe  "  etc.  Abraham  was  the 
father  of  all  believers,  Rom.  3:11,  16.  4.  This  justification  is  ex- 
pressly said  to  be  by  counting  him  as  righteous,  or  by  imputing 
righteousness  to  him.  5.  In  this  same  epistle  Paul  twice  informs 
us  that  the  fatal  mistake  of  the  Jews  was  their  rejection  of  the  very 
righteousness  here  said  to  have  been  imputed  to  their  great  an-  ' 
cestor,  Rom.  9  :  31  ;  10  :  3,  4.  6.  As  a  historic  fact  it  is  true  that 
for  three  hundred  years  past  the  great  enemies  of  the  doctrine  of 
imputed  righteousness  have  been  Romanists,  who  hold  to  the 
merit  of  penance,  and  to  justification  by  grace  infused,  and  Socin- 
ians  and  other  enemies  of  the  divinity  and  vicarious  atonement  of 
Jesus  Christ.  There  is  no  risk  in  asserting  that  for  three  centu-. 
ries  there  has  not  been  a'  respectable  body  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tians, who  have  hesitated  to  receive  and  adopt  the  doctrine  of 
human  salvation  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ  imputed  to  be- 
lievers.    See  the  Creeds  and  Confessions. 

What  then  is  imputation?  i.  There  is  an  imputation  by  mis- 
take. Thus  Judah  thought  Tamar  to  be  a  harlot,  and  Eli  thought 
Hannah  was  drunk.  In  each  of  these  cases  we  have  the  same 
word  rendered  impute  in  many  places.  2.  Then  we  have  imputa- 
tion from  malice,  or  passion  or  contempt.  Thus  those  that  dwelt 
in  Job's  house  and  his  maids  counted  him  for  a  stranger.  Job  19 : 
15.  That  is  they  regarded  and  treated  him  as  if  he  were  a  stran- 
ger. The  word  is  the  same  we  render  impute.  But  God  never 
thus  imputes  either  sin  or  righteousness.  He  makes  no  mistakes ; 
he  is  never  moved  by  passion  or  caprice.     When  he  imputes,  he 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  3-]  THE  ROMANS.  ■  157 

does  no  wrong.  3.  There  is  a  just  imputation  of  that  which 
fairly  belongs  to  one.  "  Behold,  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  of  a 
bucket,  and  are  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  a  balance  . .  .  All  nations 
before  him  are  as  nothing,  and  they  are  counted  to  him  less  than 
nothing,  and  vanity,"  Isa.  40:  15,  17.  That  is,  God  reckons  or  im- 
putes to  them  the  insignificance  that  really  belongs  to  them.  So 
Shimei  said  to  David  :  "  Let  not  my  Lord  impute  iniquity  unto  me, 
neither  do  thou  remember  that  which  thy  servant  did  perversely," 
&c.  2  Sam.  19  :  19.  He  admits  such  imputation  would  be  just. 
He  deserved  ill  treatment.  He  had  acted  perversely.  Such  im- 
putation is  but  counting  to  a  man  that  which  is  already  his  own, 
and  so  is  a  simple  judgment  according  to  truth  and  a  correspond- 
ing course  of  conduct.  Jacob  said  :  "  My  righteousness  shall  an- 
swer for  me,"  Gen.  30  :  33.  4.  Then  on  account  of  one's  relations 
sometimes  that,  which  is  not  properly  his  own,  may  be  imputed  to 
him.  Thus  a  man  is  held  and  treated  as  a  debtor  when  his  foolish 
or  wicked  partner  wastes  the  property  of  the  firm,  or  makes  ruin- 
ous adventures  in  trade,  even  when  he  violates  the  terms  of  co- 
partnership. Or  one  is  held  and  treated  as  a  wise  man  and  a 
great  merchant  when  all  his  success  is  due  to  the  foresight  of  an- 
other, who  had  control.  Thus  the  Israelites  bore  the  sins  of  their 
fathers.  Num.  14 :  33.  Thus  the  first  sin  of  the  first  Adam  is  im- 
puted to  his  posterity  because  in  the  covenant  he  stood  for  them 
and  they  sinned  in  him  and  fell  with  him.  5.  One  may  become  the 
willing  surety  of  another,  and  so  be  fairly  held  responsible  for  his 
debts,  his  fines,  or  his  misconduct.  Thus  Paul  writes  to  Philemon 
that  if  Onesimus  "  hath  wronged  thee,  or  oweth  thee  aught,  put 
that  on  mine  account,"  v.  18  ;  literally  impute  \t  to  me.  From  this 
time  forth  Paul  was  by  his  own  willing  act  and  promise  bound  to 
make  good  all  damages  previously  done  to  Philemon  by  Onesimus. 
Thus  also  Christ  became  the  surety  of  his  people,  and  God  '*  laid 
on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  So  that  Isaiah  is  very  bold  and 
says :  "  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our  sorrows ; 
he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  in- 
iquities ;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him  ;  and  with 
his  stripes  we  are  healed."  And  because  he  was  our  surety  and 
substitute,  "  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him,"  to  "  put  him  to 
grief,"  and  to  "  make  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,"  Isa.  53  14,  6,  10. 
Nor  is  Paul  less  bold.  He  says  that  God  "  hath  made  him  to  be 
sin  for  us,"  2  Cor.  5:21.  And  yet  he  is  careful  to  tell  us  that  even 
then  Christ  was  personally  innocent.  He  "  knew  no  sin."  6. 
Then  there  is  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness  to  his  peo- 
ple. They  are  '.'  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him,"  2  Cor.  5  : 
21.     In  the  eye  of  God's  law  they  share  his  righteousness,  are  joint- 


158  .  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  3. 

heirs  with  him,  are  in  him  the  children  of  God  by  faith.  7.  Impu- 
tation does  not  of  itself  change  the  character,  but  only  the  relations 
of  men.  Christ  was  as  holy  and  personally  as  pleasing  to  God, 
after  our  sins  were  laid  upon  him,  as  he  had  ever  been  or  ever  shall 
be  ;  but  by  that  imputation  he  became  the  great  sin-bearer,  and  so 
was  obnoxious  to  the  sword  of  justice,  the  wrath  of  God.  And 
when  one  receives  Christ  by  faith,  he  does  it  as  a  believing  sinner, 
as  one  in  himself  ungodly,  Rom.  4:5.  Jesus  Christ  did  in  no  sense 
commit  the  sins  that  were  laid  upon  him  ;  nor  do  believers  in  any 
sense  work  out  the  righteousness  which  justifies  them,  for  it  is  the 
righteousness  of  God  ;  yea,  it  is  "  the  righteousness  of  God  and 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,"  2  Pet.  i  :  i.  He  imputes  it  to  them, 
regards  and  treats  them  as  kindly  and  lovingly  and  gloriously  as 
if  they  had  wrought  out  their  own  righteousness.  Yet  neither  have 
they  on  that  account  any  just  cause  of  increased  self-esteem,  any 
just  sense  of  personal  worthiness,  any  ground  for  boasting ;  as 
Christ  their  surety  had  no  remorse,  no  sense  of  personal  ill-desert 
before  God,  when  the  iniquity  of  us  all  was  laid  upon  him.  He 
knew  that  his  whole  course  was  pleasing  to  his  Father,  for  he  said, 
"  I  know  that  thou  hearest  me  always,''  and  twice  did  a  voice  from 
heaven  proclaim,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased."  The  imputation  of  our  sins  to  Christ  was  no  mistake, 
no  erroneous  judgment,  but  a  gracious  act  of  God  in  accordance 
with  the  voluntary  undertaking  of  Christ ;  nor  is  the  imputation 
of  Christ's  righteousness  to  his  people,  whereby  they  are  justified, 
a  false  estimate,  an  erroneous  judgment  passed  on  them,  but  a  gra- 
cious reckoning  of  the  Redeemer's  merits  to  their  account.  8.  It 
is  impossible  that  any  righteousness  imperfect  in  God's  esteem 
should  justify  any  creature  in  his  sight.  If  it  could,  it  would  be 
an  acknowledgment  either  that  the  precept  of  the  law  was  too 
strict  or  that  the  penalty  was  too  rigorous,  and  so  God  had  con- 
sented to  some  abatement  or  relaxation  of  his  requirements.  And 
this  would  be  denying  and  contradicting  himself.  This  consider- 
ation alone  shows  that  God  cannot  accept  the  act  of  faith  itself  as 
a  meritorious  ground  of  justification,  for  in  every  case  that  faith  is 
imperfect.  Besides  it  is  the  gift  of  God.  Nor  is  it  so  great  a 
grace  as  love,  i  Cor.  13  :  13,  and  therefore  it  cannot  by  reason  of 
its  own  nature  be  entitled  to  such  pre-eminence  as  to  justify. 
Abraham  himself  was  justified  by.  faith  in  the  merits  of  the  Re- 
deemer. Jesus  says:  "Abraham  saw  my  day  and  was  glad," 
John  8 :  56.  9.  The  only  way,  in  which  faith  can  justify  a  sinner 
before  God,  is  by  laying  hold  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  re- 
ceiving it,  and  appropriating  it  according  to  the  free  and  gracious 
offer  of  God  to  reckon  it  to  all,  who  heartily  accept  it.     Thus  every 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  3-]  THE  ROMANS.  159 

demand  of  the  law  is  met  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  This  is 
the  sense  in  which  the  Christian  world  has  long  held  this  doctrine, 
so  precious  to  the  people  of  God,  and  to  none  less  than  the  glo- 
rious martyrs.  10.  By  this  imputation  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
is  so  reckoned  to  the  believer  that  it  becomes  his,  not  by  infusion 
nor  by  any  transfer  of  moral  character,  which  is  absurd  and  impos- 
sible, but  his  to  all  the  ends  of  a  complete  justification.  Owen : 
"  This  imputation  is  an  act  of  God,  of  his  mere  love  and  grace, 
whereby  on  the  consideration  of  the  mediation  of  Christ,  he  makes 
an  effectual  grant  and  donation  of  a  true,  real,  perfect  righteous- 
ness, even  that  of  Christ  himself  unto  all  that  do  believe,  and  ac- 
counting it  as  theirs,  on  his  own  gracious  act,  both  absolves  them 
from  sin,  and  granteth  them  right  and  title  unto  eternal  life." 
Well  does  he  add  :  "  To  say  that  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  that 
is,  his  obedience  and  sufferings  are  imputed  unto  us  only  as  unto 
their  effects,  is  to  say  that  we  have  the  benefit  of  them,  and  no 
more  ;  but  imputation  itself  is  denied.  So  say  the  Socinians,  but 
they  know  well  enough,  and  ingenuously  grant  that  they  overthrow 
all  real  imputation  thereby."  Again  :  "  To  say  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  is  not  imputed  unto 'us,  only  its  effects  are  so,  is  really  to 
overthrow  all  imputation,"  It  is  like  saying  that  all  the  warmth 
and  ornament  of  a  robe  shall  be  ours,  but  the  robe  itself  we  must 
not  wear.  11.  This  righteousness  is  indeed  imputed  to  us  by  a 
most  gracious  act  on  the  part  of  God.  It  is  wholly  a  gift,  but  it 
is  a  gift  which  God  will  not  revoke,  Rom.  11:  29,  or,  as  Owen  says, 
it  is  "an  effectual  grant  and  donation."  All,  that  men  justly  put 
a  high  value  upon,  is  enjoyed  by  the  gift  of  God.  Life,  reason, 
understanding,  parents,  children,  friends,  health,  food,  raiment  be- 
long to  us  by  his  donation.  We  have  no  better  right  to  any  of 
them  than  this,  th'kt  God  freely  bestowed  them  on  us.  These  are 
gifts  in  the  order  of  nature,  granted  to  men  out  of  God's  sovereign 
bounty,  as  governor  of  the  world,  and  bestowed  alike  on  saints 
and  sinners ;  but  the  gift  of  righteousness  imputed  to  us  is  an  act 
of  special  grace,  the  fruit  of  redeeming  love.  We  can  have  and  we 
need  no  better  title  to  any  thing  than  that  it  is  freely  given  us  of 
God  through  Jesus  Christ.  12.  By  this  imputed  righteousness  we 
have  power,  authority,  right  to  become  the  sons  of  God  ;  by  it  we 
have  right,  title,  authority  to  the  tree  of  life,  John  i* :  12  ;  Rev.  22  : 
14.  13.  We  may  now  see  why  the  Scriptures  everywhere  speak  of 
God's  people  as  the  just,  the  righteous,  and  not  merely  as  those 
that  are  treated  as  if  they  were  righteous.  Yea  more,  they  allow 
saints  to  speak  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  not  merely  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Even  the  Old  Testament  gives  to  the  Re- 
deemer this  title — "  The  Lord  our  righteousness."     How  then  dare 


l6o  .     EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  3, 4. 

any  one  say  that  Christ's  righteousness  is  in  no  proper  sense 
ours  ?  The  opposite  oi proper  is  figurative.  Have  believers  naught 
but  a  figurative  or  typical  interest  in  Christ  ?  Let  us  beware  of  a 
doctrine  so  contrary  to  Scripture,  so  destructive  of  solid  grounds 
of  comfort  in  the  hearts  of  the  pious,  and  so  contrary  to  the  faith 
of  God's  elect. 

We  can  now  fully  understand  our  apostle  when  he  says  that 
Abraham's  faith  was  counted  to  him  for  righteousness,  or  unto 
righteousness,  as  we  have  it  in  Rom.  10  :  id;  or  in  order  to  right- 
eousness, as  Doddridge  renders  it.  Abraham  was  not  justified  by 
the  flesh,  by  works,  by  anything  that  could  allow  him  to  boast 
before  God.  And  yet  he  was  fully  justified.  His  guilt  was 
removed.  Pardoned  sin  is  no  ground  of  condemnation  ;  else  par- 
don is  no  more  pardon.  The  only  legal  obstruction  to  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners  is  found  in  the  penalty,of  God's  law,  but  Christ  has 
borne  that,  as  the  scriptures  expressly  state,  Gal.  3  :  13;  and  so, 
on  accepting  Christ,  that  obstruction  no  longer  remains.  All 
guilt  is  removed  by  the  accepted  sacrifice  of  Calvary.  Jesus 
exhausted  the  penalty  on  the  cross.  The  believer  is  also  accepted, 
regarded  and  treated  as  righteous.  His  righteousness,  received 
by  faith  and  imputed  by  God,  is  perfect,  is  all  the  law  demands; 
it  is  the  spotless  righteousness  of  our  substitute.  Thus  Christ  is 
the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth, 
Rom.  10  :  4. 

If,  as  some  contend,  faith  itself  is  taken  as  the  ground  of  accep- 
tance, then  what  is  the  meaning  of  all  those  passages  that  say  we 
are  saved  by  Christ's  blood,  by  his  propitiation,  by  his  sacrifice,  by 
his  intercession  ?  And  that  we  are  not  justified  by  works  of  any 
kind,  legal  or  evangelical,  moral  or  ceremonial,  has  been  abun- 
dantly declared.  See  above  on  Rom.  3  :  20.  Nor  is  it  true  that 
we  are  ever  said  to  be  saved  on  account  of  our  faith,  but  by  it  or 
through  it  as  the  instrument.  If  we  are  justified  by  faith  itself  as 
a  righteousness,  it  is  absurd  to  speak  of  the  righteousness  of  God, 
or  righteousness  by  faith.  It  is  monstrous,  therefore,  to  find  men 
exalting  faith  to  the  rank  of  a  meritorious  righteousness,  a  work  to 
be  rewarded  with  eternal  life.  In  the  succeeding  context  Paul 
argues  to  the  contrary. 

4.  Now  to  him  that  worketh  is  the  reward  not  reckoned  of  grace, 
but  of  debt.  By  him  that  worketh  some  understand  him  whose 
works  are  perfect  before  God.  Such  a  one  no  doubt  would  be 
accepted  as  in  himself  righteous.  He  would  not  be  saved  by 
grace.  But  there  is  no  such  mere  man.  Others  think  that  by  him 
that  worketh  is  meant  him,  who  doeth  any  work.  This  is  more  in 
the  line  of  Paul's  argument.     He  has  shown  that  debt  and  grace 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  5,  6.]  THE  ROMANS.  i6r 

are  distinct  and  different,  yea  that  they  are  irreconcilable,  as 
schemes  of  good  standing  before  God.  He,  who  does  anything 
and  relies  on  it  for  righteousness,  renounces  all  hope  of  gratuitous 
justification.  All  he  asks  is  to  have  his  dues  paid  him.  Abraham 
found  or  obtained  righteousness  not  by  his  sweet  submissive  vir- 
tues, nor  by  his  superior  confidence  in  God,  nor  by  anything  that 
he  could  claim  as  ground  of  self-exaltation.  He  did  not  hold  that 
God  was  in  his  "  debt.'" 

5.  Biit  to  Jiim  that  worketh  not,  but  believeth  on  hvn  that  jiistifieth 
the  ungodly,  J  lis  faith  is  counted  for  righteousness.  To  him  that  work- 
eth not,  i.  e.  worketh  not  in  the  hope  of  being  thereby  justified,  but 
simply  believeth  on  him  that  jiistifieth  the  ungodly,  one  who  admits 
that  all  his  own  righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags,  and  that  he  has 
nothing  in  himself,  whereof  to  glory  before  God,  and  yet  looks  to 
Christ  alone,  his  faith  is  counted  unto  righteousness.  That,  which 
he  presents  before  God  as  a  ground  of  acceptance,  that  on  which 
he  relies  for  justification,  is  so  perfect  that  it  meets  all  the  demands 
of  God's  infinity  law.  God  looks  upon  him  as  in  himself  lost, 
ruined,  ungodly,  as  he  certainly  is ;  yet  on  this  ungodly  man  accep- 
ting the  Saviour  he  is  justified.  To  all  the  ends  and  purposes  of 
justification  no  sinner  does  anything  meritorious.  The  believer 
looks  away  from  himself  In  the  matter  of  justification  his  best 
doings  are  in  fact  and  in  his  own  esteem,  utterly  worthless.  Even 
if  his  obedience  now  and  henceforth  were  sinless,  it  is  all  due  to 
God,  and  can  in  no  way  make  amends  for  past  deficiencies,  Luke 
17  :  10.  To  pardon  and  accept  a  sinner  as  righteous  is  a  favor 
wholly  undeserved — is  purely  a  gratuity.  The  word  rendered 
ungodly  is  found  nine  times  in  the  New  Testament,  is  everywhere 
rendered  as  here,  and  beyond  a  doubt  designates  a  wicked  man. 
Such  is  every  sinful  child  of  Adam  until  he  believes.  Then  and 
not  till  then  does  he  cease  to  be  ungodly  ;  then  and  not  till  then  is 
he  invested  with  the  robe  of  the  Redeemer's  righteousness,  and  his 
heart  changed,  and  he  turned  unto  God.  Not  only  has  he  no 
merits,  but  he  has  in  himself  great  demerits.  Christ  is  all  our 
salvation.  All  this  is  illustrated  in  the  case  of  Abraham.  The 
same  truth  is  taught  in  other  scriptures ;     . 

6.  Even  as  David  also  describeth  the  blessedness  of  the  man,  unto 
whom  God  imputeth  righteousness  without  works.  David  was  a  great 
warrior,  a  good  king,  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel,  the  man  after 
God's  heart,  chosen  by  Jehovah  to  be  Saul's  successor,  because 
God  saw  in  him  something  well  fitting  him  to  be  the  ruler  of 
Israel,  i  Sam.  16  :  6-13.  He  was  a  prophet,  and  a  type  and  lineal 
ancestor  of  Christ.  Next  to  Abraham  and  Moses  he  was  probably 
the  most  prominent  in  the  habitual  thoughts  of  thd  Jews.     What 

11 


i62  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  6. 

is  David's  testimony  respecting  justification  and  the  ground  of  it? 
It  is  all  in  the  same  direction — a  gratuitous  justification  by  im- 
puted righteousness,  righteousness  without  works. 

David's  sad  fall  is  commemorated  by  two  penitential  psalms, 
the  32d  and  the  51st.  Paul's  reference  here  is  to  the  32d.  On 
turning  to  it,  we  do  not  find  in  any  part  of  the  psalm  the  word 
righteousness.  Perhaps  it  is  well  we  do  not.  Paul  was  inspired 
not  only  to  write  new  scriptures  but  to  interpret  Old  Testament 
books.  Peter's  interpretations  of  scripture  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost have  by  the  church  of  God  ever  been  regarded  as  of  infallible 
authority.  And  so  Paul's  exposition  of  the  true  meaning  of  the 
prophet  David  is  infallible.-  Accepting  this  as  correct,  these  things 
certainly  follow:  i.  The  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace  alone,  or, 
which  is  the  same  thing,  the  doctrine  of  gratuitous  justification  by 
imputed  righteousness  was  understood  and  devoutly  celebrated 
by  the  great  poet  and  prophet  David.  2.  He  taught  that  justifica- 
tion was  without  zvorks.  So  says  Paul.  He  means  not  only  works 
of  one  kind,  but  of  every  kind,  legal,  evangelical,  mgral,  ceremonial, 
done  before  justification  or  after  justification.  Calvin  thus  begins 
his  commentary  on  this  verse  :  "  We  hence  see  the  sheer  sophistry 
of  those  who  limit  the  works  of  the  law  to  ceremonies  ;  for  he  now 
simply  calls  those  works,  without  anything  added,  which  he  had 
before  called  the  works  of  the  law.  Since  no  one  can  deny  that  a 
simple  and  unrestricted  mode  of  speaking,  such  as  we  find  here, 
ought  to  be  understood  of  every  work  wit;liout  any  difference,  the 
same  view  must  be  held  throughout  the  argument.  There  is 
indeed  nothing  less  reasonable  than  to  remove  from  ceremonies 
only  the  power  of  justifying,  since  Paul  excludes  all  works  inde- 
finitely." 3.  Justification  does  not  consist  wholly  and  solely  in  the 
pardon  of  sin,  or  in  the  non-imputation  of  sin.  Paul  infallibly 
informs  us  that  when  David  wrote  that  ode  he  taught  more  than 
the  great  doctrine  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  4.  Paul  declares 
that  David  taught  the  doctrine  of  imputed  righteousness.  He  uses 
the  very  phrase.  Yea  more,  he  says  this  has  always  in  the  church 
of  God  been  to  pious  souls  a  precious  doctrine.  "■  David  describ- 
eth  the  blessedness  of  the  man,  unto  whom  God  imputeth  right- 
eousness." And  that  we  may  certainly  know  that  Paul  is  not 
citing  some  other  part  of  scripture  he  proceeds  to  quote  the  ist 
and  2d  verses  of  the  32d  Psalm.  Imputeth,  the  same  verb  found  in 
vs.  3,  4,  5,  9,  10  and  rendered  counted  or  reckoned ;  and  in  vs.  8,  11, 
22,  23,  24,  and  rendered  impute.  The  righteousness  thus  imputed  is 
the  righteousness  so  long  celebrated  in  the  church  on  earth  and  the 
church  in  heaven.  It  is  the  righteousness  of  God.  Peter  calls  it 
*'  the  righteousliess  of  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."    Humble 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  7,  8.]  THE  ROMANS.  163 

men,  good  men  have  long  made  mention  of  that  and  of  that  only. 
If  the  reader  would  put  the  right  value  on  this  verse  he  must 
remember  that  although  in  parts  of  Ps.  32  David  speaks  of  his  per- 
sonal experience,  yet  in  the  verses  here  cited  by  Paul,  he  speaks 
of  all  believers.  Nor  did  he  utter  these  truths  of  himself,  but  God 
was  speaking  by  the  mouth  of  his  servant  David,  Acts  4  :  26.  Let 
all  flesh  listen,  cease  cavilling  and  be  wise. 

7.  Saying,  Blessed  ZXQ  they  whose  iniquities  are  forgiven,  and  whose 
sins  are  covered.  There  is  no  significancy  in  having  here  the  plural 
instead  of  the  singular  as  in  the  original,  or  tJiey  instead  of  he. 
The  apostle  closely  follows  the  Septuagint.  Blessed,  the  He- 
brew is  a  plural  noun,  "  O  the  blessednesses."  The  Septuagint, 
which  Paul  here  quotes,  is  literally  "  Happy."  It  is  the  same 
word  rendel-ed  blessed  in  Matt.  5  :  3-1 1.  Iniquities,  the  word  has 
not  before  occurred  in  this  epistle.  It  is  found  Hfteen  times  in  the 
Greek  Testament,  is  commonly  rendered  iniquity,  once  unright- 
eousness, 2  Cor.  6 :  14,  once  transgression,  i  John  3:4.  It  literally 
means  want  of  conformity  to  law.  The  Hebrew  word  in  the  place 
here  cited  is  always  rendered  trespass  or  transgression.  It  occurs 
frequently,  and,  when  applied  to  political  affairs,  signifies  revolt,, 
or  rebellion.  Forgiven,  the  word  used  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
often  so  rendered ;  also  put  away.  It  means  to  send  away,  dis- 
miss from  one's  thoughts,  or  attention.  Men  sometimes  say  they 
will  forgive,  but  not  forget ;  but  Jehovah  says,  your  sins  and 
your  iniquities  will  I  remember  no  more.  The  Hebrew  word 
rendered  forgiven  in  Ps.  32  :  i  means  lifted  up,  as  when  a  cloud  is 
raised,  or  borne  away,  as  when  the  scape-goat  bore  away  the 
sins  of  the  people  into  a  land  uninhabited.  Sins,  a  word  of  fre- 
quent occurrence,  rendered  with  absolute  uniformity  in  the  New 
Testament;  the  same  word  used  by  the  Septuagint  in  Ps.  32  :  i. 
Covered,  there  is  no  better  rendering  ;  as  Pharaoh  and  his  hosts 
were  covered  in  the  Red  sea,  Ex.  15  :  10;  buried  out  of  sight, 
cast  into  a  deep  sea,  Mic.  7  :  19.  The  compound  verb  here 
rendered  covered  is  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament, 
but  the  simple  word  occurs  several  times,  and  is  applied  to 
hiding  or  covering  sins,  Jas.  5  :  20  ;  i  Pet.  4  :  8.  Neither  the  Psalm- 
ist nor  the  apostle  stops  here  ;  it  is  added  : 

8.  Blessed  is  tJie  man  to  whom  the  Lord  will  7iot  impute  sin.  Sin, 
in  the  Greek  the  same  word  in  the  singular  as  is  in  v.  7  in  the 
plural  rendered  sins,  but  in  the  Hebrew  we  have  a  different  word, 
commonly  rendered  iniquity ;  sometimes  fault  or  mischief,  in  a 
few  cases  punishment,  or  punishment  of  iniquity.  The  Hebrew 
expresses  perv'^erseness.  Impute,  see  above  on  v.  3.  The  scope 
and  bearing  of  vs.  7,  8  is  the  same.     Three  forms  of  expression 


i64  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  9,  10. 

are  used  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  the  pardon  of  sin,  which  is 
an  essential  part  of  justification,  though  not  the  whole  of  it. 
But  where  God  grants  forgiveness,  he  never  withholds  accept- 
ance, but  surely  imputes  righteousness,  as  Paul  teaches  in  v.  6. 
Hodge :  "  To  impute  sin  is  to  lay  sin  to  the  charge  of  any  one, 
and  to  treat  him  accordingly,  as  is  universally  admitted ;  so  to 
impiite  righteousness  is  to  set  righteousness  to  one's  account,  and 
to  treat  him  accordingly."  Owen  of  Thrussington  :  "  It  is  a  strik- 
ing proof  of  what  the  apostle  had  in  view  here,  that  he  stops  short 
and  does  not  quote  the  whole  of  Ps.  32  :  2.  He  leaves  out,  '  and 
in  whose  spirit  there  is  no  guile  :'  and  why  ?  Evidently  because 
his  subject  is  justification,  and  not  sanctification.  He  has  thus 
most  clearly  marked  the  difference  between  the  two."  Paul  quotes 
all  that  is  pertinent  to  his  argument  and  to  the  matter  in  hand. 
Not  that  sanctification  is  unimportant,  nor  that  it  is  ever  separated 
from  justification,  though  both  Testaments  distinguish  between 
them  ;  but  the  apostle  is  now  absorbed  with  one  point  only — 
justification. 

9.  Cometh  this  blessedness  then  upon  the  circumcision  only,  or 
upon  the  uncircumcision  also  ?  for  we  say  that  faith  was  reckoned  to 
Abraham  for  righteousness.  Paul  had  not  dropped  the  case  of 
Abraham,  but  had  confirmed  it  by  the  testimony  of  David  to  the 
same  truths.  He  asks  whether  such  blessings  as  David  speaks 
of  were  enjoyed  by  none  but  the  circumcision.  Did  justification 
by  imputed  righteousness  depend  on  circumcision  ?  Did  not  God 
always,  and  in  gospel  times  does  he  not  abundantly  grant  salva- 
tion and  good  hope  to  believers  of  every  nation  ?  See  Acts  10 :  34, 
35.  Does  righteousness  come  to  men  through  carnal  ordinances? 
We  say,  probably  meaning  we  Jews  commonly  admit;  though 
Stuart  regards  them  as  uttered  by  an  objector.  We  must  admit 
(for  Moses  our  great  prophet  records  it  of  our  great  ancestor) 
that  faith  was  reckoned  to  Abraham  for  [unto]  righteousness. 

10.  How  was  it  then  reckojied?  wheti  he*  was  in  circumcision 
or  in  uncircumcision  ?  Not  in  circumcision,  but  in  uncircumcision. 
In  Gen.  15  :  6,  we  are  told  that  Abraham  was  justified  by 
faith.  But  the  command  of  circumcision  was  not  given  for 
several  (some  say  fifteen  and  all  agree  that  it  was  as  much  as 
thirteen  or  fourteen)  years  afterwards ;  and  neither  Abraham,  nor 
any  of  his  family  were  circumcised  till  the  patriarch  was  ninety- 
nine  years  old,  Gen.  17:  24.  Clearly  then  to  Abraham  God  im- 
puted righteousness,  and  so  justified  him,  when  he  was  uncircum- 
cised,  and  his  justification  therefore  could  not  be  by  an  ordinance 
not  as  yet  given,  and  of  course  not  obeyed.  So  far  from  circum- 
cision being  the  ground  of  Abraham's  justification,  it  was  not  in 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  II.]  THE  ROMANS.  165 

any  sense  even  a  condition  of  his  acceptance  with  God.  If  he 
was  justified  before  he  was  circumcised,  he  could  not  be  justified 
by  being  circumcised.  But  such  a  view  of  circumcision  was  very 
contrary  to  the  views  of  many  Jews.  Some  of  their  learned  men 
said,  and  many  believed  that  no  circumcised  descendant  of  Abra- 
ham could  perish.  Paul's  doctrine  was  therefore  likely  to  awaken 
the  most  violent  opposition,  and  Jews  might  say,  that  he  virtually 
denied  that  circumcision  was  a  divine  institution,  or  held  that  it 
was  of  no  avail,  or  had  no  meaning.  He  therefore  proceeds  to 
tell  what  circumcision  was  and  what  were  its  uses : 

II.  And  he  received  the  sign  of  circumcision^  a  seal  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  faith  which  he  had  yet  being  uncircuntcised :  that  he  might 
be  the  father  of  all  them  that  believed  though  they  be  not  circumcised ; 
that  righteousness  might  be  imputed  to  them  also.  The  sign  of  circumci- 
sion means  the  sign  circumcision  and  no  more.  Such  forms  of 
speech  are  not  uncommon  in  the  Scriptures.  In  English  we  speak 
of  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  meaning  the  ordinance  baptism,  and 

^f  the  sacrament  of  the  supper,  meaning  that  sacrament,  which  we 
call  the  Lord's  supper.  The  meaning  is  not  that  something  signi- 
fied circumcision,  but  that  circumcision  signified  something.  Of 
what  was  it  a  sign  ?  It  signified  that  the  heart  must  undergo  a 
great  change,  that  the  natural  corruption  of  men's  natures  must 
be  removed  by  the  blood  and  spirit  of  Christ,  his  redemption  being 
applied  to  them.  Moses  himself  so  explained  it,  when  he  said  : 
"  Circumcise  therefore  the  foreskin  of  your  heart,  and  be  no  more 
stiff-necked,"  Deut.  10  :  16.  Again  :  "  The  Lord  thy  God  will  cir- 
cumcise thine  heart,  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou 
mayest  live,"  Deut.  30:6.  A  later  prophet  says:  "Circumcise 
yourselves  to  the  Lord,  and  take  away  the  foreskins  of  your  heart," 
&c.  Jer.  4:4.  In  this  epistle  Paul  says  :  "  He  is  not  a  Jew,  which 
is  one  outwardly  ;  neither  is  that  circumcision,  which  is  outward 
in  the  flesh  :  but  he  is  a  Jew,  which  is  one  inwardly  ;  and  circum- 
cision is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter ; 
whose  praise  is  not  of  men  but  of  God'"  Rom.  2  :  28,  29.  Else- 
where he  says,  "  We  are  the  circumcision,  which  worship  God  in 
the  Spirit,  and  rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  have  no  confidence  in 
the  flesh,"  Phil.  3:3..  "In  whom  [Christ]  also  ye  are  circumcised 
with  the  circumcision  made  without  hands  in  putting  off  the  body 
of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  by  the  circumcision  of  Christ."  Col.  2:11. 
Circumcision  was  a  sign  of  the  cleansing  of  our  natures  by  divine 
grace.    In  Gen.  17:11  God  calls  it  a  "  token  of  the  covenant."    But 

•  this  rite  was  more  than  a  sign  or  token.     It  was  also  a  pledge,  a 
seal  or  confirmation  of  the  righteousness  of  faith ;  not  the  means 


i66  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  12. 

of  begetting  faith,  much  less  the  efficient  cause  of  it ;  nor  a  seal 
of  faith  itself;  no:  but  a  seal  or  assurance  of  the  righteousness, 
which  had  been  imputed  to  him  long  before  his  circumcision, 
even  when  he  believed  God — the  righteousness  of  the  faith  whicli  he 
had  yet  being  uncircumcised.  Circumcision  was  to  be  kept  up  in  the 
church  till  Christ  should  come.  In  Abraham's  seed,  which  was 
Christ,  all  the  families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed.  The 
promise  was  of  a  great  salvation  by  a  Redeemer,  who  should 
spring  out  of  Abraham's  loins,  and  who  should  bring  in  everlast- 
ing righteousness.  Abraham  believed  the  promise  long  before  his 
circumcision,  and  so  became  the  father,  the  leader,  the  pattern, 
the  first  teacher,  the  first  recorded  instance  of  any  man  being  jus- 
tified by  or  through  faith.  As  Jabal  was  the  father  of  such  as 
dwell  in  tents  and  have  cattle  ;  as  Jubal  was  the  father  of  all  such 
as  handle  the  harp  and  organ  ;  and  as  Tubal-cain  was  an  instructor 
of  every  artificer  in  brass  and  iron.  Gen.  4 :  20-22  ;  so  Abraham 
was  the  model,  the  instructor,  the  pattern  of  all  them  that  believe 
though  they  be  not  circumcised ;  that  righteousness  [the  righteousnes| 
of  God  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ]  might  be  imputed  to  them  also. 
It  is  very  true  that  Abel,  Enoch  and  Noah",  and  all  the  pious,  who 
lived  before  Abraham  were  justified  and  saved  by  faith,  but  we 
learn  this  from  reasonings  and  revelations  found  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, especially  in  the  epistles  to  the  Romans,  Galatians  and 
Hebrews,,  but  not  from  any  record  in  the  Old  Testament  that 
they  believed  God,  and  that  their  faith  was  counted  for  or  unto 
righteousness.  It  is  then  true  that  if  jnen  have  like  precious  faith 
with  Abraham,  they  shall  have  like  glorious  righteousness  with 
him  also,  whether  they  be  circumcised  or  not.  For  in  Christ 
Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  any  thing,  nor  uncircumcision, 
but  faith,  which  worked  by  love.  Gal.  5  :  6.  Calvin  :  ''  Mark  how 
the  circvimcision  of  Abraham  confirms  our  faith  with  regard  to 
gratuitous  righteousness ;  for  it  was  the  sealing  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith,  that  righteousness  might  be  imputed  to  us  also."  So 
that  circumcision  was  not  only  confirmatory  of  imputed  righteous- 
ness to  ancient  behevers,  but  through  them  to  us  also,  even  us, 
who  are  sinners  of  the  Gentiles.  Abraham's  faith  made  him  the 
father  of  Gentile  believers, 

12.  And  the  father  of  circumcision  to  them  who  are  not  of  the 
circumcision  only,  but  who  also  walk  in  the  steps  of  that  faith  of  our 
father  Abraham,  which  he  had  being  yet  uncircumcised.  That  is, 
Abraham  was  a  model,  the  first  recorded  instance  of  faith,  a 
spiritual  father,  not  only  to  believing  Gentiles,  but  also  to  Jews, 
who  rely  not  on  circumcision  itself,  but  have  a  faith  like  that  of  • 
Abraham,  believing  all  God  speaks  to  them,  and  in  particular  re- 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  T3.]  THE  ROMANS.  167 

joicing  in  a  Redeemer,  whose  righteousness  is  imputed  to  be- 
lievers without  regard  to  nationality.  One  emphatic  word  in 
this  verse  is  only.  All  are  not  Israel,  who  are  of  Israel.  Hal- 
dane  :  "  While  all  Abraham's  children  were  circumcised,  he 
was  not  equally  the  father  of  them  all.  It  was  only  to  such  of 
them  as  had  his  faith  that  he  was  a  father  in  what  is  spiritually  re- 
presented by  circumcision."  Christ  denied  that  the  unbelieving 
Jews  were  the  children  of  Abraham,  or  the  children  of  God,  but 
asserted  that  they  were  of  their  father  the  devil,  John  8  :  39-44. 

13.  For  the  promise,  that  he  should  be  the  heir  of  the  world,  was> 
not  to  Abraham,  or  to  his  seed,  through  the  law,  but  through  the  right- 
eousness of  faith.  The  argument  grows  stronger  and  stronger. 
It  now  assumes  the  form  it  takes  in  Gal.  3  :  16-18.  He  had  before 
proven  that  justification  was  not  by  circumcision,  for  Abrahani 
was  justified  before  he  was  circumcised.  He  now  proves  that 
Abraham's  acceptance  with  God  and  his  high  distinction  as  the 
father  of  the  faithful  could  not  have  been  by  the  law,  for  the  law 
was  not  given  for  hundreds  of  years  after  he  became  pre-eminently 
the  friend  of  God.  I  say  the  law,  for  although  the  article  is  want- 
ing in  the  Greek,  yet  it  is  supplied  by  every  English  version  now 
at  hand,  Wiclif,  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan,  Rheims 
and  Doway  ;  also  by  Peshito  and  Conybeare  and  Howson,  though 
Stuart  omits  it.  That  it  is  properly  supplied  is  manifest  from  the 
fact  that  to  a  Jew  the  very  mention  of  law  suggested  the  great 
law  given  by  Moses,  and  Paul  is  here  arguing  with  a  Jew.  That 
was  to  him  the  law,  so  as  nothing  else  was.  But  if  any  prefer  to 
read  simply  law,  there  is  no  objection  to  his  doing  so,  for  that  in- 
cludes the  law  of  Moses  and  all  law  of  every  kind,  and  the  argu- 
ment still  relates  to  justification  by  gratuity  and  not  by  human 
merit.  But  what  are  we  to  understand  by  Abraham's  ho^ng  heir 
of  the  tvorld  f  With  diffidence  the  author  ventures  to  suggest  a 
train  of  thought  that  he  finds  in  no  commentary  that  he  has  con- 
sulted. First,  what  is  meant  by  the  world?  In  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment are  four  words  sometimes  rendered  world.  One  of  these 
(aion)  signifies  duration,  past,  present  or  future,  but  often  with  a 
limit.  In  the  plural  it  often  means  eternity.  Our  Lord  uses  it 
when  he  speaks  of  "this  world,"  of  "that  world,"  of  "the  end  of 
the  world,"  and  of  "  the  world  to  come."  In  Rom.  12:3  we  have 
this  word :  "  Be  not  conformed  to  this  world!'  In  Acts  17:31  we 
have  another  word  [oikoumene)  rendered  world  :  "  He  hath  ap- 
pointed a  day  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world!'  It  is  so 
rendered  everywhere  else  except  in  Luke  2 1  :  26  where  we  read 
earth.  In  Luke  2  :  i  it  is  put  for  the  Roman  empire,  because  that 
embraced  most  of  the  world  then  known.     That  is  the  word  in 


i68  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  13. 

Matt.  24  :  14  :  "  This  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in 
all  the  world,  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations."  Commonly  this 
word  means  the  habitable  earth,  once  at  least  the  inJiabitants  of  the 
earth.  It  occurs  in  Rom.  10  :  18  :  "  Their  words  unto  the  ends  of 
the  world."  Then  in  Rev.  13:3  we  have  a  third  word  (ge)  rendered 
world,  but  its  ordinary  signification  is  ground,  land  or  earth,  once 
country  :  "  Blessed  are  the  meek ;  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth," 
Matt.  5:5.  In  the  Greek  Testament  is  still  another  word  (kosmos) 
rendered  world.  It  is  found  in  Acts  17  :  24  :  "  God  that  made  the 
world."  Often  it  means  the  earth,  and  then  its  inhabitants.  It  is 
often  used  in  connection  with  the  last  judgment.  "  God  shall 
judge  the  world,"  Rom.  3  : 6.  This  is  the  word  used  in  our 
verse.  Abraham  was  heir  of  the  world  (kosmos).  It  is  found  in 
such  passages  as  these  :  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world  ;"  "  The 
field  is  the  world  ;"  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  ;"  "  The  Lamb  of 
God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world;"  "God  so  loved  the 
world ;"  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world ;"  "  He  will  reprove  the 
world  of  sin ;"  "  The  saints  ^hall  judge  the  world ;"  "  Came  into 
the  world  to  save  sinners;"  "The  world  passeth  away ;"  "The 
Saviour  of  the  world,"  etc.  It  would  therefore  seem  improbable 
that  by  the  world  in  this  verse  can  be  meant  anything  so  narrow 
as  any  one  country,  such  as  Palestine.  It  must  embrace  something 
as  extensive  as  the  habitable  part  of  our  globe.  What  then  is  it 
to  be  the  heir  of  the  world  ?  In  Gal.  3:18  we  read  :  "  If  the  in- 
heritance be  of  the  law,  it  is  no  more  of  promise :  but  God  gave 
it  to  Abraham  by  promise."  Here  the  same  idea  of  heirship  is 
preserved.  Representing  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  in  this  way 
is  very  common :  "  If  children,  then  heirs,  heirs  of  God,  and  joint 
heirs  with  Jesus  Christ,"  Rom.  8:17;  "That  the  Gentiles  should 
be  fellow  heirs,"  Eph.  3:6;  "  Heirs  according  to  the  hope  of  eter- 
nal life,""  Tit.  3:7;  "Heirs  of  salvation,"  Heb.  i  :  14;  "Heirs  of 
the  righteousness  by  faith,"  Heb.  11:7;  "Heirs  together  of  the 
grace  of  life,"  i  Pet.  3  -.y.  In  like  manner  we  have  the  phrases: 
''Inherit  everlasting  life  ;"  "  Inherit  the  kingdom  of  God;"  "  In- 
herit a  blessing,"  etc.  Sometimes  the  language  is  very  strong : 
"  He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things ;  and  I  will  be  his 
God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son,"  Rev.  21:7.  Heavenly  benefits  are 
often  spoken  of  as  an  inheritance :  "  An  inheritance  among  all 
them  that  are  sanctified  ;"  "  We  have  obtained  an  inheritance ;" 
"  The  earnest  of  our  inheritance  ;"  "  The  inheritance  of  the  saints ;" 
"  An  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you,"  i  Pet.  i  :  4.  Several  of  these 
places — in  particular  i  Pet.  1:4;  Rev.  2 1  :  7 — distinctly  teach  that 
all  believers  have  as  great  and  glorious  benefits,  and  by  inheritance 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  13-]  THE  ROMANS.  169 

too,  as  are  said  to  have  been  conferred  on  Abraham  when  he  is 
called  "  the  heir  oi  the  world."  And  that  we  may  not  suppose 
that  by  his  being  heir  of  the  world  any  peculiar  spiritual  good 
was  conferred  on  him,  Paul  says  to  Christians  generally :  "  If  ye 
be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to 
the  promise,"  Gal.  3  :  29.  This  is  in  the  very  connection  in  which 
he  discusses  the  heirship  of  Abraham.  The  phrase  the  heir  of  the 
world  therefore  does  not  necessarily  mean  anything  greater  than 
the  phrase  "  the  blessing  of  Abraham,"  Gal.  3  :  14,  that  is  the  bless- 
ing which  Abraham  received,  viz.,  full  and  irrevocable  justification 
by  imputed  righteousness ;  nothing  greater  than  the  phrase  the 
fatJier  of  all  them  that  believe,  the  pattern,  exemplar,  illustrious 
leader,  forerunner,  the  first  recorded  instance  of  a  man  being  justi- 
fied by  faith,  and  intended  to  teach  men  everywhere,  Jew  and 
Gentile,  that  they  must  be  saved  as  Abraham  was.  The  same 
blessedness,  that  Abraham  secured  comes  on  believers  in  all  the 
world.  The  blessing,  intended  by  the  phrase  the  heir  of  the  world, 
whatever  it  may  be,  was  obtained  precisely  as  justification  was, 
not  throngh  law  but  throngh  the  righteousness  of  faith.  And  to  sin- 
ners no  greater  blessing  comes  than  a  gratuitous  justification.  Is 
Abraham  the  heir  of  the  world  ?  believers  are  the  light  of  the 
world.  So  the  faith  of  the  Romans  was  spoken  of  throughout  the 
whole  world,  Rom.  1:8;  and  if  that  church  had  been  the  first 
known  instance  of  a  people  believing  unto  righteousness,  it  would 
have  had  the  pre-eminence  here  given  to  Abraham  ;  it  would  have 
been  the  mother  of  all  that  believe  and  the  heir  of  the  world. 
Beyond  complete  justification  and  the  honor  of  shewing  to  all 
men  by  his  example  how  we  are  to  be  saved,  what  did  Abraham 
possess  beyond  what  is  in  many  places  promised  to  all  believers? 
Thus  Jesus :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  There  is  no  man  that  hath 
left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or 
children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake  and  the  gospel's,  but  he  shall  receive 
an  hundredfold  now  in  this  time,  houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters, 
and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands,  and  persecutions  ;  and  in 
the  world  to  come  eternal  life,"  Mark  10  :  29,  30.  So  Paul :  "All 
things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the 
world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to  come  ; 
all  are  yours ;  and  ye  are  Christ's ;  and  Christ  is  God's,"  i  Cor. 
3:21-23.  The  words  of  Rev.  21:7  have  been  already  cited. 
These  passages  engage  to  all  believers  infinite  blessings,  blessings 
as  great  as  they  can  enjoy ;  therefore  as  great  as  were  probably 
intended  to  be  intimated  by  the  phrase  the  heir  of  the  world,  even 
if  we  take  it  in  the  sense  of  Abraham  inheriting  the  world.  The 
views  differing  from  this  are  commonly  embraced  under  one  of 


170  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  13. 

these  heads:  i.  That  to  be  the  heir  of  the  world  is  to  inherit 
Canaan.  But  Canaan  is  not  the  world,  and  is  never  called  the 
world,  but  the  land,  or  the  earth.  The  Greek  uses  dififerent  words. 
Besides  the  blessing,  which  Abraham  received,  was  to  be  shared 
by  the  Gentiles,  Gal.  3  :  14.  Moreover  when  Abraham  actually 
lived  in  Canaan,  it  was«hardly  as  proprietor,  for  when  Sarah  died 
he  had  to  buy  a  place  of  burial.  Like  the  other  patriarchs  he  con- 
fessed he  was  a  stranger  and  a  pilgrim.  "  By  faith  he  sojourned 
in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in  a  strange  country."  "  He  looked 
[was  looking]  for  a  city  which  hath  foundations."  2.  Another  ex- 
planation is  that  he  became  the  heir  of  the  heavenly  Canaan,  of 
which  the  earthly  was  but  a  type.  But  all  'believers  shall  possess 
that  good  land  and  enter  that  heavenly  country.  Nor  is  heaven 
ever  called  the  world,  although  in  Luke  20  :  35  we  have  the  terms 
that  world  applied  to  the  blissful  period  of  duration  following  this 
life,  but  the  word  there  rendered  world  is  age,  elsewhere  rendered 
world  to  come.  3.  Some  think  as  God  promised  a  numerous  pos- 
terity to  Abraham,  Gen.  15:6;  17:5;  and  as  these  have  been 
widely  scattered  in  the  world  that  in  this  sense  the  patriarch  may 
be  said  to  be  heir  of  the  world.  But  the  Jews  do  not  constitute 
the  hundredth  part  of  the  human  family,  generally  own  very  little 
land,  and  never  possessed  much  political  power  in  the  world.  Nor 
is  our  apostle  conducting  any  argument  on  such  a  subject  as  na- 
tional power,  but  an  argument  on  justification  by  faith. 

4.  Some  regard  the  phrase  heir  of  the  world  as  indicating  great 
happiness,  and  point  to  the  promises  in  Ps.  37  and  in  Matt.  5  :  5  in 
proof.  No  doubt  Abraham  was  happy,  greatly  blessed,  but  so  is 
every  child  of  God,  and  our  verse  closely  points  to  some  pre-emi- 
nent distinction.  Besides,  the  word  rendered  earth  or  land  in 
those  places  both  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  has  a  very  different  sig- 
nification from  that  rendered  world  in  our  verse. 

5.  Some  think  that  by  heir  of  the  world  we  are  to  understand 
that  Abraham  in  some  way  became  inheritor  of  the  world  through 
his  seed  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  all  nations  were  to  be  blessed, 
Gen.  12:3.  Yet  the  first  promise  of  Messiah  was  made  to  our 
first  parents  in  Eden  and  not  to  Abraham.  And  as  to  his  being 
the  lineal  ancestor  of  Christ,  so  were  Isaac,  Jacob,  Judah,  David, 
Solomon,  and  others.  Still  it  is  undeniable  that  Messiah  is  Lord 
of  all  and  that  he  shall  have  dominion  from  sea  to  sea  and  from  the 
river  to  the  ends  9f  the  earth,  and  that  in  him  shall  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  be  blessed.  And  although  the  promise  of  a  seed 
did  certainly  have  a  special  reference  to  Christ,  as  Paul  asserts, 
Gal.  3  :  16,  yet  that  promise  was  no  more  precious  and  no  more 
sure  than  that  made  to  David  hundreds  of  years  after,  2  Sam.  7  : 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  14-]  THE  ROMANS.        .  171 

16.  So  that  this  can  hardly  be  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  this  place. 
Our  verse  admits  that  the  promise  that  he  should  be  the  heir  of 
the  world  was  not  only  to  Abraham,  but  to  his  seed,  and  that 
through  the  righteousness  of  faith.  His  seed  therefore  here  cannot 
mean  Christ,  for  he  did  not  enter  heaven  through  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith,  but  by  his  own  merits.  Therefore  it  must  mean  his 
spiritual  seed,  believers.  6.  The  phrase  heir  of  the  world,  therefore, 
probably,  means  an  heir  of  God  known  to  all  the  world  of  believ- 
ers, a  very  prominent  child  of  God,  just  as  Paul  says  that  the 
apostles  were  made  "  a  spectacle  unto  the  world,  kosmos,  and  to 
angels,  and  tb  men,"  i.  e.  were  very  prominent  before  the  world 
[perhaps  of  believers].  Just  so  Abraham's  prominence  is  indi- 
cated by  his  being  "  the  heir  of  the  world  "  and  "  the  father  of  all 
that  believe,"  and  by  the  phrase  "  the  blessing  of  Abraham  coming 
on  the  Gentiles."  This  gives  a  good  sense  and  agrees  with  the 
preceding  and  succeeding  context.  In  the  next  verse  all  the  saved 
are  called  heirs.  This  view  also  coincides  with  the  whole  scope 
of  the  argument  which  Paul  is  conducting — an  argument  respect- 
ing gratuitous  justification  by  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer. 

14.  For  if  they  which  are  of  the  laiv  be  heirs,  faith  is  made  void, 
and  the  promise  made  of  710 ne  effect.  Respecting  the  persons  here 
spoken  of  opinions  are  divided.  Mr.  Locke  thinks  that  by  them 
which  are  of  the  law  we  are  to  understand  "  them  only  who  had  the 
law  of  Moses  given  them."  Clarke  agrees  with  him  and  says  the 
phrase  points  to  "  the  Jews  only."  But  a  large  class  give  an  in- 
terpretation more  coincident  with  the  line  of  the  apostle's  argu- 
ment. Doddridge  says  the  terms  used  designate  "  those  who  de- 
pend upon  the  law  ;"  Tholuck  :  "  those  who  trust  to  their  works  ;  " 
"  they  which  are  of  the  law  is  the  exact  parallel  of  as  many  as  are 
of  the  works  of  the  law,  Gal.  3  :  10;"  Hodge:  '■'■legalists,  those  who 
seek  justification  by  the  works  of  the  law."  This  is  doubtless  the 
right  view.  Calvin  :  "  He  takes  his  argument  from  what  is  impos- 
sible and  absurd."  Haldane  :  "  The  case  is  supposed,  though  not 
admitted,  which  would  be  contrary  to  the  whole  train  of  the 
apostle's  argument."  If  it  were  possible  for  men  to  become  heirs 
of  salvation  by  the  law,  the  whole  gospel  would  be  subverted, 
and  its  provisions  rendered  nugatory.  Calvin  :  "  If  the  condition 
had  been  interposed — that  God  would  favor  those  only  with 
adoption  who  deserved  it,  or  who  fulfilled  the  law,  no  one  could 
have  dared  to  feel  confident  that  it  belonged  to  him."  '  Diodati : 
"  If  it  were  so  that  by  works  man  might  obtain  that  inheritance, 
all  faith,  covenant  of  grace,  and  promises  would  be  void,  which  is 
wicked  and  most  absurd  to  think."  Whitby  :  "  If  they  which  are 
of  the  law  be  heirs  faith  is  made  void  to  them  which  are  not  of  the 


172  .         EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  15. 

law  [because  then  they  cannot  by  it  be  made  heirs]  and  it  is  also 
made  void  to  them  that  are  of  the  law  [because  they  were  heirs 
before]  and  may  still  be  so  without  it;  v.  15."  Hawker:  "  It  is 
of  no  use  for  God  to  promise,  if  the  accomplishment  depends  upon 
man's  performance  of  the  law.  And  as  man  cannot  come  up  to 
the  law,  so  man  can  never  attain  the  promise  if  it  depends  on  his 
obedience.  It  is  of  no  use  to  hold  forth  any  blessings,  if  those 
blessings  depend  upon  man's  taking  them  when  they  are  out  of 
his  reach."     The  apostle  proceeds  to  give  the  reason  : 

15.  Because  the  law  worketh  wrath :  for  where  no  law  is,  there  is 
no  transgression.  The  law  wherever  known  am.ong  men  works 
wrath  or  brings  a  curse,  not  because  the  law  is  not  holy,  just  and 
good,  nor  because  it  was  not  ordained  to  life,  and  suited  to  the 
very  case  of  all  that  are  free  from  all  sin,  but  because  men  are 
wicked,  break  the  law  and  transgress  its  holy  precepts,  and  so 
incur  its  righteous  penalty.  If  men  were  not  subjects  of  moral 
government,  if.neither  by  the  light  of  nature,  nor  by  the  light  of 
revelation  they  had  any  knowledge  of  the  law  of  their  being  and 
the  right  rule  of  living,  then  they  would  have  had  no  sin.  Tho- 
luck  :  "  The  idea  of  law,  and  the  idea  of  penal  justice  are  correla- 
tive, because  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  man,  except  as  a  trans- 
gressor." Chalmers :  "  There  have  been  infractions  of  the  law  by 
all,  and  all  therefore  are  the  children  of  wrath."  Scott :  "  The 
clearer,  the  more  copious  and  the  more  express  the  law  is,  the 
more  numerous,  evident,  and  aggravated  must  man's  trans- 
gressions appear.' 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  The  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  is  true,  for  God's  word 
teaches  it;  it  is  important,  for  God's  word  urges  it;  it  is  vastly 
weighty,  for  God's  word  greatly  insists  upon  it.  It  is  the  great 
theme  of  two  of  Paul's  epistles,  this,  and  that  to  the  Galatians. 
Elsewhere  it  is  brought  up  again  and  again.  If  God  says  a  thing 
once,  we  know  it  is  true.  If  he  says  it  often,  we  should  think  of 
it  habitually,  vs.  1-14.  Brown  :  "  Justification,  and  the  right  way 
thereof,  being  a  matter  of  great  necessity  to  be  known,  and  a  truth 
which  Satan  hath  early  and  late  bent  his  strength  against,  a  great 
necessity  lieth  upon  all  to  be  thoroughly  clear  in  this  matter ;  and 
ministers  sliould  labor  to  explain  it  fully  unto  people,  and  use  all 
means  to  make  plain  the  way,  and  to  confirm  them  in  the  truth 
thereof." 

2.  All  claim  of  personal  merit  or  desert  of  good  before  God  on 
the  part  of  us  sinners  is  monstrous — monstrous  error,  monstrous 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  1-13.]         THE  RODMANS.  173 

arrogance,  monstrous  folly,  monstrous  wickedness,  v.  2.  Olshau- 
sen  :  "  Works  give  merit,  merit  justifies  a  person  in  making  de- 
mands or  in  boasting  ;  no  grace  therefore  can  consist  with  works, 
but  only  a  relation  of  debt."  Hodge :  "  Tho  renunciation  of  a 
legal  self-righteous  spirit  is  the  first  requisition  of  the  gospel."  If 
God's  word  teaches  any  thing,  it  certainly  teaches  that  any  and 
every  form  of  self-glorification  in  the  sight  of  heaven  is  vain,  is 
vile,  is  wicked,  is  dangerous. 

3.  There  has  never  been  but  one  method  of  a  sinner's  accept- 
ance before  God.  God's  word  speaks  of  but  one.  It  condemns 
all  others,  vs.  1-13.  Saving  faith  rests  on  Christ,  not  on  self;  on 
the  Son  of  God,  not  on  the  son  of  man ;  on  atoning  blood,  not  on 
tears  of  penitence.  .  No  two  things  are  more  opposite  than  faith 
or  grace  on  the  one  hand,  and  works  or  debt  on  the  other.  All 
scripture  shuts  up  men  to  a  wholly  gratuitou's  salvation.  This 
suits  our  case  exactly. 

4.  But  this  is  a  very  humbling  method.  It  abases  man.  It 
cuts  up  pride  by  the  roots.  It  leaves  no  room  for  boasting.  It 
forbids  glorying,  v.  2.  Hence  the  offensiveness  of  this  doctrine. 
Pool :  "  Abraham  was  a  man  that  had  faith  and  works  both,  yet  he 
was  justified  by  faith,  and  not  by  works."  He  humbled  himself  to 
receive  the  gratuity,  and  so  must  we,  if  we  would  inherit  eternal 
life.  If  we  expect  to  pursue  any  course  which  shall  in  strict 
justice  to  us  bring  God  under  any  obligation  to  save  us,  Ave 
shall  perish  in  our  folly.  Even  Abraham  had  nothing  whereof  to 
glory  before  God. 

5.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  judged  of  men.  It  is  another,  and  a 
very  different  thing  to  be  judged  of  the  Lord,  v.  2.  Compared 
with  many  other  men  how  bright  was  the  character  of  Abraham  ! 
Compared  with  the  perfect  law  of  God,  he  needed  absolutely 
pardoning  grace  and  justifying  righteousness,  just  like  every 
other  sinful  man.  If  there  was  any  sense  in  which  he  might  glory 
before  men,  there  was  no  sense  in  which  he  could  boast  before 
God.  And  if  he,  "a  patriarch  whose  virtues  had  canonized  him 
in  the  hearts  of  all  his  descendants  ;  and  who,  from  the  heights  of 
a  very  remote  antiquity,  still  stands  forth  to  the  people  of  this  dis- 
tant age,  as  the  most  venerably  attired  in  the  worth  and  piety  and 
all  the  primitive  and  sterling  virtues  of  the  older  dispensation," 
had  nothing  whereof  to  glory  before  God,  how  dare  any  of  us 
trust  our  souls  to  any  but  a  plan  of  unmingled  grace  ? 

6.  The  simple  fact  is,  nierits  we  have  none.  Demerits  cluster 
on  us  all.  We  are  born  in  sin.  Our  best  deeds  are  full  of  imper- 
fection. "  In  many  things  we  all  offend."  *'  There  is  not  a  just 
man  upon  earth  that  liveth  and  sinneth  not."     "  All  our  righteous- 


J74  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  3,  5. 

nesses  are  as  filthy  rags."  Eternal  confusion  must  cover  us  if 
there  is  not  some  gracious  method  of  making  us  righteous  before 
God.  We  must  be  found  naked,  if  we  are  not  "  found  in  Christ, 
not  having  our  own  righteousness." 

7.  We  may  always,  with  safety  and  profit,  refer  our  sentiments 
and  reasonings,  our  belief  and  practice  to  the  unerring  rule  of 
scripture,  v.  3.  "  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony  :  if  they  speak 
not  according  to  this  word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them," 
Isa.  8  :  20.  Haldane  :  "  Paul's  proof  is  drawn  from  the  historical 
records  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  thus  he  sets  his  seal  to  its  com- 
plete verbal  inspiration,  quoting  what  is  there  recorded  as  the  de- 
cision of  God."  Brown :  "  Old  Testament  scriptures  are  yet  in 
force  to  us  under  the  gospel,  and  may  safely  be  made  use  of  to 
confirm  and  illustrate  truths."  Scripture  binds  the  conscience  of 
all  good  men,  yea,  it  often  speaks  with  awful  authority  even  to 
bad  men.  Let  no  man — in  particular  let  no  minister — handle  the 
word  of  God  deceitfully,  nor  imagine  that  any  merely  human 
logic  can  control  the  heart  of  man  as  holy  scripture  can.  It  is 
"  the  sword  of  the  Spirit." 

8.  Although  faith  has  in  it  nothing  to  merit  God's  favor  and  is 
itself  never  by  him  regarded  as  righteousness,  or  in  any  wise  com- 
mensurate to  the  requirements  of  the  law,  yet  it  is  necessary  to 
salvation — so  necessary  that  without  it  there  is  no  man  saved. 
Even  Abraham  had  not  been  justified,  if  he  had  not  believed,  vs.  3,  5. 
Chalmers :  "  They  who  have  the  faith  of  Abraham  are  his  children, 
though  they  have  not  the  circumcision.  They  who  have  the  cir- 
cumcision are  not  his  children,  if  they  have  not  the  faith.  The 
sign  without  the  thing  signified  will  avail  them  nothing."  Chry- 
sostom  :  "  To  him  that  worketh  a  reward  is  given ;  to  him  that 
believeth  righteousness.  Now  righteousness  is  much  greater  than 
a  reward."  Great  and  numerous  have  been  the  just  commendations 
of  faith  ;  but  our  apostle  commends  it  here,  because  it  lays  hold  on 
Christ's  righteousness.  This  is  what  man  can  do  in  no  other  way 
than  by  believing.  Yet  let  us  eschew  the  dangerous  error  that 
faith  is  itself  a  justifying  righteousness.  O  no  !  if  we  are  ever 
righteous  before  God,  it  must  be  by  receiving  the  righteousness 
of  God,  which  is  by  or  through  faith.  On  the  other  hand  "  with- 
out faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God  ;  "  for  unbelief  is  a  refusal 
to  set  our  seal  to  the  covenant  of  grace.  Nor  can  believers  too 
often  renew  their  hold  of  Christ  and  his  righteousness.  The  great 
cure  of  uncertainity  respecting  our  interest  in  Christ  is  found  in 
frequently  renewed  acts  of  faith  in  him. 

9.  Let  men,  especially  those,  who  bear  the  Christian  name, 
cease  to  oppose  and  oppugn  the  blessed  doctrine  of  the  imputation 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  3-II.]  THE  ROMANS.  i;5 

of  Christ's  righteousness,  seeing  it  is  so  clearly  taught  in  many 
scriptures,  vs.  3,  4,  5,  6,  8,  9,  10,  11.  The  violence  and  ingenuity, 
manifested  against  the  doctrine  of  imputation  have  often  been 
ama2ring,  sometimes  blasphemous,  and  sometimes  scornful,  some- 
times claiming  great  love  for  the  truth,  sometimes  promising  to  re- 
move difficulties,  but  always  involving  us  in  uncertainty.  The  latest 
form  of  opposition  claims  to  be  very  mild  and  gentle.  But  there 
is  no  yielding  of  the  disputed  point.  A  living  writer  says,  ''  It  is 
not  uncommon  to  say,  that  Christ's  righteousness  is  imputed  to  us, 
or  that  it  becomes  ours."  He  then  adds  that  "  this  language  to 
many  minds  does  not  convey  a  very  definite  conception,"  and  that 
"  on  other  minds  it  conveys  erroneous  impressions,  and  seems  to 
be  irreconcilable  with  the  common  notions  of  men  about  moral 
character."  These  terms  are  mild  compared  with  those  used  by 
Socinus  on  the  same  subject,  but  they  are  not  a  whit  less  insidious 
or  dangerous.  Here  is  an  absolute  refusal  to  employ  terms  used 
by  David  and  Paul,  by  the  greatest  reformers,  by  the  most  glori- 
ous martyrs,  and  by  the  church  of  God  for  long  ages  ;  and  all 
under  the  plea  that  they  are  not  definite,  that  they  may  mislead, 
and  that  they  do  not  tally  with  men's  notions.  One  may  search  the 
Christian  world  through  and  through,  and  he  will  find  no  terms 
touching  the  mystery  of  salvation  better  understood  for  centuries 
past  by  the  learned  and  by  the  common  people,  or  better  defined 
in  massive  treatises  or  in  concise  formulas  of  doctrine  than  imputed 
righteousness.  Yet  we  read  some  modern  treatises,  avowedly  on  jus- 
tification, and  never  meet  these  terms  except  to  find  some  slight- 
ing remark,  some  cavil  respecting  them.  When  men  shall  suc- 
ceed in  excluding  imputation  from  the  terms  of  theology,  it  will 
not  be  long  till  they  will  be  found  disusing  or  even  opposing  the 
Avord  righteousness.  The  two  must  stand  or  fall  together.  And 
what  will  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  be,  when  no  righteousness 
remains  to  be  offered  to  the  penitent  ?  No  mortal  has  ever  sug- 
gested any  possible  way,  in  which  the  believing  sinner  may  avail 
himself  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  if  the  Lord  shall  not  freely 
impute  it  to  him.  The  great  objection,  flippantly  urged,  is  that 
imputation  involves  a  transfer  of  moral  character.  But  who  has 
ever  taught  that  absurdity  ?  What  respectable  man  has  ever  held 
such  an  opinion  ?  Surely  the  Christian  world  never  taught  it. 
Christ  in  his  own  character  was  truly,  wholly*,  personally  inno- 
cent ;  but  when  our  sins  were  laid  on  him  he  was  in  the  eye  of  the 
law,  and  as  our  substitute,  by  imputation  guilty,  under  the  curse  ; 
yet  our  moral  character  was  not  transferred  to  him.  It  would  be 
blasphemy  to  say  that  his  holy  soul  was  defiled.  And  yet  God  so 
laid  on  him  the  iniquities  of  us  all,  that  he  was  made  sin  for  us. 


176  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  3-11. 

So  we  are  truly,  wholly,  personally  vile,  and  when  Christ's  right- 
eousness is  imputed  to  us,  it  does  not  make  us  personally  pure  or 
worthy,  but  it  gives  us  a  title  good  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  to  all  the 
blessings  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  Hodge  truly  says  :  "  It  ifever 
was  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformation,  or  of  the  Lutheran  or  Cal- 
vinistic  divines,  that  the  imputation  of  righteousness  affected  the 
moral  character  of  those  concerned.  It  is  true,  whom  God  justi- 
fies he  also  sanctifies,  but  justification  is  not  sanctification,  and  the 
imputation  of  righteousness  is  not  the  infusion  of  righteousness." 
Nor  has  the  church  of  God  ever  taught  otherwise.  Justin  Martyr : 
"  God  gave  his  Son  a  ransom  for  us  ;  the  holy  for  transgressors  ; 
the  innocent  for  the  evil  ;  the  just  for  the  unjust ;  the  incorrupti- 
ble for  the  corrupt;  the  immortal  for  mortals.  For  what  else 
could  hide  or  cover  our  sins  but  his  righteousness  ?  In  whom  else 
could  we  wicked  and  ungodly  ones  be  justified,  but  in  the  Son  of 
God  alone  ?  O  precious  permutation.  O  unsearchable  operation. 
O  beneficence  surpassing  all  expectation  !  that  the  sin  of  many 
should  be  hid  in  one  just  person,  and  the  righteousness  of  one 
should  justify  many  transgressors." 

There  is  a  class  of  writers,  not  very  numerous,  nor  respectable, 
but  confident  and  pushing,  who  to  avoid  the  doctrine  of  the  impu- 
tation of  the  righteousness  of  God  our  Saviour,  declare  that  our 
faith  itself  is  accepted  by  God  as  righteousness ;  that  faith  itself 
is  reckoned  as  righteousness.  If  our  faith  were  perfect,  this  would 
be  accepting  one  perfect  act  instead  of  the  perfect  obedience  due 
all  our  lives.  But  every  man's  faith,  especially  as  he  first  lays  hold 
of  the  gospel,  is  imperfect,  and  the  best  men  are  the  most  con- 
scious ©f  such  imperfection,  Mark  9  :  24.  One  of  the  best  prayers 
ever  offered  by  the  disciples  was.  Lord,  increase  our  faith.  If  God 
should  accept  any  one  act  of  faith,  or  all  acts  of  faith  as  the  meri- 
torious ground  of  our  acceptance,  it  would  be  admitting  that  his 
law  had  been  too  strict,  that  an  imperfect  obedience  was  all  he 
now  required,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  had  lived  and  died  in  vain  ; 
at  least,  that  he  satisfied  not  the  demands  of  the  law  or  justice, 
that  he  brought  in  no  righteousness,  and  that  believing  sinners 
were  saved  in  derogation  of  perfect  righteousness.  The  same 
class  of  writers  often  urge  that  God  merely  treats  the  sinner  as 
just,  and  that  this  is  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ.  But  if  any  one 
is  not  righteous,  fiow  can  God  treat  him,  as  if  he  were  righteous? 
The  Bible  never  speaks  of  men  as  qiiasi  just,  but  it  often  speaks 
of  the  just,  the  righteous.  If  God  acquits  as  just  those  Avho  in 
every  sense  in  the  eye  of  justice  are  guilty  and  have  no  righteous- 
ness, what  hinders  him  from  saving  unbelievers  as  well  as  believ- 
ers ?     Such  a  view  utterly  confounds  the  distinction  made  by  the 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  3-1 1.]         THE  ROMANS.  177 

apostle  between  faith  and  works,  the  righteousness  of  God  and 
the  deeds  of  the  law.  Guyse :  "  The  act  of  faith  itself  is  as  much 
a  zvork,  as  any  other  commanded  duty,  and  were  that  to  be 
reckoned  to  us  for  righteousness,  the  reward  in  justifying  us 
would  be  a  debt,  due  to  us,  on  account  of  our  having  performed 
that  work."  Pool:  "Remission  of  sins  presupposeth  imputation 
of  righteousness ;  and  he,  that  hath  his  sins  remitted,  hath  Christ'.s 
righteousness  first  imputed,  that  so  they  may  be  remitted  and  for- 
given to  sinners."  It  is  therefore  but  a  miserable  mockery  of  the 
sad  state  of  men  to  represent  justification  in  any  case,  as  Mac- 
knight  has  done :  "  In  judging  Abraham,  God  will  place  on  the 
one  side  of  the  account  his  duties,  and  on  the  other  his  perform- 
ances. And  on  the  side  of  his  performances  he  will  place  his  faith, 
and  by  mere  favor  will  value  it  as  equal  to  a  complete  performance 
of  his  duties,  and  reward  him  as  if  he  were  a  righteous  man." 
Can  it  be  wondered  at  that  when  such  sentiments  are  presented  to 
men,  every  pious  and  intelligent  Christian  is  shocked,  and  every 
penitent  sinner  asks.  Am  I  after  all  left  without  hope  except  that 
God  will  save  me  by  my  own  merits,  or  at  least  without  any  right- 
eousness commensurate  to  his  law  ?  It  is  impossible  ever  to  quiet 
an  enlightened  and  tender  conscience  in  man,  until  you  can  show 
him  such  a  righteousness,  meeting  all  the  demands  of  God's  law, 
and  let  him  see  how  he  may  make  it  his  own  to  all  the  ends  of  a 
complete  justification,  vs.  3,  5,  6,  7,  8.  The  great  importance  of 
this  matter  to  Christian  comfort  is  well  stated  by  Chrysostom : 
"  Paul  is  now  intent  upon  shewing  that  this  salvation,  so  far  from 
being  matter  of  shame,  was  even  the  cause  of  a  bright  glory,  and 
a  greater  than  that  through  works.  For  since  the  being  -saved, 
yet  with  shame,  had  somewhat  of  dejection  in  it,  he  next  takes 
away  this  suspicion  too.  And  indeed  he  has  hinted  at  the  same 
already,  by  calling  it  not  barely  salvation  but  righteousness.  Therein 
(he  says)  is  the  righteousness  of  God  revealed.  For  he  that  is  saved 
as  a  righteous  man  has  a  confidence  accompanying  his  salvation. 
And  he  calls  it  not  righteousness  only,  but  also  the  setting  forth  of 
the  righteousness  of  God.  But  God  is  set  forth  in  things  which 
are  glorious,  and  shining,  and  great."  No  right  minded  man 
wishes  to  go  to  heaven  in  derogation  of  the  divine  honor  or  the 
glory  of  the  divine  government.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  us  in  any 
wise  to  please  God,  until  we  ourselves  are  graciously  accepted, 
for  as  Calvin  says :  "  The  righteousness  of  works  is  the  effect  of 
the  righteousness  of  God,  and  the  blessedness  arising  from  works 
is  the  effect  of  the  blessedness  which  proceeds  from  the  remission 
of  sins."  Nor  can  we  -otherwise  have  any  good  hope,  for  the 
Dutch  Annotations  truly  says :    "  The  ground  of  our  salvation 


i;8  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  4-8. 

consists  in  remission  of  sins  and  imputation  of  the  righteousness 
of  Christ."  And  Hawker  well  says  :  "  That  which  was  and  is 
counted  for  righteousness,  is  not  our  faith  in  that  righteousness, 
but  the  righteousness  itself  imputed  to  the  persons  of  the  faithful, 
from  their  union  and  oneness  in  Christ."  We  cannot  give  up  the 
distinction  between  faith  and  works,  grace  and  debt,  Christ's 
righteousness  and  human  merits.  It  must  be  made  and  maintained 
at  all  costs  and  at  all  hazards,  vs.  4,  5.  Nor  need  we  fear  that  we 
shall  'dishonor  God  by  exalting  his  grace.  In  no  way  can  we  so 
shew  forth  his  glory  as  by  believing  in  his  Son  and  accepting  his 
righteousness.  Chrysostom  :  "  He  indeed  honors  God,  who  ful- 
fils the  commandments,  but  he  doth  so  in  a  much  higher  degree 
who  thus  followeth  wisdom  by  his  faith.  The  former  obeys  him, 
but  the  latter  has  that  estimate  of  him,  which  is  fitting,  and  glori- 
fies him,  and  is  full  of  wonder  at  him  more  than  can  be  evinced 
by  works."  Brown :  "  This  imputation  of  Christ  is  no  chimera, 
or  groundless  imagination,  however  it  seemeth  absurd  to  carnal 
reason,  but  a  real  thing,  founded  upon  the  obedience  of  Christ, 
which  is  no  fiction." 

10.  The  truth  puts  man  in  a  low  place  and  gives  him  a  low 
estimate  of  himself.  By  the  gospel  scheme  boasting  is  excluded. 
God  justifies  the  imgodly^  v.  5.  Olshausen :  '■^  All  men  in  respect 
of  God  are  in  a  state  of  ungodliness,  and  unable  by  their  own 
powers  to  raise  themselves  into  any  other  condition.  .  .  .  Every 
one,  who  desires  to  come  to  Christ,  must  altogether,  and  in  every 
thing,'  recognize  himself  as  a  sinner."  Blessed  be  God  !  his 
mercies  are  for  the  needy  ;  his  salvation  for  the  lost.  We  are  sick 
and  "  ungodliness  is  the  radical  and  pervading  ingredient  of  the 
disease  of  our  nature,  and  it  is  here  said  of  God  that  he  justifies 
the  ungodly.  The  discharge  is  as  ample  as  the  debt."  Hodge  : 
"  As  God  justifies  the  ungodly,  it  cannot  be  on  the  ground  of  their 
own  merit."  No  mere  man  deserves  at  God's  hand  any  benefit 
whatever. 

11.  How  perfect  is  the  remission  of  sins,  and  how  rich  is  the 
variety  of  terms  and  phrases  employed  to  assure  believers  of  the 
completeness  of  their  deliverance  from  the  condemning  power  of 
the  law,  vs.  7,  8.  Forgiveness  or  remission,  covering  or  hiding, 
not  imputing,  or  not  setting  to  one's  account  are  the  terms  used. 
What  more  could  we  ask  ?  Evans :  "  Justification  does  not  make 
the  sin  not  to  have  been,  or  not  to  have  been  sin  ;"  and  )'et  odious, 
abominable,  offensive  as  is  every  form  of  iniquity  the  Lord  casts 
it  behind  his  back ;  he  averts  his  face  and  refuses  to  look  at  it. 
Blessed  be  his  name  for  his  mercy.  Blessed  is  the  man,  who 
shares  it. 


Ch.  I.V.,  vs.  6-II.]  THE  ROMANS.  179 

12.  The  grace  of  God  in  the  pardon  of  sin  is  the  more  illustri- 
ous when  we  consider  the  nature  of  it,  vs.  7,  8.  It  is  iniquity,  it 
is  transgression,  it  is  evil,  it  is  an  offence,  it  is  a  horrible  thing,  an 
unnatural  crime,  it  is  contempt  of  God,  it  is  robbery,  it  is  rebellion, 
it  is  perversity,  it  is  lawlessness,  it  is  enmity  against  God.  It  is 
odious,  vile,  loathsome,  ruinous.  It  digs  every  grave.  It  makes 
the  torments  of  hell  what  they  are. 

13.  The  justification  of  the  believer  is  entire,  wanting  nothing, 
complete,  full,  finished,  perfect,  vs.  6-8.  Every  man  needs  all  that 
is  promised,  but  no  man  needs  more.  Chrysostom  :  "  Punishment 
is  removed,  and  righteousness  through  faith  succeeds ;  there  is 
then  no  obstacle  to  our  becoming  heirs  of  the  promise."  Who 
does  not  call  Abraham  blessed  ?  yet  all  *  they  that  are  of  faith  are 
blessed  with  faithful  Abraham.' 

14.  Nor  does  the  Scripture  leave  us  in  any  doubt  as  to  the 
character  of  those,  who  receive  so  great  a  blessing.  They  are  be- 
lievers and  none  else,  v.  9.  By  nationality  they  may  be  Jews,  or 
Gentiles ;  in  manners  they  may  be  rude  or  refined ;  in  education 
they  may  be  learned  or  uncultivated ;  in  man's  esteem  they  may 
be  base  or  honorable  ;  but  if  they  accept  from  the  heart  the  mercy 
offered  in  Christ,  they  shall  be  saved.  Michaelis :  "  To  him  who 
does  works,  the  reward  is  not  said  to  be  reckoned,  an  expression 
which  makes  it  appear  as  if  it  were  given  from  grace,  but  he  ob- 
tains it  because  it  is  his  due." 

15.  Let  not  the  pious  reader  fear  that  our  apostle  in  dwelling 
so  long  on  justification  will  overlook  sanctification.  There  is  no 
conflict  between  these  things.  The  truth  respecting  forgiveness 
and  acceptance  is  not  unfriendly  to  purity.  Ere  we  close  our  study 
of  this  epistle  we  shall  see  that  Paul  is  as  stanch  a  friend  of  holiness 
as  ever  wrote  a  book  of  scripture. 

16.  Let  every  man  beware  lest  he  become  enamored  of  rites 
and  ceremonies,  of  forms  and  ordinances  rather  than  in  love  with 
Christ,  V.  10.  It  is  quite  as  easy  to  put  gospel  ordinances  in  the 
place  the  Saviour  should  occupy,  as  it  was  to  put  the  Jewish  ritual 
in  the  place  of  justifying  righteousness. 

17.  Let  us  seek  to  understand  and  hold  fast  the  true  doctrine 
of  the  sacraments  of  God's  house,  v.  11.  "A  sacrament  is  a  holy 
ordinance  instituted  by  Christ ;  wherein,  by  sensible  signs,  Christ 
and  the  benefits  of  the  new  covenant  are  represented,  sealed,  and 
applied  to  believers."  A  sacrament  is  a  sign,  a  sign  of  some  truth. 
It  sets  forth  something  which  it  concerns  us  to.  know  and  receive. 
And  it  is  a  seal,  confirming  sonie  engagement  on  the  part  of  God. 
If  there  were  no  covenant  of  grace,  there  could  be  no  fitness  in' 
any  sacrament.     In  its  very  nature,  a  sacrament  has  no  inherent 


i8o  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  11-13. 

virtue,  no.  invariable  efficacy.  Nor  does  its  usefulness  depend  on 
the  sanctity  of  him,  who  administers  it.  Unbelief  is  a  rejection  of 
its  usefulness  and  makes  it  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing.  Cony- 
beare  &  Howson  :  "  Abraham  received  circumcision  as  an  out- 
ward sign  of  inward  things,  a  seal  to  attest  the  righteousness  which 
^belonged  to  his  faith  while  he  was  yet  uncircumcised."  The 
sacraments  are  not  righteousness,  nor  the  cause  of  righteousness, 
nor  a  substitute  for  faith,  nor  even  a  seal  of  faith,  but  a  seal  of 
righteousness  received  by  faith.  To  those,  who  reject  Christ  him- 
self, they  are  powerless  for  good.  Not  that  our  unbelief  changes 
their  nature,  any  more  than  it  changes  the  nature  of  God's  word  ; 
but  to  us  it  deprives  them  of  all  good  effect.  Nor  is  there  the 
least  authority  for  the  opinion  that  the  sacraments  of  this  dispensa- 
tion,- more  than  those  of  the  former,  have  any  justifying  power. 
Men  are  justified  by  faith,  not  by  ordinances.  Yet  sacraments  are 
ordained  by  God,  are  full  of  meaning,  and  to  the  humble  and  peni- 
tent great  comforts,  making  sure,  by  our  senses,  what  we  receive 
by  faith.  Chalmers :  '*  The  term  sign  may  be  generally  defined  a 
mark  of  indication,  as  when  we  speak  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  or 
of  the  signs  of  the  weather.  A  sign  becomes  a  seal,  when  it  is  the 
mark  of  any  deed  or  any  declaration,  having  actually  come  forth 
from  him  who  professes  to  be  the  author  of  it.  It  authenticates  it 
to  be  his — so  that  should  it  be  a  promise,  it  binds  him  to  perform- 
ance." We  therefore  fitly  speak  of  sacraments  as  sealing  ordi- 
nances. To  contemn  them  is  to  despise  the  ordinance  of  God.  Yet 
Abraham  was  justified 'long  before  he  was  circumcised.  The  peni- 
tent thief  was  never  baptized,  and  never  partook-  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  yet  he  was  saved.  Simon  Magus  was  duly  baptized,  yet 
continued  in  the  bond  of  iniquity  and  in  the  gall  of  bitterness. 
Some  of  the  Corinthians  in  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ate 
judgment  to  themselves.  Sacraments  rightly  used  are  great  bless- 
ings ;  but  sacraments  put  in  the  place  of  the  grace  and  Spirit  of 
God  are  the  means  of  confirming  men  in  fatal  delusions.  To 
assert  that  baptism  is  regeneration  is  as  great  error  in  our  day,  as 
it  was  of  old  to  teach  that  circumcision  was  complete  righteous- 
ness before  God. 

18.  It  is  a  great  honor  to  be  a  pattern  and  an  encouragement 
to  even  a  few  souls  in  teaching  them  by  example  the  way  of  salva- 
tion. How  great  then  was  the  honor  conferred  on  Abraham  that 
he  should  be  the  father  of  the  faithful,  the  heir  of  the  world,  vs. 
11-13. 

19.  So  rich  are  the  promises  of  God,  that  one  of  the  chief 
difficulties  we  have  is  in  comprehending  their  glorious  fulness, 
V.  13. 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  14,  1 5-]       THE  ROMANS.  i8i 

20.  We  can  never  yield  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace 
through  faith.  To  do  so  makes  the  promises  of  God  of  none 
effect,  V.  14.  To  do  so  puts  us  into  tormenting  uncertainty  con- 
cerning salvation.  Proof  of  this  is  found  in  the  churches  of 
Galatia,  Gal.  4:  15;  and  in  the  Romish  church,  which  utterly 
denies  the  doctrine  of  assurance  of  faith  and  of  hope. 

21.  There  must  be  something  very  malignant  in  the  nature  of 
sin  to  cause  the  law  to  work  wrath,  and  to  cause  God  to  execute 
wrath,  V.  15.  The  law  was  ordained  to  life,  but,  when  sin  entered, 
it  was  found  to  be  unto  death.  Chalmers :  "  Admit  the  arbitra- 
tions of  the  law,  and  wrath  will  be  wrought  out  of  them.  Con- 
demnation* will    be   the   sure   result   of   this    process.      It   must 

•  and  will  pronounce  the  guilt  of  transgression  upon  all,  and,  to 
get  quit  of  this,  there  must  be  some  way  or  other  of  so  dispos- 
ing of  the  law,  as  that  it  shall  not  be  brought  to  bear  in  judgment 
on  the  sinner.  It  has  been  so  disposed  of."  Jesus  Christ  was  made 
a  curse  for  us.  Jesus  Christ  obeyed  in  our  room  and  stead.  He 
brought  in  everlasting  righteousness.  Calvin :  "  The  law  can 
indeed  show  to  the  good  and  the  perfect  the  way  of  life :  but  as 
it  prescribes  to  the  sinful  and  corrupt  what  they  ought  to  do,  and 
supplies  them  with  no  power  for  doing,  it  exhibits  them  as  guilty 
before  God." 

22.  Let  no  man  who  fails  to  lay  hold  of  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  indulge  the  hope  of  escaping  the  curse  of  the  law,  the 
punishment  of  his  sins,  the  wrath  of  God,  v.  15.  Every  wise  man 
cries :  "  Enter  not  into  judgment  with  thy  servant :  for  in  thy 
sight  shall  no  man  living  be  justified,"  Ps.  143  :  2.  All  men  know 
better  than  they  do.     All  have  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 

23.  Unspeakable  are  the  blessings  of  salvation.  Those  who  em- 
brace it  are  the  faithful,  heirs,  heirs  of  God,  joint  heirs  with  Christ. 
The  only  people,  who  are  truly  blessed,  or  to  whom  existence  is 
on  the  whole  desirable,  are  the  justified.  They  have  everlasting 
riches,  treasure  inexhaustible.  No  blessing  can  be  imagined  that 
is  not  vouchsafed  to  the  true  child  of  God.  All  things  are  his. 
Pardon,  peace,  acceptance,  authority  to  become  a  son  of  God,  pu- 
rification, victory  final  and  comple-te,  eternal  life  in  a  glorified 
state — all  are  secured  to  him,  who  believes  in  Jesus  and  takes  him 
as  his  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification  and  redemption. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

VERSES    16-25. 

JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  AND  BY  GRACE  THE 
SAME.  ABRAHAM'S  FAITH  STRONG.  HIS  EX- 
AMPLE COMMENDED.  WHY  CHRIST  DIED  AND 
ROSE  AGAIN. 


16  Th-erefore  it  is  of  faith,  that  it  might  be  by  grace  ;  to  the  end  the  promise 
might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed ;  not  to  that  only  which  is  of  the  law,  but  to  that 
also  which  is  of  the  faith  of  Abraham  ;   who  is  the  father  of  us  all, 

17  (As  it  is  written,  I  have  made  thee  a  father  of-  many  nations,)  before  him 
whom  he  believed,  even  God,  who  quickeneth  the  dead,  and  calleth  those  things 
which  be  not  as  though  they  were : 

18  Who  against  hope  believed  in  hope,  that  he  might  become  the  father  of 
many  nations,  according  to  that  which  was  spoken.  So  shall  thy  seed  be. 

19  And  being  not  weak  in  faith,  he  considered  not  his  own  body  now  dead, 
when  he  was  about  a  hundred  years  old,  neither  yet  the  deadness  of  Sarah's 
womb  : 

20  He  staggered  not  at  the  promise  of  God  through  unbelief;  but  was  strong 
in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God  ; 

21  And  being  fully  persuaded,  that  what  he  had  promised,  he  was  able  also  to 
perform. 

22  And   therefore  it  was  imputed  to  him  for  righteousness. 

23  Now  it  was  not  written  for  his  sake  alone,  that  it  was  imputed  to  him  ; 

24  But  for  us  also,  to  whom  it  shall  be  imputed,  if  we  believe  on  him  that 
raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the  dead  ; 

25  Who  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  was  raised  again  for  our  justification. 

-H  r^  THEREFORE,  it  is  of  faith,  that'it  might  be  by  grace  ;  to 
JL  vJ»  the  end  the  promise  might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed ;  not  to  that 
only,  which  is  of  the  law,  but  to  that  also  which  is  of  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham ;  who  is  the  father  of  us  all.  Therefore  connects  this  verse  not 
so  much  with  the  preceding  verse,  as  with  the  whole  of  the  pre- 
ceding argument.  The  first  part  is  very  elliptical.  Our  transla- 
tors leave  it  vague,  supplying  it.  The  Assembly's  Annotations 
understand  the  way  of  obtaining  life ;  Hammond,  the  promise 
(182) 


Ch.  IV,  vs.  i6,  i;.]      THE  ROMANS.  183 

of  reward  ;  Scott,  a  title  to  the  promised  blessings  ;  Dutch  Anno- 
tations, the  promise  of  this  inheritance ;  Stuart,  justification. 
Wiclif  supplies  rightfulness ;  Chrysostom,  Coverdale,  Evans, 
Doddridge,  Glarke,  Olshausen  and  others,  promise  ;  Calvin,  Tyn- 
dale,  Cranmer,  Genevan,  Locke,  Ferme,  Brown,  Pool,  Macknight, 
Slade,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  inheritance.  Either  promise,  in- 
heritance, righteousness  or  blessedness  gives  the  general  idea  of 
the  apostle.  Perhaps  inheritance  is  the  best.  Gal.  3:18.  Some  of 
the  old  versions  give  a  rendering  slightly  varied ;  Peshito  :  Where- 
fore, it  is  by  the  faith  which  is  by  grace,  that  we  are  justified  ; 
Arabic  :  Therefore  they  are  heirs  through  faith,  that  it  might  be 
according  to  his  grace ;  Ethiopic :  And  moreover  God  has  ap- 
pointed justification  by  faith,  that  justification  might  be  by  his 
grace ;  Vulgate :  Therefore  it  is  of  faith,  that  through  grace  the 
promise  might  be  firm  to  all  the  seed.  The  objection  to  each  of 
these  is  that  the  Greek  hardly  allows  it.  The  apostle's  object  is 
to  prove  that  the  whole  work  of  our  salvation  is  of  grace,  not  of 
our  merit ;  by  favor,  not  by  debt.  It  is  well  for  us  sinners  that  it 
is  so.  If  our  heirship  at  all  depended. on  our  personal  conformity 
to  the  law,  it  would  certainly  fail ;  for  in  many  things  we  all  offend. 
But  if  it  depends  on  faith  graciously  given  us  by  God,  it  clearly 
depends  on  God's  unmerited  and  boundless  kindness,  given  us  in 
God's  eternal  purpose,  promised  in  the  covenant  of  peace,  ex- 
pressed to  us  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  applied  to  us  in  the  work 
of  the  Spirit.  Thus  the  promise  is  indeed  sure,  firm,  steadfast,  of 
force,  (so  the  word  is  elsewhere  rendered,  Heb.  3  : 6,  14;  9  :  17)  to 
?i\\  the  seed,  to  all  Abraham's  spiritual  children;  twt  to  that  only 
which  is  of  the  law,  or  Jews  by  birth,  but  to  that  also,  which  is  of  the 
faith  of  Abraham,  i.  e.  to  those  who  sustain  none  but  a  spiritual  re- 
lation to  Abraham,  and  are  his  seed  only  because  they  have  like 
precious  faith  with  him.  This  is  the  most  important  for  he  is  the 
father  of  us  all,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  who  believe  as  he  believed. 
"  If  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  accord- 
ing to  the  promise,"  Gal.  3  :  29.  Stuart :  "  If  the  promise  were  to 
be  fulfilled  only  on  condition  of  entire  obedience  to  the  law,  then 
would  it  never  have  any  fulfilment,  inasmuch  as  no  mere  man 
ever  did  or  will  exhibit  perfect  obedience."  Calvin  :  "  The  prom- 
ise then  only  stands  firm,  when  it  recumbs  on  grace."  Paul  now 
confirms  this  doctrine  by  a  quotation  from  Gen.  17:  5  : 

1 7  {As  it  is  written,  I  have  made  thee  a  father  of  many  nations^  before 
him  whom  he  believed,  even  God,  who  quickeneth  the  dead,  and  calleth 
those  things  which  be  not  as  though  they  were.  This  promise  to  Abra- 
ham was  made  when  he  was  an  old  man,  and  some  time  before  the 
birth  of  Isaac.     Yet  God  says  I  have  already  done  it.     So  unfail- 


.184  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  i8. 

ing  is  God's  counsel  that  what  he  purposes  is  as  good  as  accom- 
plished, and  is  often  so  spoken  of  in  the  prophetic  writings  ;  there- 
fore it  may  be  well  said  that  he  calletk  those  tilings  which  be  not  [but 
which  he  has  determined  on]  as  though  they  zvere^  Some  have 
found  difficulty  with  the  word  calleth,  as  though  it  contained  some 
mysterious  meaning.  It  may  be  taken  in  either  of  two  senses, 
both  obvious  and  both  agreeing  with  the  use  of  the  word  else- 
*  where,  i.  Calling  things  that  are  not,  according  to  some  is  author- 
itatively commanding  them  into  existence.  Bp.  Hall :  "  By  his 
mighty  word  he  is  able  to  make  those  things  to  be  which  are  not." 
Olshausen  :  "  It  is  the  creative  call  of  the  Almighty."  2.  Calling 
often  means  giving  names  to  persons  or  things,  or  speaking  of 
them  under  certain  designations.  See  many  instances  in  all  the 
gospels,  as  Matt,  i  :  21,  23,  25  ;  also  Acts  1:12,  19,  23  ;  Jas.  2  :  23  ; 
I  Pet.  3  :  6;  I  John  3:1;  Rev.  i  :  9 and  often.  Macknight:  "  He 
speaketh  of  things  in  the  remotest  futurity,  wJiich  exist  not,  with  as 
much  certainty,  as  if  they  existed.''  This  is  the  simpler,  and  per- 
haps the  better  meaning  here.  The  pertinency  of  saying  in  this 
place  that  God  quickeneth  the  dead  is  not  merely  that  the  power 
which  effects  resurrection,  can  accomplish  any  thing ;  but  it  has 
special  reference  to  the  age  and  infirmities  of  Abraham  and  Sarah 
when  the  promise  of  a  great  posterity  was  made.  See  v.  19.  Cran- 
mer,  Genevan,  Rheims  and  Doway  agree  with  the  authorized  ver- 
sion in  putting  the  quotation  in  parenthesis.  This  is  doubtless  cor- 
rect. If  so,  we  must  join  some  words  in  this  with*  the  preceding 
verse  :  Hew  the  father  of  us  all  before  him  whom  he  believed,  even  God, 
i.  e.  in  the  sight,  view,  or  estimation  of  Jehovah  Abraham  was  the 
spiritual  father  of  great  multitudes,  who  should  believe,  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles  ;  even  as  he  was  according  to  the  flesh  the  ancestor 
of  all  that  lineally  descended  from  him.  Other  explanations  are 
offered,  but  they  are  forced,  or  aside  from  the  drift  of  Paul's  argu- 
ment. This  is  pertinent  and  agrees  with  what  follows.  He 
makes  a  great  deal  of  the  faith  of  Abraham  : 

18.  Who  against  hope  believed  in  hope,  that  he  might  become  the 
fatJier  of  many  nations,  according  to  that  wJiich  was  spoken.  So 
shall  thy  seed  be.  To  believe  in  hope  is  confidently  to  believe  ;  and 
to  believe  in  hope  against  hope  is  confidently  to  believe  when  ap- 
pearances would  lead  to  a  very  different  conclusion.  Doddridge  : 
"  Against  all  human  and  probable  hope,  he  believed  with  an  assured 
and  joyful  hope  ;"  Locke  :  "  Without  any  hope,  which  the  natural 
course  of  things  could  afford,  he  did  in  hope  believe."  He  be- 
lieved that  according  to  God's  promise  he  should  become,  or  he 
believed  the  promise  that  he  might  thus  become  the  father  of 
many  nations.    Other  constructions  have  been  put  on  these  words, 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  19-21.]       THE  R  OMA  NS.  185 

but  either  of  these  is  better,  coinciding  entirely  with  the  scope  of 
the  argument.  Some  have  contended  that  Abraham  understood 
not  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  blessings  promised  to  him  by  the 
Lord.  But  Christ  says:  "Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and 
he  saw  it  and  was  glad,"  John  8  :  56.  Compare  Gal.  3  :  14,  16. 
If  any  say  that  the  promise  was  so  glorious  that  even  Abraham 
with  all  his  faith  did  not  fully  comprehend  it ;  the  same  may  be 
said  of  all  the  promises  and  of  all  believers.  So  shall  thy  seed  be 
is  a  quotation  from  Gen.  15:5,  where  it  is  promised  that  his  seed 
shall  be  in  number  like  the  stars.  This  is  more  illustriously 
fulfilled  in  the  spiritual  children  than  in  the  descendants  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh. 

19.  And  bevig  not  weak  in  faith,  he  considered  not  his  own  body 
now  dead,  wJien  he  was  about  a  hundred  years  old,  neither  yet  tJie  dead- 
ness  of  SaraJi  s  zvonib.  Every  record  of  Abraham's  faith  shews  that 
it  was  strong  and  unfaltering.  Yet  its  strength  arose  entirely  from 
his  confidence  in  the  truth  and  power  of  God,  and  not  at  all  from 
anything  he  saw.  Indeed  as  to  any  likelihood  of  his  becoming  a 
father  or  Sarah  becoming  a  mother  of  the  promised  seed,  nothing 
seemed  more  improbable,  for  both  of  them  were  old,  and  as  to  this 
matter,  dead.  Both  Tyndale  and  Cranmer  for  dead  in  the  case  of 
Sarah  have  past  chylde  beringe.  In  Heb.  1 1  :  1 1  Paul  says  she  was 
past  age ;  and  in  Heb.  11  :  12  he  says  of  Abraham  that  at  the  time 
named  Jie  was  as  good  as  dead.  That  was  so  ;  for  he  was  about  a. 
hundred  years  old,  and  Sarah  was  ninety  years  old.  Gen.  17  :  17. 

20.  He  staggered  not  at  the  promise  of  God  through  unbelief;  but 
was  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God.  In  the  preceding  verse  he 
was  said  to  have  been  not  weak  in  faith  ;  'in  this  he  is  said  to 
have  been  strong  in  faith.  And  we  are  here  told  that  faith  is 
strong  when  it  has  no  such  admixture  of  unbelief  as  produces 
uncertainty.  Staggerijtg,  nowhere  else  so  rendered,  but  commonly 
doubting,  wavering,  disputing,  judging.  God  had  spoken  and 
Abraham  took  him  at  his  word,  did  not  sit  in  judgment  on  his 
engagement,  did  not  dispute  nor  waver  respecting  it.  Thus  he 
was  found  giving  glory  to  God,  i.  e.  so  confiding  in  the  faithfulness 
and  power  of  God,  that  then  and  ever  since  Abraham's  faith  has 
honored  God,  and  also  caused  others  to  trust  and  glorify  him. 

21.  And  bei?ig  fully  persuaded,  that  ivhat  he  had  promised,  he  was 
able  also  to  perform.  Here  Abraham's  faith  is  spoken  of  in  terms  still 
stronger.  It  now  amounts  to  a  full  persuasion.  It  lacks  nothing. 
It  puts  the  highest  honor  on  God.  It  can  do  no  more.  Such 
faith  can  walk  in  darkness  and  have  no  light,  and  yet  trust  in 
the  Lord  to  make  good  all  he  has  engaged.  Able  here  and 
often  implies  both  power  and  willingness. 


i86  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  22-25. 

22.  And  therefore  it  was  imputed  to  him  for  righteousness.  Its 
strength  evinced  its  perfect  genuineness.  It  could  not  be  doubted. 
He  became  righteous  not  by  any  works,  but  wholly  by  his  faith, 
laying  hold  of  the  covenant  of  grace  and  thus  receiving  the  right- 
eousness therein  set  forth. 

23.  Now  it  was  not  written  for  his  sake  alone ,  that  it  was  imputed 
to  him.  He  might  have  believed,  been  justified,  had  righteousness 
imputed  to  him,  and  gone  to  glory,  and  no  man  living  after  him 
have  known  anything  about  him.  God  did  not  make  his  a  case 
of  record  to  please  Abraham's  vanity,  or  to  exalt  his  self-esteem. 
The  great  thing  for  the  patriarch  was  that  a  perfect,  glorious, 
righteousness  was  graciously  imputed  to  him.  It  was  written  not 
for  his  sake  alone  ; 

24.  But  for  us  also,  to  whom  it  shall  he  imputed,  if  we  believe  on 
him  that  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the  dead.  Abraham  was  a 
pattern,  a  leader,  an  heir,  a  father  of  all  such  as  believe ;  and  all, 
who  have  faith,  leading  them  to  embrace  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel now  clearly  revealed,  shall  have  the  same  glorious  right- 
eousness, the  righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ 
imputed  to  them  also.  One  of  the  great  truths  necessary  to  be 
believed,  a  fundamental  truth  of  Christianity,  was  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ.  If  this  were  doubted,  preaching  and  faith  were 
both  vain.     We  must  look  to  Jesus ; 

25.  Who  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  was  raised  again  for 
our  justification.  He  was  delivered,  given  up,  or  given  over,  Rom. 
I  :  24,  26,  28  ;  betrayed,  Matt,  17  :  22  ;  i  Cor.  11  :  23  ;  delivered  in 
a  good  sense,  Acts  16 :  14;  i  Cor.  15  :  24.  The  same  word  is  used 
to  express  the  treacherous  act  of  Judas,  the  malignant  conduct  of 
the  chief  priests  in  bringing  him  before  Pilate,  the  cowardly  act 
of  Pilate  in  giving  him  over  to  crucifixion,  the  act  of  God  in  sub- 
jecting him  to  the  curse  for  us  and  his  own  act  in  giving  up  the 
ghost,  Matt.  20:18,19;  John  19:  16;  Rom.  8:32;  John  21:  20, 
In  this  place  it  chiefly  refers  to  the  act  of  his  Father  in  laying  on 
him  the  iniquity  of  us  all,  in  bruising  him,  in  putting  him  to 
grief,  in  making  his  soul  an  oflfering  for  sin,  Isa,  53:6,  10,  But 
this  was  not  done  without  his  voluntary  act  of  giving  himself 
lip  to  suffering.  Gal.  2  :  20 ;  where  the  same  word  is  used.  For 
our  offences ;  Peshito  and  Ethiopic,  on  account  of  our  sins ;  Arabic 
and  Vulgate,  for  our  faults.  The  word  is  rendered  faults,  sins, 
trespasses,  offences ;  but  he  was  delivered  up  not  for  his  own  sins, 
for  he  had  none  ;  but  for  our  sins,  and  for  ours  only.  He  was  de- 
livered to  the  curse,  to  death,  to  the  grave,  "  He  was  wounded 
[margin  tormented]  for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our 
iniquities,  and  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  [that  procured  our 


Ch.  IV.,  V.  i6.]  THE  ROMANS.  187 

peace]  was  upon  him,"  Isa.  53:5.  The  word  rendered  for  is  one 
of  the  prepositions,  which  as  Hornbeck  and  others  have  shewed, 
is  used  to  teach  Christ's  substitution.  In  no  way  could  he  suffer 
for  our  sins  except  that  they  were  imputed  to  him.  He  "■  was 
made  sin  for  us."  "  He  hath  loved  us,  and  hath  given  himself 
for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  sweet  smelling 
savour,"  2  Cor.  5:21;  Eph.  5:2.  And  was  raised  again  for  our 
justification.  On  Christ's  resurrection  see  above,  the  exposition 
of  Rom.  I  :  4,  and  Doctrinal  and  Practical  Remarks  thereon. 
Here  Christ's  resurrection  is  said  to  be  for  our  justification,  for  the 
purpose  of  effecting  our  justification,  or  on  that  account.  He 
was  our  Surety.  Had  he  Remained  a  prisoner  in  the  grave  it 
would  have  proven  that  the  work  of  atonement  was  incomplete, 
that  his  sacrifice  had  not  been  accepted,  and  that  we  were  still 
under  condemnation,  i  Cor.  15  :  17.  Nor  could  Christ  without 
rising  from  the  dead  have  entered  into  heaven  there  to  present 
his  most  precious  blood,  and  intercede  for  his  people.  In  this 
epistle  we  have  already  frequently  met  with  the  adjective  just 
or  righteous,  with  the  verb  to  justify  or  to  be  justified,  and 
with  the  noun  uniformly  rendered  righteousness.  In  this  verse 
we  first  meet  with  the  noun  justification.  The  same  word  occurs 
in  Rom.  5  :  19  and  no  where  else  in  the  New  Testament,  though 
in  Rom.  5  :  16  we  have  a  cognate  noun  rendered  justification. 
These  two  words  are  sometimes  used  in  the  same  sense  both  in 
the  Septuagint  and  by  Paul,  though  the  latter  is  also  rendered 
ordinance,  judgment  and  righteousness. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL- REMARKS. 

1.  All  God's  plans  and  works  are  perfect.  None  of  them  can 
be  amended.  When  we  diligently  and  successfully  study  them 
we  are  continually  finding  out  new  and  important  relations  in 
them.  The  apostle  closed  the  preceding  chapter  by  saying  that 
through  faith  we  establish  the  law.  Here  he  shews  that  by  the 
same  doctrine  of  gratuitous  salvation  by  faith  we  establish  the 
promises  of  God,  v.  16.  Were  the  promises  of  God  suspended 
in  the  least  on  human  merits,  or  human  strength,  all  men  would 
perish.  Now  every  man's  case  is  met  and  every  man's  necessities 
are  provided  for  in  the  gospel  scheme. 

2.  As  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace  through  faith  in  the 
Redeemer  is  vital,  it  is  well  that  we  have  line  upon  line,  and  are 
taught  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again,  in  all  fitting  forms  of 
speech,  that  there  may  be  left. open  no  door  for  reasonable  doubt, 
V.  16.    This  plan  is  "  grounded  upon  God  and  his  immutable  pleas- 


i88  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IV.,  vs.  17,  18. 

ure,  and  upon  Christ's  perfect  and  everlasting  righteousness,  and 
not  upon  men's  variable  will,  and  inconstant  obedience."  As 
Jehovah  found  cause  not  in  us  but  in  himself  to  provide  salvation 
for  us,  so  he  finds  cause  in  himself  alone  for  accomplishing  all  he 
has  undertaken.  Olshausen  :  "  Every  thing,  which  depends  upon 
the  decision,  faithfulness  and  constancy  of  such  an  irresolute  and 
wavering  being  as  man,  is,  in  St.  Paul's  view,  extremely  uncer- 
tain ;  but  that  which  depends  upon  God,  '  with  whom  is  no  vari- 
ableness neither  shadow  of  turning,'  is  firmly  established."  It  is  a 
sad  mistake  in  not  a  few  that  they  make  faith  itself  a  work,  and 
put  it  in  the  place  both  of  perfect  obedience  to  the  law,  and  of 
Christ's  righteousness,  and  thus  look  upon  God's  favor  "  as  a 
premium,  not  a  premium  for  doing,  it  is  true,  but  a  premium  for 
believing."  To  make  a  new  law  out  of  the  gospel  is  to  destroy 
all  the  solid  foundations  of  Christian  joy  and  peace. 

3.  Things  are  great  and  good,  or  small  and  evil,  as  they  are 
before  God,  v.  17.  His  estimate  of  all  things  and  of  all  beings 
is  alone  infallible.  It  is  a  small  matter  to  be  judged  of  man's 
judgment.  Man  is  a  worm.  Man  is  a  fool.  Man  is  a  sinner. 
Man  is  horribly  perverted  in  his  affections,  warped  in  his  judg- 
ments, erratic  in  his  conduct.  But  God  knows  the  end  from  the 
beginning.  That,  which  shall  be  a  thousand  ages  hence,  is  as  well 
known  to  God  as  that  which  occurred  yesterday.  Let  us  never 
forget  that  he,  which  judgeth  us,  is  the  Lord. 

4.  He,  who  can  raise  the  dead,  can  do  any  thing,  v.  17.  Well 
may  the  challenge  be  given.  Is  any  thing  too  hard  for  the  Lord  ? 
Gen.  18  :  14.  He,  who  is  able  of  the  stones  to  raise  up  children 
unto  Abraham,  can  never  be  straitened  in  his  resources.  Matt. 
3  :  9.  When  the  prophet  was  asked  if  the  dry  bones  in  the  valley 
of  vision  could  live,  he  replied  to  the  Lord,  Thou  knowest. 
Whether  a  thing  is  to  be  or  not  to  be,  to  be  vile  or  honorable, 
useful  or  hurtful,  turns  altogether  on  the  relations  of  God  to  it. 

5.  God's  being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and 
truth  are  a  sufficient  offset  to  any  appearances  whatever,  v.  18.  "One 
almighty  is  more  mighty  than  all  the  mighties  in  the  universe." 
The  Amen  cannot  but  be  faithful.  He  is  the  best  and  the  wisest 
man,  who  with  the  most  childlike  simplicity  believes  every  word 
God  utters.  Implicit  faith  in  man  is  great  folly.  Implicit  faith  in 
God  is  the  height  of  wisdom.  Chalmers :  "  Such  is  the  way  in 
which  the  message  of  the  gospel  is  constructed — such  are  the 
terms  of  that  embassy  with  which  its  ministers  are  charged,  that 
the  promise  of  God  as  a  shield,  and  of  God  as  an  exceeding  great 
reward,  is  as  good  as  laid  down  at  the  door  of  every  individual 
who  hears  it.     It  is  true  the  promise  thus  laid  down  will  not  be 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  18-20.]       THE  ROMANS.  189 

fulfilled  upon  him,  unless  he  take  it  up,  or,  in  other  words,  unless 
he  believe  it.  Now  there  is  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  nature  be- 
lieving any  such  thing.  There  is  a  struggle  that  it  must  make 
with  its  own  fears  and  its  own  suspicions,  ere  it  can  admit  the 
credibility  of  a  holy  God  thus  taking  sinners  into  acceptance." 
The  shorter  that  struggle  is  the  better  for  us.  Unbelief  is  folly, 
is  perversity,  is  ruin.  Faith  believes  best  when  it  reasons  least. 
It  relies  most,  and  has  most  comfort,  and  shews  most  wisdom, 
when  it  simply  says,  "  Good  is  the  word  of  the  Lord  ;"  ''  For  ever, 
O  Lord,  thy  word  is  settled  in  heaven  ;"  "Thy  faithfulness  is  unto 
all  generations." 

6.  The  scripture  cannot  be  broken.  God  said  that  Abraham's 
seed  should  be  in  number  like  the  stars,  and  like  the  stars  they 
became,  V.  18.  It  could  not  be  otherwise.  Calvin:  "The  past 
tense  of  the  verb,  according  to  the  common  usage  of  Scripture, 
denotes  the  certainty  of  the  divine  counsel."  If  God  speaks,  it  is 
done.  If  he  commands,  it  stands  fast.  If  it  could  be  shewn  that 
according  to  its  true  intent  any  word  of  God  had  failed,  all  con- 
fidence, and  comfort  in  him  would  vanish.  A  justly  suspected 
God  could  be  no  solace  to  a  sinking  soul.  Faithfulness  that  is  not 
unimpeachable  is  not  divine. 

7.  Let  us  not  therefore  dwell  so  much  on  our  circumstances  as 
on  our  covenant  relations,  not  so  much  on  the  means  of  support 
and  deliverance  as  on  God  the  promiser. 

8.  The  wisest  thing  any  mortal  can  do  is  without  questioning 
or  hesitancy  to  believe  everything  God  has  spoken,  v.  20.  Chry- 
sostom :  "  From  the  case  of  Abraham  we  learn,  that  if  God  promises 
even  countless  impossibilities,  and  he  that  heareth  doth  not  receive 
them,  it  is  not  the  nature  of  the  things  that  is  to  blame,  but  the 
unreasonableness  of  him  who  receiveth  them  not."  Even  Balaam's 
theology  carried  him  so  far  as  to  say  :  "  God  is  not  a  man  that  he 
should  lie  ;  neither  the  son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent ;  hath  he 
said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it?  or  hath  he  spoken  and  shall  he  not 
make  it  good?  "  Num.  23  :  19.  If  any  should  think  that  the  day^ 
are  past  wheit  a  strong  faith  is  necessary,  he  is  wholly  mistaken. 
Here  is  one,  who  has  always  led  a  life  of  ungodliness.  At  last  his 
soul  is  awaked  from  its  sleep  of  death.  He  sees  that  there  is  a 
God,  who  governs  the  world  by  a  law  that  is  holy,  just  and  good ; 
that  against  that  law  he  himself  has  transgressed  in  times  and 
ways  innumerable.  His  iniquities  take  hold  of  him  like  armed 
men  and  are  dragging  him  to  the  prison  of  despair.  Go  to  him, 
and  attempt  to  persuade  him  to  exercise  faith  in  the  promises  of 
God  to  those,  who  have  sinned  as  he  has  done,  and  what  a  task  you 
have  on  hand !     Tell  him  of  God's  spotless  rectitude,  and  he  says 


i9o'  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  20. 

I  know  it ;  I  have  sinned  against  it ;  I  am  sadly  contrary  to  it. 
Point  him  to  the  divine  veracity,  the  great  pillar  of  hope,  and  he 
rejoins,  That  is  even  so,  but  the  same  unfailing  truth  has  said, 
"The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  Exhort  him  to  fix  his  stead- 
fast eye  on  the. divine  compassion  expressed  in  the  cross  of  Christ, 
and  he  says,  God  is  merciful,  but  I  have  long  slighted  and  abused 
his  grace  and  been  cold  to  his  loving  kindness.  Tell  him  of  the 
penitent  thief,  converted  on  the  cross,  and  he  reminds  you  that  his 
case  was  extraordinary,  and  that  inspiration  alike  tells  us  of  his 
companion  in  crime  dying  in  his  sins.  Hold  up  before  him  that 
great  pattern  of  mercy,  Paul ;  and  he  says,  Yea,  but  his  great  sins 
were  committed  ignorantly  in  unbelief,  but  I  have  sinned  against 
light,  vows  and  convictions.  To  him  it  looks  as  if  everything  in 
God  were  against  him  ;  for  the  saving  view  of  divine  truth  has  not 
yet  been  revealed  to  him.  All  within  him  is  dark.  His  history  is 
black  with  offences.  His  prospects  are  dismal.  He  is  sinking  into 
sadness  bordering  on  despair.  To  him  it  looks  as  if  everything 
was  against  him.  Everything  in  God  is  to  his  mind  tremendous. 
He  cannot  persuade  himself  that  Jehovah  looks  or  ever  can  look 
on  him  but  as  an  enemy,  an  outcast  from  the  hopes  of  the  right- 
eous. He  sees  not  how  he,  who  is  accustomed  to  do  evil,  shall 
ever  learn  to  do  well.  He  is  fearfully  holden  with  the  cords  of 
his  sins.  Of  the  renewal  of  his  fallen  nature  he  has  no  experience 
and  no  hope.  So  far  is  he  gone  in  the  downward  road  of  rebellion 
and  remorse,  that  it  is  clear  as  day  that  if  he  shall  ever  have  peace 
in  believing,  it  n^ust  be  by  a  faith,  which  shall  be  the  gift  of  God. 
No  human  persuasion  can  ever  fetch  him  up  from  the  depths,  to 
which  he  has  fallen.  It  must  be  given  him  from  above  to  believe 
in  the  great  sacrifice  of  Calvary,  and  there  in  the  cross  of  Christ 
see  all  the  divine  attributes  harmonizing  in  his  salvation.  Even 
then  his  faith  may  be  weak,  compared  with  that  of  others,  com- 
pared with  what  it  shall  be,  but  it  is  yet  precious  faith  and  a 
mighty  principle  that  can  change  his  entire  relations  to  God  and 
all  things. 

9.  Such  faith  glorifies  God,  v.  20.  It  puts  all  honor  on  his  )yord, 
his  grace,  his  power,  his  wisdom,  his  faithfulness.  ChrvM^m : 
"  The  very  privilege  of  glorifying  God  were  itself  a  glo||i^^^^ps  is 
the  highest  aim  of  unfallen  angels  and  redeemed  men.  iPBiPnigh- 
est  destiny  of  any  creature  to  glorify  God  and  enjoy  him  for  ever. 

10.  But  let  us  not  confound  the  astonishment  of  true  faith  with 
the  perplexity  of  unbelief.  The  latter  is  a  vice  ;  the  former  a  vir- 
tue. The  pious  Jews  released  from  Babylon  were  "  like  them  that 
dream."  Peter  released  from  prison  "  wist  not  that  it  was  true 
which  was  done  by  the  angel ;  but  thought  he  saw  a  vision." 


Ch.  IV.,  vs.  21-24.]        THE  ROMANS.  191 

Calvin :  "  Abraham  asked  indeed,  how  it  could  come  to  pass,  but 
that  was  the  asking  of  one  astonished ;  as  the  case  was  with  the 
Virgin  Mary,  when  she  inquired  of  the  angel  how  could  that  be 
which  he  had  announced."  Pious  wonder  will  never  cease.  Cal- 
vin :  "  No  greater  honor  can  be  given  to  God  than  by  faith  to  seal 
his  truth ;  as,  on  the  other  hand,  no  greater  dishonor  can  be  done 
to  him,  than  to  refuse  his  offered  favor  or  to  discredit  his  word." 
We  may  wonder ;  we  must  not  disbelieve. 

11.  True  faith  obeys  as  well  as  trusts.  We  must  walk  in  the 
steps  of  believers.  We  must  act  as  if  all  God  had  spoken  was 
true.  It  is  in  vain  to  say  in  words,  We  trust,  and  to  say  by  deeds, 
We  have  no  confidence.  Concerning  all  the  promises  made  him 
and  commandments  given  him  Abraham  behaved  as  if  he  believed 
every  word.  Our  weakness  cannot  check  God's  operations.  Let 
not  our  lives  prove  that  our  faith  is  heartless.' 

12.  Genuine  and  strong  faith  begets  undoubting  persuasion  of  all 
that  God  promises,  however  new  and  difficult  may  be  our  circum- 
stances, V.  21.  Abraham  could  look  back  to  no  example,  where 
God  had  done  such  wonders  as  were  promised  to  him.  He  looked 
at  himself  and  he  was  as  good  as  dead.  He  looked  at  Sarah  and 
she  seemed  far  too  old  to  be  a  mother,  and  besides  had  always 
been  barren ;  and  yet  he  was  fully  persuaded,  that  what  God  had 
promised,  he  would  perform.  God  knows  and  governs  all  causes 
and  all  hindrances,  and  so  is  never  defeated,  never  nonplused. 

1.3.  Faith  is  at  the  greatest  possible  remove  from  fancy,  from 
dreams,  from  vagaries.  It  lives  and  exults  when  it  reads  or  hears 
the  promise  of  Jehovah.  It  believes  God,  not  the  creature,  v.  22. 
It  is  such  faith  that  is  imputed  for  righteousness,  for  such  faith  will 
accept  the  grace  of  the  gospel.  Calvin :  "  It  becomes  now  more 
clear,  how  and  in  what  manner  faith  brought  righteousness  to 
Abraham  ;  and  that  was,  because  he,  leaning  on  God's  word, 
rejected  not  the  promised  favor."  If  we  are  now  believers  in 
Christ,  we  have  assurance  of  the  final  triumph,  an  assurance  con- 
firmed to  us  more  and  more  as  we  advance  in  knowledge  of  God's 
word,  and  in  experience. 

..i^..  Abraham  was  in  many  things  a  model  of  piety,  yet  his 
worij^li^^d  not  save  him.  But  for  his  faith  in  the  Redeemer  he 
woulcHflif^e  perished,  v.  22.     The  same  is  true  of  us.  Gal.  3  :  9. 

15.  No  Scripture  is  of  any  private  interpretation,  but  whatso- 
ever things  were  written  of  old,  were  written  for  our  learning, 
that  we  through  patience  and  comfort  of  the  scriptures  might  have 
hope,  vs.  23,  24.  There  is  one  and  but  one  way  of  obtaining  right- 
eousness, of  gaining  the  victory  over  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the 
devil,  and  that  is  the  way  of  faith  in  a  Redeemer. 


192  EPIS  TLE.  [Ch.  IV.,  v.  24,  25. 

16.  As  Abraham  came  off  victorious,  so  shall  all  his  spiritual 
children.  Hawker:  "  Beyond  all  doubt,  notwithstanding  all  that 
is  said  of  this  venerable  patriarch  in  commendation  of  his  faith ; 
the  humblest  and  poorest  believer  is  equally  interested  in  all  the 
blessings  of  Christ  in  right  of  redemption.  And  for  this  plain 
reason  all  is  God's  gift,  not  man's  worth.  The  patriarch  had  no 
more  faith  than  was  given  him.  Hence  all  he  had  he  owed  to  the 
Lord."     The  same  is  true  of  all  the  faithful. 

17.  We  cannot  too  often  revert  to  the  great  fact  and  doctrine 
of  the  atonement  of  Christ,  v.  25.  Christ  vf2iS  delivered  by  the  de- 
terminate counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,  Acts  2  :  23.  But  he 
was  delivered  for  our  offences.  Then,  if  we  accept  him,  we  need 
not  die  for  our  own  sins.  And  if  his  blood,  not  being  yet  shed, 
saved  Abraham,  surely  his  blood  sprinkled  on  the  mercy-seat 
above  can  save  us.  Abraham  believed  in  a  Saviour  yet  to  come. 
We  believe  in  a  Saviour  already  come.  Abraham  and  his  spiritual 
seed  have  all  had  the  same  kind  of  faith  and  the  same  object  of 
faith.  Bp.  Hall :  ''  Christ  was  delivered  to  death  for  the  full  satis- 
faction for  all  our  sins,  in  that  he  paid  for  us  that  debt  which 
we  were  never  able  to  have  discharged."  He  who  rejects  this 
truth  refuses  salvation  on  God's  terms,  and  God  accepts  sinners 
on  no  other  terms.  This  is  a  fundamental  doctrine.  So  is  also 
the  next  truth  stated  : 

18.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  cannot  be  given  up  on  any  ac- 
count, vs.  24,  25.  If  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  is  still  under  the 
power  of  death,  we  are  under  the  power  of  condemnation.  But 
he  has  surely  risen  for  our  justification.  He  lives  to  intercede  for 
us.  Calvin  :  "  When  we  possess  the  benefit  of  Christ's  death  and 
resurrection,  there  is  nothing  wanting  to  the  completion  of  per- 
fect righteousness."  Stuart :  "  As  justification,  in  its  full  sense, 
comprehends  not  only  forgiveness,  but  the  accepting  and  treating 
of  any  one  as  righteous,  it  implies  of  course  the  being  advanced 
to  a  state  of  glory.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  was  connected 
with  this."  Doddridge  :  "  By  faith  shall  the  righteousness  of  our 
Redeemer  be  reckoned  as  ours,  to  all  the  purposes  of  our  justifi- 
cation and  acceptance  with  God."  Hodge  :  "  As  surely  as  Christ 
has  risen,  so  surely  shall  believers  be  saved."  We  have  an  ever- 
living  Saviour  ;  and  because  he  lives  we  shall  live  also. 

19.  The  gospel  consists  not  of  a  number  of  detached  truths  but 
of  a  system  of  doctrines,  facts  and  principles,  making  one  harmo- 
nious whole,  gloriously  exalting  God,  reconciling  things  appar- 
ently antagonistic,  and  giving  faithful  men  the  strongest  assurance 
of  eternal  life. 


CHAPTER   V. 


VERSES  1-1 1. 

HAVING  SHEWN  MAN'S  NEED  OF  GRATUITOUS 
SALVATION,  AND  HOW  IT  IS  OBTAINED,  THE 
APOSTLE  PROCEEDS  TO  STATE  THE  BLESSED 
EFFECTS   OF  JUSTIFICATION. 

Therefore  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  : 

2.  By  whom  also  we  have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we  stand,  and 
rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God. 

3  And  not  only  so,  but  we  glory  in  tribulations  also ;  knowing  that  tribulation 
worketh  patience ; 

4  And  patience,  experience ;  and  experience,  hope  : 

5  And  hope  maketh  not  ashamed ;  because  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in 
our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given  unto  us, 

6  For  when  we  were  yet  without  strength,  in  due  time  Christ  died  for  the  un- 
godly. 

7  For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  will  one  die:  yet  peradventure  for  a  good 
man  some  would  even  dare  to  die. 

8  But  God  commendeth  his  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sin- 
ners, Christ  died  for  us. 

9  Much  more  then,  being  now  justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be  saved  from 
wrath  through  him. 

10  For  if,  when  we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of 
his  Son,  much  more,  being  reconciled,  we  shall  be  saved  by  his  life. 

1 1  And  not  only  so,  but  we  also  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whom  we  have  now  received  the  atonement. 

1  THEREFORE  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God 
,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  For  we  have  peace,  Peshito 
has,  we  shall  have  peace ;  Doway  and  Rheims,  let  us  have  peace. 
But  the  authorized  version  follows  the  original,  and  is  sustained 
by  most  interpreters,  versions  and  manuscripts.  This  verse  is  an 
inference  from   the  whole  preceding  argument,  marked  by  the 

13  (193) 


194  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  i. 

word  Therefore,  which  some  render  Then.  But  either  word 
shews  the  connection.  Or\  justified,  see  above  on  Rom.  2  :  13 ;  3  : 
20,  26.  By  faith,  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  8,  12,  17.  On  the  ground 
of  what  righteousness  a  sinner  is  justified,  see  Doctrinal  and  Prac- 
tical Remark  No.  5  on  Rom.  3  :  20-31.  On  the  whole  nature  of 
justification,  see  Doctrinal  and  Practical  Remark  No.  17  on  Rom. 
3  :  20-3 1 .  Macknight  contends  that  in  this  verse  justified  either 
means  "  delivered  from  wickedness  and  ignorance  through  the  in- 
fluence of  faith  ;  "  or  that  it  signifies  that  "  believers  have  the 
promise  of  justification  given  them."  But  neither  of  these  explana- 
tions can  for  a  moment  be  received  without  subverting  the  entire 
argument  of  the  apostle,  and  destroying  all  ground  of  solid  com- 
fort. O  this  is  not  the  gospel.  V  If  Paul  makes  any  thing  plain,  he 
certainly  teaches  that  believers  are,  on  accepting  Christ,  actually, 
fully  and  irrevocably  justified  by  the  Lord  through  faith  in  the 
Redeemer,  whose  righteousness  is  imputed  to  them  by  himself. 
Such  receive  incalculable  benefits  from  their  justification.  The 
first  is  mentioned  in  this  verse — peace  ivith  God.  There  is  much 
said  in  scripture  concerning  peace,  which  is  the  opposite  of  war, 
persecution,  temptation,  condemnation,  alarm,  tumult,  strife,  con- 
troversy. Several  times  does  Paul  speak  of  "  the  God  of  peace." 
Jesus  Christ  is  called  "  our  peace  "  and  the  ''  Prince  of  peace." 
The  reason  is  that  "the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him." 
He  was  sent  to  "guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace,"  Luke 
I  :  79.  He  says :  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you  ;  my  peace  I  give  unto 
you."  Peace  is  often  included  in  the  apostolic  salutations  and 
benedictions.  In  our  verse  it  is  used  in  one  or  both  of  these  two 
senses:  i.  Actual  peace  with  God,  whereby  we  are  no  longer 
condemned  by  him,  are  no  longer  counted  as  enemies,  and  are  no 
longer  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  him.  By  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  we  receive  reconciliation  with  God.  The  Almighty  then 
no  more  regards  us  as  outcasts.  Christ  is  our  Surety,  our  Sacri- 
fice, our  Peace.  The  objection  to  this  explanation  is  that  it  makes 
our  verse  tautological ;  for  justification  clearly  includes  all  this. 
2.  The  other  explanation  is  that  the  peace  here  spoken  of  is  peace 
of  conscience  towards  God,  or,  as  some  express  it,  conscious 
peace  towards  God.  This  is  an  inestimble  blessing.  For  it  there 
is  no  substitute.  Without  it  there  can  be  no  abiding  rest  to  the 
soul.  In  the  angels,  peace  of  conscience  is  the  fruit  of  innocence. 
In  believers  it  is  the  fruit  of  the  Saviour's  obedience  and  suffer- 
ings. We  cannot  be  made  perfect,  as  pertaining  to  the  con- 
science, "without  blood,"  Heb.  9  :  7-12.  The  want  of  this  peace 
dooms  the  wicked  to  misery.  To  them  there  is  no  peace,  Isa.  48  : 
22;  57:21.     This  is  the  view  taken  of  this  passage   by  many 


Ch.  v.,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  195 

Calvin :  "  Peace  means  tranquillity  of  conscience,  which  arises 
from  this — that  it  feels  itself  to  be  reconciled  to  God,"  Diodati : 
"  God  is  made  propitious  unto  us  in  Christ,  who  by  the  faith 
which  he  creates  in  us,  causeth  us  to  enjoy  this  reconciliation,  by 
virtue  whereof  our  conscience  is  firmly  grounded,"  etc.  Hodge : 
"  We  have  conscious  peace  with  God,  that  is,  we  have  neither 
any  longer  the  present  upbraidings  of  an  unappeased  conscience, 
nor  the  dread  of  divine  vengeance."  Some  unite  both  senses. 
Dutch  Annotations :  "  Peace  with  God  is  the  friendship  of  God, 
and  the  assurance  thereof  in  our  mind,  whereby  we  are  set  at  rest 
in  God."  The  peace,  which  believers  have,  is,  like  justification, 
wholly  gracious.  It  is  "  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Like 
all  other  graces  it  is  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  essential  to  the 
symmetry  of  Christian  character.  It  is  abiding.  This  is  the  first 
benefit  of  a  free  justification  by  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer. 

2.  By  tvhoin  also  ive  have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we 
stand,  and  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  By  whom,  i.  e.  by 
Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  alone  all  the  benefits  of  the  covenant 
of  grace  are  conveyed  to  men.  There  is  but  one  Mediator,  one 
Prophet,  one  Priest,  one  King  in  Zion.  Himself  says :  **  I  am  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by 
me."  This  verse  mentions  two  other  benefits  flowing  from  justi- 
fication. One  is  admission  into  a  state  of  grace,  where  we  per- 
manently enjoy  the  favor  of  God,  so  that  our  relation  to  him 
becomes  to  all  the  ends  of  salvation  the  same  as  that  of  Abraham. 
We  are  in  covenant  with  God,  who  has  graciously  and  in  the  most 
solemn  manner  bound  himself  not  to  forsake  us,  nor  leave  us  to 
our  own  strength,  wisdom  or  righteousness.  Access,  found  also  in 
Eph.  2  :  18;  3  :  12,  and  uniformly  rendered.  Peshito :  By  whom 
we  are  brought  by  faith  into  this  grace.  Yet  Evans  and  others 
for  access  read  introduction.  This  does  not  materially  vary  the 
sense.  Access  or  admission  doubtless  gives  the  main  idea,  which 
is  more  than  once  presented  in  the  scripture.  The  cognate  verb 
is  found  in  i  Pet.  3  :  18,  "Christ  also  hath  once  suffered  for  us, 
the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  [give  us  access]  to 
God."  The  same  idea  in  other  words  is  found  in  Eph.  2:13, 
"  Now  in  Christ  Jesus,  ye  who  sometimes  were  far  off,  are  made 
nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ."  Some  make  the  clause  under  con- 
sideration substantially  a  repetition  of  the  latter  clause  of  v.  i.  It 
is  true  that  all  the  benefits  of  justification  here  enumerated  are 
inseparably  connected  ;  but  in  his  account  of  them  the  apostle 
mentions  several  benefits.  In  his  enumeration  he  makes  delightful 
progress.  If  peace  with  God  tells  us  of  friendship  with  God,  access 
into  this  grace  points  to  a  covenant  relation  in  which  all  needed 


196  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  V.  3. 

grace  is  pledged  and  supplied.  Haldane  :  "  Peace  denotes  a  par- 
ticular blessing ;  access  into  grace,  or  a  state  of  favor,  general 
blessings."  We  stand,  we  stand  fast,  we  stand  firm,  we  stand 
still,  we  continue,  we  are  established.  The  verb  often  expresses 
stability.  The  other  benefit  of  justification  noticed  in  this  verse 
is  solid  joy  arising  from  good  hopes  and  bright  prospects :  We 
rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  The  Jews  had  seen  the  visible 
glory  resting  over  the  tabernacle  or  over  the  ark.  And  that  was 
a  great  sight.  But  the  glory  yet  to  be  revealed  is  ineffably  greater. 
It  is  the  glory  that  excelleth.  It  is  the  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory ;  that  which  is  connected  with  being  for- 
ever with  the  Lord,  and  enjoying  the  ineffable  bliss  of  a  never- 
ending  residence  in  the  glorious  presence  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 
Into  that  state  of  perfection  and  enjoyment  God's  people,  still  in 
this  world,  have  not  yet  entered.  But  they  have  a  well  grounded 
hope,  a  hope  begotten  in  them  by  God's  Spirit,  a  hope  that  cannot 
deceive  or  make  ashamed,  that  in  due  time,  and  at  no  distant  day, 
all  the  glories  and  blessings  of  heaven  shall  be  theirs.  All  Chris- 
tians are  "  looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appear- 
ing of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  We  rejoice,  in  Rom. 
2:17,  23,  make  boast ;  in  Rom.  5  :  3,  glory  ;  in  Rom.  5:11,  joy.  It 
is  used  in  both  a  good  and  bad  sense,  the  context  determines 
which.  In  Gal.  6  :  14  it  is  rendered  glory :  "  God  forbid  that  I 
should  glory  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

3.  And  not  ofily  so,  but  we  glory  in  tribulations  also,  knoiving  that 
tribulation  worketh  patience.  In  this  verse  two  other  benefits  flow- 
ing to  believers  from  justification  are  stated.  The  first  is  this.  So 
far  from  being  overwhelmed  by  afflictions  they  /(^j  and  rejoice, 
they  boast  and  glory  in  the  worst  of  them.  It  is  the  same  verb  as 
in  V.  2,  on  which  see  above.  Tribulation,  we  have  in  this  verse  the 
same  noun  in  both  the  singular  and  the  plural.  It  is  often  so  ren- 
dered, also  affliction,  trouble,  anguish,  persecution.  It  is  some- 
times connected  with  persecution,  as  in  Matt.  13:21;  Mark  4:17. 
In  not  a  few  cases  it  at  least  implies  persecution  for  Christ's  sake. 
See  above  on  Rom.  2  :  9.  The  sermon  on  the  mount  and  many 
parts  of  God's  word  authorized  this  glorying  in  tribulation,  espe- 
cially when  it  comes  for  Christ's  sake,  Matt.  5  :  11,  12  ;  Acts  5  :  41  ; 
Jas.  I  :  2  ;  I  Pet.  4:13.  How  common  and  wonderful  this  exulta- 
tion in  sore  trials  was  is  told  in  the  history  of  every  persecution. 
No  greater  joy  have  the  saints  ever  had  than  in  the  midst  of  trials 
the  most  appalling.  All  this  is  referable  to  the  power  of  that  grace 
wherein  we  stand.  Hodge  :  "  Since  our  relation  to  God  is  changed, 
the  relation  of  all  things  to  us  is  changed."  "  Whom  the  Lord 
loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth," 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  4,  5-]  THE  ROMANS.  197 

Heb.  12:6.  A  reason  for  this  exultation  in  suffering  is  found  in 
its  tendency,  through  grace,  to  produce  the  peaceable  fruit  of 
righteousness.  Tribulation  worketh  patiettce.  In  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment are  two  words,  rendered  patience.  One  of  them  is  more 
frequently  rendered  long-suffering.  It  means  patient  endurance. 
Compare  Rom.  2:4;  Heb.  6  :  12,  15.  The  other  word  rendered 
patience  is  found  in  our  verse.  It  is  once  rendered  patient  con- 
tinuance, and  signifies  endurance,  constancy.  It  is  an  element  of 
all  truly  great  souls.  Towards  God  it  is  resigned,  saying,  "  Not 
as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  Towards  Christians,  who  are  faithful 
in  reproof,  it  meekly  says,  "  Let  the  righteous  smite  me."  Towards 
the  wicked  who  afflict  and  mock  us,  it  says,  "  Rejoice  not  against 
me,  O  mine  enemy."  To  the  ills,  which  afflict  us,  it  gives  a  kind 
entertainment.  Without  malice  it  bears  insults  and  injuries.  Un- 
der delays  it  is  still  constant.  When  others  blanch  and  quail,  it 
plays  the  hero.  The  world  often  counts  it  obstinacy.  But  in 
God's  esteem  it  is  a  sublime  virtue.  It  is  worth  all  it  costs  to 
acquire  it.  It  is  a  fruit  of  the  Spirit  much  commended.  It  is  a 
great  grace.  .         '  '  •. 

4.  Ajid  patience,  experience ;  and  €xperience,  hope.  Patience 
effects  in  us  experiejtce.  Everywhere'  else  the  word  is  rendered 
proof,  trial,  or  experiment.  Here  it  seems  to  mean  that  proof, 
\^hich,  by  patient  endurance  of  evil,  we  obtain  of  the  value  of  our 
principles  and  the  power  of  divine  grace  in  its  effectual  working 
in  us.  So,  if  by  experience  we  understand  knowledge  gained  by 
being  exercised  in  any  matter,  experience  is  a  good  rendering 
here.  If  any  prefer  proof  to  experience,  there  is  no  objection  to 
that  rendering.  Such,  however,  will  doubtless  admit  with  Hal- 
dane  that  "  proof  implies  that  the  trial  has  proved  the  genuineness 
of  the  tried  person  and  also  of  the  faithfulness  and  support  of  God, 
which  will  enable  us  to  overcome  every  difficulty."  This  is  religi- 
ous experience.  And  experience  worketh  hope.  The  apostle  spoke 
of  hope  in  v.  2.  See  on  that  place.  It  is  brought  up  again  to  shew 
that  as  we  prove  God  and  ourselves,  our  hope,  instead  of  dimin- 
ishing, grows  stronger  and  stronger.  Before  David  met  Goliah, 
he  had  had  experience  of  great  dangers.  He  did  encourage  himself 
by  his  past  experience  in  encountering  terrible  enemies  and  assail- 
ants, I  Sam.  17  :  37.  So  does  the  hope  of  the  child  of  God  become 
more  and  more  an  anchor  to  the  soul,  as  the  power  of  God's  grace 
and  his  faithfulness  are  illustrated  in  its  history. 

5.  And  hope  maketh  not  asJiamed ;  because  the  love  of  God  is  shed 
abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given  unto  us.  Ashamed, 
often  so  rendered  ;  also  confounded  ;  sometimes  dishonored.  Ei- 
ther rendering  suits  here.     The  hope  here  spoken  of  is  that  good 


198  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  V.  5. 

hope  through  grace,  which  God  grants  to  his  chosen.  Such  hope 
will  never  bring  dishonor,  confusion,  shame.  The  apostle  here 
and  often  uses  a  figure,  common  to  most,  if  not  all  languages.  He 
expresses  less  than  he  intends  us  to  understand.  His  real  mean- 
ing is  that  this  hope  gives  a  holy  and  joyful  confidence,  which 
nothing  can  abash.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  hope  to  embolden.  It  is 
of  the  nature  of  the  Christian's  hope  to  make  him  fearless  and 
faithful  in  professing  the  true  religion,  in  adhering  to  Christ's 
cause,  and  in  doing  one's  duty  in  the  face  of  the  most  unreasona- 
ble and  wicked  opposition.  This  hope  derives  its  great  strength 
and  animation  from  the  love  of  God — because  the  love  of  God  is  shed 
abroad  in  our  Jiearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  zvhich  is  given  unto  us.  Inter- 
preters give  three  explanations  of  the  phrase  love  of  God  in  this 
verse.  In  other  places  it  is  clearly  used  in  two  different  senses ; 
God's  love  to  us,  as  in  Rom.  5:6;  8 :  39 ;  our  love  to  God,  as  in 
Luke  11:42;  John  5:42;  Jude  21.  The  mere  words  therefore 
determine  nothing  in  this  matter.  Others  so  interpret  the 
phrase  as  to  include  both  God's  love  to  us  and  ours  to  him. 
I.  Chrysostom  thinks  it  means  God's  love  to  us,  whereby  he  has 
"  shed  abroad  the  full  fountain  of  his  blessings."  The  same  view 
is  substantially  taken  by  Theophylact,  Ambrose,  Luther,  Melanc- 
thon,  Calvin,  Ferme,  Piscator,  Cajetan,  Toletus,  Assembly's  An- 
notations, Dutch  Annotations,  Schlichting,  Parens,  Grotius,  Beza, 
Bp.  Hall,  Whitby,  Brown,  Hammond,  Evans,  Locke,  Guyse,  Bur- 
kitt,  Schleusner,  Gill,  Macknight,  Olshausen,  Hodge,  Haldane 
and  Chalmers.  Beza  says  the  apostle  is  speaking  of  "  the  love 
whereby  we  are  beloved  of  God,  as  not  only  the  train  of  argument 
shews,  but  as  Paul  himself  explains  in  v.  8."  All  that  Rosenmul- 
ler  makes  of  the  whole  clause  is  that  "  the  divine  love  is  abun- 
dantly testified  to  us."  2.  Others  seem  no  less  clear  that  our  love 
to  God  is  here  spoken  of.  So  Theodoret,  Augustine,  Bernard, 
Anselm,  Mede,  Doddridge,  Hawker,  Clarke,  Scott  and  Stuart. 
The  Council  of  Trent  concurs  in  this  view.  The  arguments  for 
this  interpretation  are  strong.  How  can  God's  love  to  us  evince 
that  our  hope  will  not  make  us  ashamed,  unless  it  shall  cause  him 
to  put  his  Spirit  within  us,  to  work  in  us  all  graces  and  in  partic- 
ular love  to  God,  without  which  all  other  supposed  evidences  of 
an  interest  in  Christ  are  vain  ?  Then  our  apostle  is  now  in  sev- 
eral verses  speaking  of  Christian  graces  as  hope,  patience,  con- 
stancy, etc.  This  context  is  nearer  than  that  of  v.  8  ;  to  which 
many  refer.  The  apostle  is  speaking,  be  it  remembered,  of  a  good 
hope,  not  of  a  delusion,  and  of  something  enjoyed  or  experienced 
by  us,  which  nourishes  and  supports  a  good  hope.  Then  our  love 
to  God  is  by  Paul  elsewhere  expressly  put  down  as  a  fruit  of  the 


Ch.  v.,  V.  5-]  THE  ROMANS.  199 

Spirit,  Gal.  5  :  22.  And  God's  love  to  us  is  not  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit,  but  it  flows  from  the  glorious  nature  of  each  person  of  the 
Godhead.  The  verb  is  shed  abroad  is  the  word  so  often  used,  in 
some  of  its  forms,  to  express  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  his 
gifts  or  graces,  Acts  2  :  17,  18,  33  ;  10:  45  ;  Tit.  3  :  6.  That  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Holy  Spirit,  working  his  graces  in  our  hearts,  and 
making  us  his  temples,  and  so  evincing  our  sonship  with  God,  is 
an  idea  familiar  to  the  inspired  writers  none  can  doubt,  i  Cor.  3  : 
16;  6:  19;  2  Cor.  i  :  22 ;  6:  16;  Eph.  1:13,  14.  This  view  derives 
force  from  the  fact  that  those,  who  adopt  the  first  view,  are  not 
satisfied  with  it,  but  make  explanations,  which,  if  they  have  any 
force,  virtually  admit  this  second  interpretation.  Thus  Locke  : 
"  Because  the  sense  of  the  love  of  God  is  poured  out  into  our 
hearts,  &c.  But  the  apostle  says  nothing  about  a  sense  of  the  love 
of  God.  He  speaks  of  the  love  of  God  itself.  And  what  is  a  just 
sense  of  the  love  of  God  to  us,  if  it  be  not  our  love  towards  God  ? 
So  Gill  explains  himself  by  speaking  of  the  "  full  and  comfortable 
sensation  which  believers  have  of  the  love  of  God  to  them."  But 
Paul  says  not  a  word  about  any  sensation  ;  and,  if  he  did,  to  what 
could  he  refer  but  to  our  love  to  God  ?  Bp.  Hall  also  says : 
"  Hope  disappointeth  us  not ;  because  the  sense  and  comfortable 
assurance  of  that  love,  wherewith  he  embraceth  us,  is  shed  abroad," 
&c.  Diodati  also  says  that  here  "  the  love  of  God  means  the  as- 
surance we  have  of  God's  love  to  us."  Yet  how  can  any  one  have 
a  "comfortable  assurance,"  or  any  "assurance"  of  God's  love  to 
him  but  by  the  love,  which  he  has  towards  God  ?  i  John  3:19.  So 
Guyse :  "  This  sort  of  hope  will  not  turn  to  our  confusion  ;  be- 
cause it  rests,  not  upon  any  merit  in  ourselves,  but  upon  the  free 
favor  of  God  towards  us,  which  in  its  gracious  and  effectual  ope- 
ration is  poured  forth  into,  and  abundantly  fills  our  souls  with  its 
lovely  manifestations  and  distinguishing  fruits ;  and  so  inflames 
them  with  love  to  him  again,"  &c.  This  is  almost  all  that  could 
be  asked  by  those,  who  think  that  in  our  verse  love  to  God  means 
our  love  to  him.  So  also  Hodge  :  "  This  manifestation  of  divine 
love  is  not  any  external  revelation  of  it  in  the  works  of  Provi- 
dence, or  even  in  redemption,  but  it  is  in  our  hearts.''  It  will 
probably  be  denied  by  none  that  if  the  apostle  had  designed  to 
teach  that  the  gracious  affection  of  love  in  the  soul  was  enkindled 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  he  could  have  selected  no  better  language 
than  we  have  in  this  verse.  Tholuck :  "  We  must  naturally  view 
it  as  implying  a  consciousness  in  the  hearty  such  as  is  spoken  of  in 
Rom.  8  :  16;  2  Cor.  i  :  22.  On  Rom.  5  :  i  Chalmers  says:  "The 
whole  passage,  for  several  verses,  looks  to  be  a  narrative  of  the 
personal  experience  of  believers — of  their  rejoicing,  and  of  their 


200  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  6. 

hoping,  and  of  their  glorying  ;"  and  why  may  we  not  add — of 
their  loving  ?  A  third  view  of  this  verse  has  been  presented  and 
seems  to  be  favored  by  Origen,  Oecumenius  and  Aquinas.  It 
unites  the  two  senses  above  given.  It  supposes  discoveries  of 
God's  love  to  us  to  be  made  by  the  Spirit  in  such  a  way  as  to  en- 
kindle our  love  to  him.  It  explains  it  of  love  created  in  us  by  the 
love  of  God  uncreated  towards  us.  This  is  substantially  the  view 
of  not  a  few  others,  some  of  whom  have  been  already  cited.  Thus 
Olshausen :  "  The  love  of  God  in  the  apostle's  meaning  is  the  love 
of  God  to  man,  which  however  awakens  in  him  reciprocal 
love,  (i  John  4  :  19,)  not  indeed  proceeding  from  his  own 
mere  natural  powers,  but  from  the  higher  powers  of  the  divine 
Spirit."  The  objection  to  this  third  view  is  that  it  makes  the  same 
word  in  the  same  sentence  denote  two  things  so  different  as  God's 
love  to  us  and  ours  to  him.  For  the  reasons  given  the  second 
view  is  to  be  preferred.  It  is  pleasant  to  the  believer  to  find  that 
all  commentators  agree  that  God's  Spirit  reveals  to  his  people,  so 
as  to  enable  them  to  view  aright  God's  love  to  them,  and  at  the 
same  time  implants  and  nourishes  in  them  a  sincere  and  supreme 
love  to  him.  On  those  points  all  good  men  are  agreed.  Nor  do 
they  differ  in  their  judgment  respecting  the  gratuitous  bestow- 
ment  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  is  "  given  unto  us."  He  cannot  be 
purchased. 

6.  For  zvJien  we  were  yet  without  strengtJi,  in  due  time  Christ  died 
for  the  ungodly.  In  this  and  the  next  three  verses  the  apostle  uses 
four  words  to  describe,  not  the  state  of  the  Gentiles  only,  as  Locke 
contends,  but  of  all  men  before  the  grace  of  God.  These  words 
we  render  "without  strength,"  "ungodly,"  "sinners,"  and  "  ene- 
mies;" all  applied  to  the  same  persons,  and  either  of  them  making 
a  sad  yet  just  representation  of  the  natural  state  of  man.  The  first 
is  rendered,  "without  strength."  In  Matt.  25:39,43,44;  Luke 
10:  9;  Acts  5  :  15,  16,  it  is  rendered  sick ;  in  Acts  4  :  9  impotent ;  in 
I  Cor.  12:  22  feeble ;  often  weak;  the  rendering  in  our  verse  is 
literal.  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Rheims  and  Doway  have 
weak;  Conybeare  and  Howson,  helpless.  Our  case  is  b}'^  nature 
sad  indeed.  We  have  no  might  to  do  good,  Isa.  40 :  29.  We 
cannot  keep  the  law.  Clarke  :  "  Neither  able  to  resist  sin  nor  do 
any  good ;  utterly  devoid  of  power  to  extricate  themselves  from 
the  misery  of  their  situation."  We  cannot  atone  for  our  sins.  We 
cannot  regenerate  our  hearts.  We  cannot  keep  ourselves  in  the 
way  of  life.  We  are  sick,  impotent,  broken,  yea  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins.  In  a  state  of  nature  the  soul  performs  none  of  the  func- 
tions of  spiritual  life.  This  our  inability  is  universal,  perpetual, 
sinful,  and  by  all  human  powers  incurable.     Spiritually  we  are 


Ch.  v.,  V.  7-]  THE  ROMANS.  201 

sick  unto  death.  We  are  also  "ungodly."  On  this  word  see 
above  on  Rom.  4:5.  The  word  is  uniformly  rendered.  It  is  the 
same  used  by  the  Septuagint  in  Ps.  i.  and  elsewhere,  rendered 
ungodly,  more  frequently  wicked.  Clarke  :  "  Satan  lived  in,  ruled 
and  enslaved  their  hearts."  God  justifies  the  ungodly,  Rom.  4:  5. 
Christ  died  for  the  ungodly.  He  died  for  the  ungodly,  i.  e.  he 
died  in  their  place,  in  their  stead,  as  their  substitute.  Often  has 
the  Greek  preposition  this  sense :  "  Will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a 
serpent?"  Luke  11  :  11.  See  also  i  Cor.  11:15.  I^^  Matt.  2  :  22  it 
is  rendered  in  the  room.  Twice  it  is  said  of  Christ  that  he  gave 
"  his  life  a  ransom  for  many,"  Matt.  20  :  28  ;  Mark  10  :  45.  So  he 
died  for  the  ungodly,  in  due  time.  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer, 
Rheims  and  Doway,  according  to  the  time ;  Rosenmuller  and 
others,  at  the  appointed  time.  The  word  means  a  time,  a  season, 
a  set  time,  a  fit  time,  and  often  occurs.  Other  terms  of  like  import 
are  employed.  Gal.  4:4;!  Pet.  i  :  20.  In  this  verse  the  most 
difficult  word  is  the  particle  for  at  the  beginning.  It  may  connect 
this  verse  with  the  last  clause  of  v.  5,  or  with  the  first  clause  of 
V.  5,  or  with  the  first  clause  of  v.  i,  or  with  the  whole  train  of  the 
apostle's  argument.  In  the  first  case  we  have  proof  of  God's  grace 
in  giving  us  the  Holy  Spirit  through  Christ  Jesus ;  in  the  second 
the  ground  of  our  good  hope  is  brought  out ;  in  the  third  we  see 
why  we  are  justified  and  have  peace  with  God  ;  in  the  last  we 
have  a  recurrence  to  the  ground  of  the  kindness  shewn  to  believ- 
ing sinners,  securing  to  them  all  the  blessings  of  the  covenant  by 
the  work  and  sufferings  of  Christ.  The  fact  is  that  truths  of  this 
class  are  often  so  inwoven  into  the  texture  of  inspired  discourses 
that  they  relate  to  the  train  of  thoughts,  and  to  many  particular 
parts  thereof  Many  both  ancient  and  modern  writers  are  dis- 
posed specially  to  connect  this  verse  with  the  hoping  of  vs.  2,  5. 
Some  regard  vs.  6-10  as  containing  a  parenthesis.  Perhaps  they 
do ;  but  the  thoughts  presented  are  as  weighty  and  as  rich  as  any 
in  the  chapter,  and  well  accord  with  the  rest. 

7.  For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  will  one  die  :  yet  peradventure 
for  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to  die.  For,  the  first  word,  is  simply- 
affirmative.  Peshito  :  "  For  rarely  doth  one  die  for  the  ungodly  : 
though  for  the  good,  some  one  perhaps  might  venture  to  die." 
Beza  says'  he  could  approve  this  rendering  but  for  the  want  of 
authority  in  the  MSS.  This  is  wholly  wanting.  The  Syriac 
doubtless  took  the  word  ungodly  from  the  preceding  verse.  But 
the  contrast  in  this  verse  is  not  between  a  ivicked  man  and  a  good 
man;  but  between  a /z/j/,  righteous,  equitable,  or  upright  man  and 
thegood,  kind,  useful  man, who  obliges  many.  Rarely  indeed  will  men 
die  for  one  another,  even  when  most  benevolent  and  beneficent,  or 


202 


EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  vs.  8,  9. 


most  highly  esteemed.  But  for  a  man  who  is  merely  upright,  and  has 
done  no  great  public  service,  nor  conferred  marked  benefits  on 
any  one,  who  has  ever  offered  to  die  ?  Sacred  history  tells  us  of 
the  love  Jonathan  had  to  David.  He  did  risk  his  life  for  him. 
We  have  too  the  affecting  story  of  Damon  and  Pythias.  "  Lilloe 
stepped  between  the  murderer  and  King  Edward  his  master. 
Nicholas  Ribische  lost  his  life  to  preserve  Prince  Maurice  at  the 
siege  of  Pista."  Still  these  are  rare  cases.  When  they  occur, 
men  unite  in  saying  that  they  are  daring.  Our  verse  says  the 
same.  There  is  no  act  of  more  boldness.  Perhaps  in  most  cases 
like  those  cited  the  hero  expects  to  survive  and  has  no  settled  de- 
sign of  dying.  Indeed  there  is  but  a  slight  peradventure  that  any 
man  would  deliberately  die  for  his  best  friend.  Compare  John 
15  :  13;   I  John  3  :  16. 

8.  But  God  commendeth  his  love  towards  us,  in  that,  while  ive 
were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.  In  v.  6  it  is  said  Christ  died  for 
the  ungodly,  and  here  that  he  died  for  us  sinners.  This  word  is 
rendered  with  great  uniformity.  It  denotes  those  who  have 
missed  the  mark,  at  which  they  should  aim — the  honor  of  God, 
and  the  mark  at  which  they  did  aim — their  own  happiness.  They 
have  plunged  themselves  into  guilt  and  pollution  and  wretched- 
ness. And  such  were  we  all,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  old  and  young, 
for  whom,  in  whose  stead  Christ  died.  This  was  wonderful  love, 
indeed.  It  has  no  parallel.  God  commendeth  it,  i.  e.  sets  it  forth, 
manifests  it  in  a  wonderful  manner.  See  above  on  Rom.  3  :  5 
where  we  have  the  same  word. 

9.  Much  more  then,  being  now  justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be 
saved  from  wrath  through  him.  No  part  of  the  Bible  is  a  treatise 
on  logic,  nor  was  designed  to  teach  logic ;  but  no  book  contains 
finer  specimens  of  the  art  of  reasoning  than  can  be  found  in  many 
of  the  sacred  pages.  In  particular  Paul  gives  us  manj^  specimens 
of  irrefragable  argument.  Our  verse  contains  a  sample  of  the 
argument  a  fortiori.  If  God  loved  us  and  gave  his  Son  for  us 
while  sinners,  he  will  beyond  all  doubt  save  us  when  we  are  justi- 
fied. Justification  includes  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  accept- 
ance of  the  sinner  as  righteous  before  God.  Often  is  a  part,  an 
important  part,  put  for  the  whole.  The  shedding  of  Christ's 
blood  was  an  important  matter,  as  essential  as  his  holy  life,  his 
resurrection  or  his  intercession.  It  seems  to  be  put  here  for  his 
whole  undertaking.  The  active  and  passive  obedience  of  Christ 
are  never  separated,  though  they  are  distinguished.  Christ's 
righteousness  consists  of  his  conformity  to  the  precept  and  his 
endurance  of  the  penalty  of  the  law,  and  we  are  justified  by  his 
righteousness.     But  as  men  are  constantly  liable  to  pervert  the 


Ch.  v.,  V.  10.]  THE  ROMANS.  203 

truth,  and  especially  the  true  doctrine  of  justification,  God 
teaches  us  the  right  way  by  a  great  variety  of  phrases  and  terms. 
Take  the  matter  here  adduced.  One  scripture  says  that  men  are 
justified  by  faith.  Another  says  they  are  justified  through  faith. 
Another  declares  that  they  are  justified  by  Christ.  Another 
declares  that  we  are  justified  freely  by  his  grace.  Another  teaches 
that  we  are  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  our 
verse  we  are  said  to  be  justified  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  Compare 
Rom.  3  :  24,  30  ;  i  Cor.  6  :  1 1  ;  Gal.  2  :  17.  These  statements 
are  not  contradictory,  but  mightly  serve  to  guard  us  against  mis- 
take. When  men  are  said  to  be  justified  by  faith,  some  say  it 
means  that  faith  is  the  procuring  cause  of  our  pardon  and  accept- 
ance ;  or  that  our  faith  is  accepted  in  lieu  of  a  perfect  righteous- 
ness. No  !  says  our  verse,  we  are  justified  by  the  blood  of  the 
Redeemer,  as  the  procuring  cause.  And  so  none  but  the  wilful 
and  perverse  can  mistake  the  truth.  And  so  being  justified,  it  is 
certain  we  shall  be  delivered  from  the  penal  consequences  of  trans- 
gression or  from  wrath — the  wrath  to  come,  and  all  through 
Christ. 

10.  For  if,  when  we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by 
the  death  of  his  Son ;  much  more,  being  reconciled,  we  shall  be  saved 
by  his  life.  The  preceding  verse  contained  a  sample  of  the  argu- 
ment a  fortiori.  This  contains  that  form  of  argument  duplicated. 
The  first  antithesis  is  between  enemies  and  persons  reconciled.  The 
second  is  between  Christ's  death  and  his  life.  If  a  dying  Saviour 
can  effect  the  reconciliation  of  enemies ;  much  more  can  a  living 
Redeemer  do  all  that  is  required  to  the  complete  deliverance 
of  his  friends.  Where  in  all  the  range  of  knowledge  can  more 
powerful  argument  be  found  ?  Enemies  !  What  a  fearful  thought. 
Clarke :  "  Sin,  indulged,  increases  in  strength ;  evil  acts  en- 
gender fixed  and  rooted  habits ;  the  mind,  everywhere  poisoned 
with  sin,  increases  in  averseness  from  good,  and  mere  aversion 
produces  enmity ;  and  enmity,  acts  of  hostility.''  No  word  can 
more  clearly  denote  real  adversaries.  Against  such  God  must 
have  a  holy  and  inflexible  displeasure,  or  wrath.  Reconciled,  a  word 
not  before  found  in  this  epistle.  The  cognate  noun  is  found  in  the 
next  verse,  and  is  rendered  atonement.  Everywhere  else  these 
words  are  rendered  reconciled  and  reconciliation,  Rom.  11:15; 
2  Cor.  5:18,  19,  20.  An  at-one-ment  is  a  reconciliation,  a  bringing 
together  those,  who  have  been  at  variance.  We  have  forsaken, 
insulted  and  rebelled  against  God.  He  has  been  good  to  us,  fol- 
lowing us  with  mercies,  reproofs  and  invitations.  God  is  holy, 
and  hates  sin.  Out  of  mere  pity  he  provided  a  mode  of  reconcilia- 
tion by  the  life  and  death  of  his  Son.     Jesus  Christ  is  the  great, 


204  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  ii. 

the  only  Reconciler.  God  is  the  offended  and  we  are  the  offenders. 
To  be  reconciled  to  God  is  to  be  brought  into  relations  of  friend- 
ship with  him,  and  this  can  be  done  only  by  an  atonement.  Grotius 
correctly  says  that  in  heathen  authors  men's  being  reconciled  to  their 
gods  is  always  understood  to  signify  appeasing  the  anger  of  their 
gods.  Jesus  Christ  satisfied  the  demands  of  justice  against  us. 
By  his  death  he  averted  from  his  people  the  righteous  indignation 
of  God.  As  is  said  in  the  preceding  verse  he  saved  them  from 
wrath,  meaning  deserved  punishment.  He  propitiated  the  Most 
High  towards  us  offenders.  He  met  all  the  claims  of  law  against 
us.  This  reconciliation  took  place  intentionally,  in  God's  eternal 
purpose ;  meritoriously,  in  the  completion  of  Christ's  humiliation  ; 
actually,  when  in  true  faith  we  embraced  the  offer  of  the  Gospel. 
The  apostle  is  here  speaking  of  those  who  were  actually  reconciled.- 
We  are  reconciled  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  it  is  expressed  in  v.  9 ; 
for  to  be  actually  reconciled  is  virtually  the  same  as  to  be  justified. 
Our  reconciliation  with  God  is  by  the  death  of  his  Son,  who  made 
the  propitiation  for  us,  who  suffered  the  just  for  the  unjust.  That 
this  is  the  true  view  of  reconciled  is  proven  from  the  scriptural  use 
of  that  term,  i  Sam.  29  :  4;  Matt.  5  :  23,  24.  The  same  is  taught 
by  a  variety  of  phrases  of  like  import  in  the  Scriptures,  in  which 
God  says  his  anger  is  turned  away,  he  is  pacified,  he  has  taken 
away  his  wrath,  etc. 

II.  And  not  only  so,  but  zve  also  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christy  by  whom  we  have  now  received  the  atonement.  Joy,  in  v.  2 
rendered  rejoice  ;  in  v.  3,  glory  ;  elsewhere  boast.  The  meaning  is 
we  now  exult  in  God.  Received,  a  literal  rendering.  Paul  has  been 
enumerating  the  benefits  of  justification.  In  doing  so  he  more 
than  once  reverts  to  the  same  idea.  In  vs.  2,  5  he  dwells  on  hope ; 
in  vs.  3,  II  he  speaks  of  joy,  exultant  joy;  and  in  vs.  i,  10,  11  he 
speaks  of  peace  and  reconciliation  with  God.  The  whole  is  de- 
signed to  be  a  triumphant  and  exultant  deduction  of  his  argu- 
ment as  to  the  blessedness  of  the  man,  who  enjoys  a  gratuitous 
justification.  This  conclusion  is  honorable  to  Jehovah.  We  joy 
in  God,  not  in  ourselves,  not  in  our  ancestry,  not  in  rites,  not  in 
works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  in  God  alone, 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  pray  in  his  name,  we  give 
thanks  in  his  name,  we  trust  in  his  name,  we  do  all  in  his  name. 
Our  names  are  worthless,  because  we  are  sinners.  The  names  of 
angels  are  worthless  because  they  are  fellow  creatures  and  fellow 
servants,  Rev.  22  : 9.  But  the  name  of  Jesus  is  far  above  every 
name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  in  that  which  is 
to  come,  Eph  1:21.  By  him  we  have  received  the  atonement ;  by 
him  we  shall  gain  the  final  victory,  by  him  we  shall  be  raised  from 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  i-ii.]  THE  ROMANS.  205 

the  dead,  by  him  we  shall  rise  to  eternal  glory.  And  all  this  is 
through  the  great  atonement  he  has  made.  Had  he  been  only  a 
Prophet  and  a  King  to  his  chosen  he  would  not  have  saved  them. 
They  were  indeed  ignorant  and  needed  a  teacher.  They  were  feeble 
and  needed  a  ruler  and  defender.  But  they  were  guilty,  and  so 
must  have  a  sacrifice,  an  atoning  and  an  interceding  High  Priest. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  Let  US  not  weary  of  sound  scriptural  instruction  on  the 
great  doctrine  of  justification,  v.  i.  It  is  a  glorious  theme,  and  we 
should  not  cease  to  give  thanks  that  we  have  line  upon  line  re- 
specting it.  Nor  can  we  possibly  too  deeply  impress  on  our 
minds  vital  truths  on  this  subject.  When  we  are  said  to  be  justi- 
fied by  faith,  the  meaning  is  that  we  are  justified  by  a  faith  that 
lays  hold  of  the  righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  Faith  is  the  instrument.  The  righteousness  of  Christ 
is  the  ground.  This  righteousness  of  God  is  by  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ,  unto  all,  and  upon  all  them  that  believe.  Men  are  saved 
not  by  their  works,  merits  or  efforts,  but  by  God's  grace  and 
mercy  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ.  This  great  gift  of  righteous- 
ness is  an  unspeakable  benefit,  having  in  its  train  innumerable 
blessings.     By  it  is  the  life  of  our  souls.  j 

2.  Let  us  imitate  Paul  in  frequently  and  formally  acknowledg- 
ing our  indebtedness  to  the  blessed  Saviour.  Here  in  vs.  i,  9,  11 
he  says  we  have  these  great  blessings  through  Jesus  Christ ;  and  in 
V.  2  our  access  is  said  to  be  by  him  ;  in  v.  9  our  justification  is  said 
to  be  bj  his  blood ;  in  v.  10  our  reconciliation  is  said  to  be  by  his 
death;  and  in  v.  11  it  is  said  that  by  him  we  have  received  the 
atonement ;  while  in  vs.  6,  8  it  is  said  he  died  for  us.  Let  us  dwell 
on  his  name  with  hearty  and  grateful  joy.  Let  us  make  him  the 
first  and  the  last.  There  is  no  danger  that  we  shall  love  him  too 
much,  commend  him  too  highly,  or  serve  him. too  devotedly. 
Blessed  Lamb  of  God,  we  owe  thee  all,  we  would  give  thee  all. 
Oh  that  men  would  look  to  him,  and  to  him  alone.  Chalmers  : 
"  The  children  of  Israel  might  have  as  soon  been  healed  by  look- 
ing downwardly  upon  their  wounds,  rather  than  upwardly  to  the 
brazen  serpent,  as  the  conscience-stricken  sinner  will  find  relief 
from  any  one  object  that  can  meet  his  eye,  in  that  abyss  of  dark- 
ness and  distemper  to  which  he  has  turned  his  own  laboring 
bosom." 

3.  Though  justification  and  sanctification  are  as  distinct  as  any 
two  gifts  of  God  to  men,  and  ought  ever  to  be  so  spoken  of,  and 
never  confounded  ;  yet  they  are  never  separated.     Where  one  is, 


206  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  1-5. 

the  other  is  not  wanting  Whoever  is  justified  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  is  sure  to  be  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,  i  Cor. 
I  :  30;  6  :  II.  And  yet  in  justification  God  imputes  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ ;  in  sanctification  he  by  his  Spirit  works  in  us  both 
to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure ;  in  the  former,  sin  is  par- 
doned;  in  the  latter,  sin  is  subdued;  in  the  one,  all  are  equally 
freed  from  condemnation  and  fully  accepted  ;  in  the  other,  very 
unequal  attainments  are  made ;  one  is  from  the  first  perfect ;  the 
other  is  progressive ;  the  former  being  an  act,  the  latter  a  work. 
Yet  God  never  justifies  a  man  that  he  does  not  also  make  him 
holy,  and  infuse  into  him  all  Christian  graces,  as  we  see  here, 
vs.  1-5. 

4.  Inestimable  is  the  blessing  oi  peace  with  God,  in  whatever 
scriptural  sense  we  use  that  term.  If  by  it  here  we  understand 
peace  of  conscience  towards  God,  what  do  men  in  all  ages  and 
countries  need  more  than  this  ?  To  the  Roman  Senate  Caligula 
said,  "  I  suffer  death  every  day."  Plato  :  "  When  a  man  is  near 
the  time  when  he  must  expect  to  die,  there  come  into  his  mind  a 
fear  and  anxiety  about  things  that  were  never  so  thought  of  be- 
fore." Herod  was  a  Sadducee.  He  believed  in  neither  angel, 
nor  spirit,  nor  resurrection.  Yet  when  Jesus  began  to  do  his 
wonders,  all  Herod's  principles  forsook  him,  and  he  said,  "  It  is . 
John,  whom  I  beheaded ;  he  is  risen  from  the  dead,"  Mark  6  :  16. 
N-o  other  scheme  or  system  but  that  of  the  Gospel  is  at  once 
"righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  God's 
plan  meets  all  the  demands  of  law,  and  justice,  and  conscience. 

5.  Let  us  seek  to  have  sound  and  clear  views  of  faith,  of  its  na- 
ture and  of  its  offices,  vs.  i,  2.  True  faith  is  no  conceit,  no  dream, 
no  wild  and  irrational  apprehension.  It  is  real,  sober,  regardful 
of  evidence.  It  believes  on  the  authority  and  testimony  of  Jeho- 
vah. Even  when  it  lays  hold  on  Christ,  it  believes  the  testimony 
of  God  concerning  his  Son.  It  is  wise  to  credit  every  word  of 
God,  on  the  simple  ground  that  he  cannot  lie.  Faith  relies  on 
Christ  as  he  is  freely  offered.  It  embraces  the  promises  graciously 
made.  It  is  a  great  grace,  Heb.  11  :  1-38.  Well  did  John  Bunyan 
call  it  by  the  name  of  Mr.  Greatheart. 

6.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  state  of  grace,  and  believers  are 
admitted  into  it,  v.  2.  Chrysostom  :  "  This  is  the  nature  of  God's 
grace.  It  hath  no  end,  it  knows  no  bound,  but  evermore  is  on  the 
advance  to  greater  things,  which  in  human  affairs  is  not  so.  Take 
an  instance  of  what  I  mean.  One  has  acquired  rule  and  glory  and 
authority,  yet  he  does  not  stand  therein  continuously,  but  is 
speedily  cast  out  of  it.  Or  if  man  take  it  not  from  him,  death 
comes,  and  is  sure  to  take  it  from  him.     But  God's  gifts  are  not  of 


Ch.  v.,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  207 

this  kind  ;  for  neither  man,  nor  occasion,  nor  crisis  ot  affairs,  nor 
even  the  devil,  nor  death  can  come  and  cast  us  out  of  them.  But 
when  we  are  dead,  we  then  more  strictly  speaking  have  possession 
of  them,  and  keep  going  on  enjoying  more  and  more."  This  state 
of  grace  enjoyed  by  believers  secures  to  them  communion  with 
God,  so  that  all  of  them  may  say,  "  Truly  our  fellowship  is  with 
the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,"  i  John  1:3.  "  The 
secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  him  ;  and  he  will  shew 
them  his  covenant,"  Ps.  25  :  14.  This  access  to  grace  is  not  a 
vanity,  such  as  self-deceivers  often  boast  of,  but  it  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage possessed  by  those  and  those  only,  who  are  justified  by 
faith.  Scott :  "  The  believer  has  free  access  to  the  mercy-seat ;  he 
is  established  in  the  grace  and  favor  of  God ;  and  he  may  now 
rejoice  and  triumphantly  exult  in  the  hope  of  everlasting  glory ; 
though  perhaps  he  just  before  trembled  from  well-grounded  ap- 
prehensions of  deserved  vengeance." 

7.  The  state  of  believers  is  not  changeable  but  has  great  sta- 
bility. In  it  they  stand  firm.  Their  moods  and  frames  of  feeling 
change.  Their  views  on  many  things  undergo  modifications. 
Their  characters  are  constantly  changing  for  the  better.  But 
their  state  is  fixed  by  the  purpose  and  grace  of  God.  In  it  they 
stand,  stand  firm,  v.  2.  And  why  should  it  not  be  so?  Their 
hope  is  in  the  Lord,  who  changes  not,  Mai.  3  :  6.  And  are  not 
these  his  promises  unfailing  ?  "  They  shall  be  my  people,  and  I 
will  be  their  God  .  .  .  And  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant 
with  them,  that  I  will  not  turn  away  from  them,  to  do  them  good  : 
but  I  will  put  my  fear  in  their  hearts,  that  they  shall  not  depart 
from  me,"  Jer.  32  :  38,  40.  God's  people  are  not  only  admitted  to 
his  favor ;  but  they  are  confirmed  in  it.  Evans :  "  It  is  not  in  the 
court  of  heaven  as  in  earthly  courts,  where  high  places  are  slip- 
pery places  ;  but  we  stand  in  an  humble  confidence  of  this  very 
thing,  that  he  who  has  beguti  the  good  work,  will  perforin  it,'''  Phil,  i  : 
6.  The  grace  manifested  in  bringing  men  to  embrace  the  gospel 
is  quite  sufficient  to  hold  them  up  in  any  trial.  The  seed  of  God 
remains  in  the  regenerate.  The  sentence  of  justification  is  irre- 
vocable. And  the  intercession  of  Christ  is  full  security  that  our 
faith  shall  not  fail,  Luke  22  :  31,  32. 

8.  So  that  we  may  and  should  labor  with  earnest  and  confident 
expectation  of  success  for  a  full  assurance  of  understanding  in  all 
the  truths  of  religion,  for  a  full  assurance  of  faith,  that  we  may 
stagger  at  no  promise  of  God,  and  for  a  full  assurance  of  hope  of 
final  salvation.  Col.  2:2;  Heb.  6  :  11  ;  10  :  22.  In  the  covenant 
of  grace  provision  is  made  and  encouragement  is  given  to  us  to 
make  our  calling  and  election  sure;     Calvin  correctly  designates 


2o8  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  2-11. 

these  dogmas  as  "  pestilent,"  first  "  bidding  Christians  to  be  satis- 
fied with  moral  conjecture  as  to  the  perception  of  God's  favor 
towards  them,  and  secondly,  teaching  that  all  are  uncertain  as  to 
their  final  perseverance."  Nor  is  any  thing  further  from  pride 
and  overweening  conceit  of  ourselves  than  strong  genuine  con- 
fidence in  our  final  salvation.  Hodge  :  "  Assurance  of  the  love  of 
God  never  produces  self-complacency  or  pride ;  but  always 
humility,  self-abasement,  wonder,  gratitude  and  praise."  That  such 
assurance  is  attainable  many  scriptures  declare.  Job  19  :  25  ;  Ps. 
116  :  16 ;   119  :  125  ;  143  :  12  ;  2  Tim.  4  :  6-8  ;  i  John  3  :  19. 

9.  Let  us  cultivate  a  joyful  state  of  heart  and  mind,  vs.  2,  3,  11. 
Ample  provision  is  made  for  great  joy  in  the  Lord,  in  the  power 
of  his  might,  in  the  abundance  of  his  grace,  in  the  wisdom  of  his 
plans,  and  in  the  riches  of  the  inheritance  he  has  provided  for  his 
saints.  It  is  sometimes  forgotten  that  holy  joy  is  enjoined  as  a 
duty  ;  but  no  command  is  more  clear  :  "  Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  O  ye 
righteous,"  Ps.  33  :  i  ;  97  :  12,  "Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always:  and 
again  I  say.  Rejoice,"  Phil.  4  :  4.  If  our  joy  is  in  the  Lord,  in  his 
being,  his  perfections,  his  providence,  his  word,  his  ordinances 
and  his  grace,  it  cannot  rise  too  high.  It  is  a  tormenting  vanity 
to  rejoice  in  a  thing  of  nought,  to  be  very  glad  in  a  gourd,  but  it 
is  a  blessedness  to  glory  in  Jehovah.  Let  us  rejoice  in  what  God 
is,  in  what  he  has  done  and  in  what  he  has  promised. 

10.  And  let  not  our  hope  be  faint  or  trembling.  Only  let  it 
rest  on  God's  word  and  it  cannot  be  too  confident,  or  expect  too 
much,  even  including  enduring  riches,  unending  pleasures  and 
everlasting  honors,  yea  the  joy  and  glory  of  God.  Chrysostom  : 
"  What  then  ?  do  our  goods  lie  in  hopes  ?  Yes,  in  hopes — but 
not  mere  human  hopes,  which  often  slip  away,  and  put  to  shame 
him  that  hoped  ;  when  some  one,  who  was  expected  to  patronize 
him,  dies,  or  is  changed,  though  he  lives.  No  such  lot  is  ours, 
our  hope  is  sure,  and  unmoveable.  For  he,  who  hath  made  the 
promise,  ever  liveth."  Chalmers  distinguishes  between  the  kinds 
of  hope  enjoyed  by  the  Christian,  caUing  them  '  the  hope  of  faith 
and  the  hope  of  experience.'  By  the  former  he  means  the  hope 
awakened  by  the  simple  promise  of  God  ;  by  the  latter,  the  ex- 
pectation arising  from  an  actual  experience  of  God's  faithfulness 
in  trials  through  which  we  have  passed.  But  these  are  not  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  hope.  When  we  rightly  hear  and  believe  God's 
promise,  we  hope  in  his  mercy  ;  when  we  experience  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  gracious  engagements  to  strengthen  and  help  us,  our 
hope  is  confirmed.  That  seems  to  be  all  that  can  be  made  of  the 
distinction.  Haldane  :  "  At  first  hope  springs  solely  from  a  view 
of  the  mediation  and  work  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Here  it  ac- 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  3, 4.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  209 

quires  a  new  force  from  the  proof  the  believer  has  of  the  reality  of 
his  union  with  the  Saviour,  by  his  being  filled  with  the  fruits  of 
righteousness  which  are  by  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  the  '  good  hope 
through  grace '  must  be  produced  solely  by  faith,  and  confirmed, 
not  produced,  by  the  fruits  of  faith." 

11.  Wondrous  is  the  grace,  which  God  grants  to  his  people, 
when  he  enables  them  not  only  to  bear  meekly  divers  trials,  but 
many  times  even  to  glory  in  the  sharpest  of  them,  v.  3.  What  but 
love  to  Christ  and  his  sustaining  grace  ever  caused  a  truthful 
record  to  be  made  like  this  ?  "  They  departed  from  the  presence 
of  the  council,  rejoicing  that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
shame  for  the  name  of  Jesus,"  Acts  5  :  41.  It  is  true  that  no  afflic- 
tion is  in  itself  joyous  but  on  the  contrary  grievous.  The  tribula- 
tio7is  of  God's  people  are  great.  Flesh  and  blood  must  sink  under 
them.  But  divine  grace  can  bear  them  aloft.  They  who  have  it 
sing  with  their  backs  all  cut  with  scourging,  and  their  feet  fast  in 
the  stocks.  Acts  16  :  25.  The  worst  case,  into  which  a  disciple  of 
strong  faith  may  be  put,  will  not  hinder  him  from  singing  the 
old  song  of  Christendom  :  "  If  we  be  dead  with  him,  we  shall 
also  live  with  him  :  if  we  suffer,  we  shall  also  reign  with  him  :  if  we 
deny  him,  he  also  will  deny  us :  if  we  believe  not,  yet  he  abideth 
faithful."  God's  people  may  be  troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not 
distressed ;  perplexed,  but  not  in  despair ;  persecuted,  but  not  for- 
saken ;  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed,  2  Cor.  4  :  8,  9.  Thousands 
of  years  ago  one  of  the  most  afflicted  servants  of  God  sang : 
"  Thou  hast  dealt  well  with  thy  servant,  O  Lord,  according  unto 
thy  word.  .  .  Before  I  was  afflicted  I  went  astray  :  but  now  have 
I  kept  thy  word.  .  .  It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  afflicted  ; 
that  I  might  learn  thy  statutes,"  Ps.  119  :  65,  6^,  71,  This  was 
under  a  dispensation  not  near  so  luminous  as  that  under  which  we 
live.  Brown  :  "  Though  natural  people,  who  are  strangers  to  God 
and  to  his  way  of  dealing,  may  judge  them  best  beloved  who  are 
least  troubled  with  outward  crosses  and  tribulations ;  yet,  as  no 
man  knoweth  either  love  or  hatred  by  all  such  external  dispensa- 
tions, so  God's  love  towards  his  people  will  not  exeem  them  from 
external  crosses,  nor  will  external  tribulations  and  crossing  dispen- 
sations give  any  just  ground  of  questioning  God's  love."  So  far 
from  it,  himself  has  said :  "  As  many  as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and 
chasten."  "  Whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  he  receiveth,"  Rev.  3  :  19  ;  Heb.  12  :  6. 

12.  Another  excellent  grace,  which  all  should  cultivate  is 
patience,  or  constancy,  unflinching  endurance  and  resolution,  vs. 
3,  4.  No  gracious  quality  is  more  essential.  "  Behold,  we  count 
them  happy  who  endure,"  Jas.  5:11.      "  He  that  endureth  to  the 

u 


210  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  vs.  4,  5. 

end  shall  be  saved,"  Matt.  10  :  22.  In  both  these  cases  the  verb 
rendered  endure  is  cognate  to  our  noun  patience.  This  grace  is  in- 
dispensable. "  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life."  "  He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things  ;  and 
I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son,"  Rev.  2  :  10:  21  :  7, 
Evans:  ''Patience  does  us  more  good  than  tribulations  can  do  us 
hurt."  Let  us  therefore  doubly  guard  our  spirits  against  all  that 
is  contrary  to  true  constancy  of  soul.  Brown :  "  Impatience  and 
fretting  under  God's  dispensations  do  so  blind  souls  that  they  can- 
not see  nor  observe  how  God  is  proving  himself  even  then 
gracious,  merciful,  powerful  and  faithful."  "  The  patient  in  spirit 
is  better  than  the  proud  in  spirit."  Ecc.  7  :  8. 

13.  Nor  is  there  any  substitute  for  that  practical  and  experimen- 
tal knowledge  of  divine  things,  which  we  obtain  by  being  proved 
and  tested,  and  by  proving  the  faithfulness  of  God  in  divers  trials 
and  tribulations,  v.  4.  Very  little  does  the  young  believer,  genuine 
though  his  faith  may  be,  know  of  the  rich  and  blessed  import  of 
the  promises.  He  is  a  novice.  Once  Paul  speaks  of  carnal  and 
babes  in  Christ  as  very  much  the  same,  i  Cor.  3:1.  But  the  aged 
believer,  who  has  long  been  taking  lessons  in  the  school  of  Christ 
and  in  the  school  of  adversity,  has  a  blessed  apprehension  of  such 
covenant  engagements  as  these :  "  When  thou  passest  through 
the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee  ;  and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall 
not  overflow  thee  :  when  thou  walkest  through  the  fire,  thou  shalt 
not  be  burned  ;  neither  shall  the  flanae  kindle  upon  thee."  "  When 
the  poor  and  needy  seek  water,  and  there  is  none,  and  their 
tongue  faileth  for  thirst,  I  the  Lord  will  hear  them,  I  the  God  of 
Israel  will  not  forsake  them.  I  will  open  rivers  in  high  places, 
and  fountains  in  the  midst  of  the  valleys  :  I  will  make  the  wilder- 
ness a  pool  of  water,  and  the  dry  land  springs  of  water,"  Isa. 
41  :  17,  18  ;  43  :  2.  Wondrously  does  '  the  God  of  all  comfort  com- 
fort us  in  all  our  tribulation,  that  we  may  be  able  to  comfort  them 
which  are  in  any  trouble  by  the  comfort  wherewith  Ave  ourselves 
are  comforted  of  God,'  2  Cor.  i  :  3,  4.  Any  thing  is  good  for  us 
if  it  leads  us  to  know  more  of  God  and  of  his  grace  in  us  and 
toward  us.  What  a  wonderful  teacher  experience  is,  especially 
experience  in  adversity.  It  instructs  us  so  fully  respecting  our 
own  ignorance  and  weakness,  the  world's  vanity  and  fickleness, 
Satan's  malice  and  power,  the  tenderness  and  sympathy  of  real 
Christians  and  the  wisdom,  power,  love  and  faithfulness  of  God. 

14.  Nor  is  there  a  nobler  attainment  made  by  the  pious  than 
love  to  God,  which  was  insisted  on  as  fully  by  Moses  as  by  John, 
Deut.  6:5;  7  :  9;  10:  12  ;  11  :  i,  13,  22  ;  19  :  9;  30 :  6.  This  grace 
is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  v.  5.     The  first 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  1-5.]  THE  ROMANS.  211 

necessary  quality  of  this  love  is  that  it  be  genuine  not  spurious  ; 
sincere  not  in  pretence ;  efficient,  not  in  word  only  ;  supreme,  ad- 
mitting no  rivals  ;  stable,  not  fitful ;  universal,  not  partial,  extend- 
ing to  all  God's  character,  laws  and  decisions,  ways  and  works. 
Scott :  "  This  seal  of  God  cannot  be  broken,  and  Satan  evidently 
and  peculiarly  fails  in  his  attempts  to  counterfeit  it :  for  all  false 
affections,  and  enthusiastic  confidences  are  liable  to  be  consumed 
in  the  furnace  of  long-continued  afflictions  ;  and  they  never  can 
communicate  that  reciprocal,  steady,  pre-eminent  and  abiding  love 
of  God  in  Christ,  which  no  fire  can  burn,  no  waters  can  quench, 
and  which  in  ten  thousands  of  instances  has  proved  stronger  than 
the  fear  of  death  in  its  most  tremendous  forms,  and  has  enabled  a 
feeble  believer  to  disregard  the  cruelty  of  a  savage  executioner,  in 
comparison  of  the  anguish  of  wilfully  denying  or  disobeying  his 
beloved  Lord."  If  we  love  not  God,  we  are  yet  in  our  sins.  Love 
is  greater  than  faith,  greater  than  hope.  It  bears  all  things,  en- 
dures all  things,  i  Cor.  13  :  7,  13. 

15.  There  is  an  amazing  work  going  on  for  God's  people,  for 
the  whole  church.  Many  a  time  has  God  rebuked  kings  for  the 
sake  of  an  humble  believer.  He  has  made  the'  sun  to  stand  still, 
and  the  stars  in  their  courses  to  fight  the  battles  of  his  people.  To 
them  the  Valley  of  Achor  is  for  a  door  of  hope.  Jehovah  has 
made  a  covenant  for  his  people  with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and 
with  the  fowls  of  heaven,  and  with  the  creeping  things  of  the 
ground.  Yea,  his  saints  are  in  league  with  the  stones  of  the  field  ; 
and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field  are  at  peace  with  them.  God  him- 
self is  their  God,  and  guide,  and  portion.  And  by  the  work  he  is 
doing  in  them,  he  is  evincing  his  r-eadiness  to  do  all  these  things 
and  much  more  for  his  people.  This  is  specially  manifested  by 
the  blessed  sisterhood  of  graces,  begotten  and  nourished  in  them 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  given  unto  them,  vs.  1-5. 

16.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  symmetry  of  Christian  character, 
a  proportion  in  the  graces  of  a  renewed  soul.  Its  excellences  are 
not  all  faith,  or  peace,  or  joy,  or  hope,  or  exultation,  or  patience, 
or  experience,  or  boldness,  or  love  ;  but  all  of  these  combined  in 
harmony,  vs.  1-5.  And  these  are  united  with  the  other  graces  of 
the  Spirit,  named  in  Matt.  5  :  i-io ;  Gal.  5  :  22,  23  ;  James  3:17: 
2  Pet.  I  :  5-9.  Let  us  undervalue  no  kind  of  moral  excellence. 
Every  grace  is  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  a  good  character. 
It  is  God's  plan  to  take  his  people  home  to  glory  without  spot,  or 
wrinkle,  or  blemish,  or  any  such  thing,  especially  without  such  a 
blemish  as  would  exist,  if  they  had  faith  without  penitence,  cour- 
age without  humility,  zeal  without  meekness,  hope  without 
reverence,  or  fear  without  love.     There  are  no  monsters  in  the 


212  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  V.  5. 

kingdom  of  heaven.  To  this  very  end  God  has  instituted  a  minis- 
try to  labor  in  the  church  on  earth,  "  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity 
of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  per- 
fect man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ : 
that  we  henceforth  be  no  more  children,  tossed  to  and  fro,  and 
carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine  by  the  sleight  of 
men,  and  cunning  craftiness,  whereby  they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive, 
but  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  may  grow  up  into  him  in  all  things, 
which  is  the  head  even  Christ." 

17.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  true  doctrine  respect- 
ing the  Holy  Ghost  is  not  better  understood  and  his  offices  in  the 
church  more  thought  of.  On  this  subject  the  scriptures  are  very 
clear.  In  particular  Paul  never  fails  to  embrace  a  fit  opportunity 
for  reminding  us  of  this  great  author  of  all  holiness  in  the  human 
heart.  See  v.  5.  In  scripture  he  is  called  the  Spirit,  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord,  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Ghost  is  a  Saxon  word  and  means  Spirit. 
Spirit  is  a  Latin  word  and  means  Ghost.  Ghost  and  Spirit  are 
used  interchangeably  as  the  rendering  of  the  same  word.  He  is 
the  Spirit  of  truth,  of  holiness,  of  wisdom,  of  counsel,  of  knowl- 
edge, of  might,  of  revelation,  of  adoption,  of  grace  and  of  sup- 
plication, because  by  him  we  receive  these  blessings.  He  is  said 
to  be  free,  because  he  cannot  be  bought  or  commanded.  His 
work  is  all  of  grace.  He  is  said  to  be  good,  because  such  is  his 
nature,  and  he  is  the  fountain  of  goodness.  He  is  loving,  pitiful 
and  condescending.  He  is  the  Sanctifier,  the  author  of  regenera- 
tion and  of  all  holiness  in  man.  He  is  the  Comforter  in  the  souls 
of  believers,  taking  of  the  things  of  Christ,  and  shewing  them  to 
his  people.  He  indites  the  prayers  of  the  righteous.  On  him  we 
depend  for  spiritual  life,  and  for  all  Christian  graces.  He  calls 
men  to  repentance.  He  is  a  divine  person.  It  is  as  true  of  him 
as  of  the  Father  or  the  Son :  "  Them  that  honor  me  will  I  honor." 
No  improvements  in  theology,  in  preaching,  in  religious  instruc- 
tion or  in  religious  effort  can  render  unnecessary  his  influences. 
He  must  illuminate,  impress,  renew,  guide  and  purify  us,  or  we 
shall  perish.  His  indwelling  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance. 
Chrysostom :  "  Had  not  God  been  willing  to  present  us  after  our 
labors  with  great  crowns,  he  would  never  have  given  us  such 
mighty  gift«  before  our  labors.  But  now  the  warmth  of  his  love 
is  hence  made  apparent,  that  it  is  not  gradually  and  little  by  little 
that  he  honors  us,  but  he  hath  shed  abroad  the  full  fountain  of  his 
blessings,  and  this  too  before  our  struggles."  Our  dependence  on 
the  Spirit  is  absolute.  We  are  not  sufficient  as  of  ourselves  to 
think  anything.      Men  may  read   and  hear  the  gospel  faithfully 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  5-8.J  THE  ROMANS.  213 

preached  all  their  days,  without  any  saving  effect,  if  the  Spirit 
open  not  their  hearts  to  attend  unto  the  things  of  salvation.  Nor 
can  converted  souls  make  any  advancement  in  saving  knowledge 
or  holy  affections,  except  as  the  Holy  Ghost  is  granted  unto 
them.  He  is  that  unction,  which  teacheth  all  things.  "  Not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord." 

18.  Let  us  do  all  in  our  power  to  stir  up  ourselves  to  take  hold 
on  God,  and  in  particular  to  '  keep  ourselves  in  the  love  of  God,' 
V.  5-  Let  us  cultivate  all  those  habits  of  devotion,  especially  in 
our  closets,  which  will  conduce  to  the  fervor  of  our  love.  Dodd- 
ridge :  "  To  excite  our  love  to  God,  let  us  be  daily  meditating 
upon  the  wonders  of  redeeming  love  and  grace  ;  adoring  that 
seasonable  interposition  of  divine  mercy,  that  when  we  were  weak 
and  guilty  creatures,  when  we  lay  for  ever  helpless  under  a  sen- 
tence of  everlasting  condemnation,  Christ  died  for  us." 

19.  In  V.  6  we  are  taught  that  our  Lord  died  in  the  time  that 
was  due,  or  set,  or  appointed.  This  is  proven  by  many  scriptures. 
He  was  to  come  during  the  time  of  the  second  temple,  before  all 
political  power  was  taken  from  Judah,  and  at  the  end  of  Daniel's 
weeks.  Christ  himself  knew  the  very  hour  when  he  was  to  die. 
Now  though  no  prophecy  has  revealed  the  time  of  the  death  of 
any  man  living,  yet  in  the  counsels  of  God  the  time  and  manner 
of  every  man's  departure  out  of  this  world  are  fixed.  So  teaches 
the  oldest  book  of  Scripture  :  "  His  days  are  determined,  the 
number  of  his  months  are  with  thee,  thou  hast  appointed  his 
bounds  that  he  cannot  pass,"  Job.  14  :  5.  It  is  a  comfort  to  a  good 
man  to  know  that  he  cannot  die  till  his  time  comes — the  time  set 
by  infinite  wisdom  and  immeasurable  love. 

20.  It  seems  strange  that  any  one,  who  regards  the  authority 
of  the  sacred  oracles,  should  find  any  difficulty  or  be  at  any  loss 
about  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  fallen  state  of  man  by  nature. 
We  have  met  this  subject  in  previous  pages  of  this  work  ;  but  in 
the  verses  under  consideration,  is  not  the  language  as  decisive  ? 
Men  are  said  to  be  "  without  strength  "  "  ungodly  "  or  impious, 
"  sinners  "  and  "  enemies."  What  more  can  be  said  ?  What  more 
need  be  said  to  depict  our  ruined  condition  ?  God  is  of  purer 
eyes  than  to  behold  evil,  and  cannot  look  on  iniquity,  Hab.  1:13. 
If  God's  word  regards  and  represents  us  as  helpless,  impious,  sin- 
ners, enemies,  we  may  rest  assured  that  in  that  representation 
there  is  no  exaggeration,  no  extravagance,  but  the  simple  verity. 

21.  How  could  God  love  men  as  he  did?  Only  because  he 
was  God  and  had  in  his  own  bosom  an  ocean  of  unspeakable  bene- 
volence, vs.  6,  8.  It  is  common  and  it  is  just  to  say  that  God's 
love  is  unparalleled.    But  an  old  writer,  who  lived  a  few  centuries 


214  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  9-10. 

ago,  uses  a  word  that  is  no  longer  found  in  English  classics.  He 
says  God's  love  to  man  is  iinparallelable.  And  this  is  true.  It  can- 
not be  matched.  This  love  of  God  to  sinners  is  no  novelty.  It 
dates  from  the  remotest  antiquity,  Jer.  31:3.  It  has  been  very 
costly.  It  did  not  cost  God  even  an  effort  to  make  the  universe. 
But  it  cost  the  agony  of  Gethsemane  and  the  awful  scenes  of 
Calvary  to  redeem  men.  God's  love  to  sinners  brings  to  all  who 
accept  his  grace  blessings  more  precious  than  are  enjoyed  by  any 
creatures  God  has  made.  God's  love  to  sinners  is  infinite.  As  it 
spared  no  cost  or  pains,  it  withholds  no  good  thing.  This  love 
was  the  love  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  The  Father  gave 
the  Son  to  die  for  us.  The  Son  offered  himself  a  victim,  as  a 
sacrifice  for  us.  The  Spirit  sets  forth  the  love  of  the  Father  in  just 
terms,  and  applies  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  new 
creating  the  souls  of  all  the  chosen.  A  government  has  sometimes 
paid  large  sums  of  money  to  redeem  one  of  its  citizens  from  cap- 
tivity. But  who,  besides  the  Prince  of  life,  ever  gave  himself  a 
ransom  for  his  enemies  ? 

22.  While  the  reigning  motive  in  the  pious  heart  is  not  fear 
but  love,  not  mere  dread  of  torment  but  a  joyful  trust  in  God's 
grace,  yet  it  is  well  for  us  often  to  think  of  the  hole  of  the  pit 
whence  we  were  digged,  and  of  the  miry  clay  whence  our  feet 
were  taken.  We  should  never  forget  that  salvation  is  not  only  to 
something  great  and  glorious,  but  that  it  is  from  something  exceed- 
ingly dreadful,  even  from  wrath,  v.  9.  It  is  said  that  one  man  was 
awakened  and  converted  just  by  hearing  Mr.  Whitefield  pronounce 
the  words — The  wrath  of  the  Lamb.  Such  words  ought  to  move 
any  heart. 

23.  The  scriptures  make  much  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  well 
they  may,  v.  9.  But  it  was  not  enough  that  he  shed  a  little  blood 
for  us.  It  is  sometimes  foolishly  said  that  one  drop  of  his  blood 
was  enough  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  But  there  is  no 
truth  in  such  a  statement.  Had  it  been  so,  the  work  of  propitia- 
tion would  have  been  finished  in  Gethsemane,  for  there  "  his  sweat 
was  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground," 
Luke  22  :  44.  Accordingly  that,  which  in  v.  9  is  said  to  have  been 
effected  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  is  in  v.  10  ascribed  to  his  death. 
If  Christ  himself  would  save  us,  it  must  be  by  his  tasting  death 
for  every  man.  Every  time  we  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper,  we 
do  shew  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come. 

24.  In  our  thoughts,  speeches  and  writings  concerning  scriptu- 
ral truths,  in  particular  respecting  the  great  doctrines  of  salvation 
let  us  beware  of  the  bad  art  of  dwarfing  or  dwindling  the  glorious 
things  of  salvation.      On  v.  9  Macknight  says :  "  Here  justified  by 


Ch.  V,  vs.  9,  II.]  THE  ROMANS.  215 

his  blood,  means  that,  in  view  of  Christ's  shedding  his  blood,  Adam 
and  Eve  were  respited  from  death,  and  being  allowed  to  live,  he 
and  they  were  placed  under  a  new  covenant,  by  which  they  might 
regain  immortality.  This  is  what  is  called  justification  of  life,  v. 
18."  Again  he  says:  "Here  persons  are  said  to  be  justified  by 
Christ's  blood,  who  are  not  saved  from  wrath  through  him."  Was 
there  ever  more  wild  or  foolish  speech  than  this  ?  It  is  not  a  whit 
the  less  to  be  regretted  because  it  is  the  language  of  a  scholar, 
who  in  some  other  things  has  done  good  service  to  the  church. 
How  refreshing  now  to  read  such  words  as  these  from  Hodge : 
"  The  primary  object  of  the  death  of  Christ  was  to  render  God 
propitious,  to  satisfy  his  justice ;  and  not  to  influence  human  con- 
duct, or  display  the  divine  character  for  the  sake  of  the  moral  ef- 
fect of  that  exhibition.  Among  its  infinitely  diversified  results, 
all  of  which  were  designed,  some  of  the  most  important,  no  doubt, 
are  the  sanctification  of  men,  the  display  of  the  divine  perfections, 
the  prevention  of  sin,  the  happiness  of  the  universe,  etc.,  etc.  But 
the  object  of  a  sacrifice,  as  such,  is  to  propitiate,  vs.  9,  10;  Heb. 
2  :  17."  Compare  i  Pet.  i  ;  18;  Rev.  5  :  9.  Chrysostom  :  "  There 
were  two  difficulties  in  the  way  of  our  being  saved ;  our  being 
sinners,  and  our  salvation  requiring  the  Lord's  Death,  a  thing 
which  was  quite  incredible  before  it  took  place,  and  required  exceed- 
ing love  for  it  to  take  place.  But  now,  since  this  has  come  about, 
other  requisites  are  easier.  For  we  have  become  friends,  and 
there  is  no  further  need  of  Deaths.  Shall  then  he  who  hath  so 
spared  his  enemies  as  not  to  spare  his  Son,  fail  to  defend  them  now 
they  are  become  friends,  when  he  hath  no  longer  any  need  to  give 
up  his  Son  ?  " 

25.  We  cannot  too  highly  prize  the  atonement,  v.  11.  Some 
wish  us  to  give  up  the  name ;  but  the  name  is  a  very  good  one. 
It  is  in  the  Bible.  Some  wish  us  to  give  up  what  is  meant  by  the 
atonement,  but  we  cannot.  It  is  our  life.  Give  up  that,  and  what 
have  we  left  ?  Whitby  quotes  Crellius  as  excepting  to  the  phrase 
we  have  now  received  the  atonement.  He  would  read,  obtained  this 
conversion  to  God.  But  for  such  a  rendering  there  is  not  the  slightest 
reason  or  authority.  To  receive  an  atonement,  or  obtain  recon- 
ciliation by  blood-shedding  was  an  idea  perfectly  familiar  both  to 
Jews  and  Gentiles.  We  cannot  too  much  guard  our  thoughts 
and  words  on  the  whole  subject  of  our  reconciliation  to  God.  It 
is  never  by  ourselves  but  by  Christ  Jesus,  never  by  our  sufferings 
or  merits,  but  always  by  the  sacrifice  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ 
that  we  are  represented  as  obtaining  reconciliation. 

26.  There  is  a  difference  between  saints  and  sinners.  They  are 
not  alike.     They  do  not  fare  alike.     What  sinner  has  such  a  char- 


2i6  EPISTLE  [Ch.  v.,  vs.  I,  II. 

acter  as  is  described  in  vs.  1-5  ?  Who  that  is  living  without 
Christ  has  such  privileges  as  are  described  in  vs.  i-i  i  ?  Stuart : 
"  To  rejoice  in  God  as  our  God,  expresses  the  consummation  of 
all  the  Christian's  happiness."  Well  does  Luther  say  :  "  Although 
I  am  a  sinner  by  the  law,  and  under  condemnation  of  the  law,  yet 
I  despair  not,  I  die  not,  because  Christ  liveth,  who  is  both  my 
righteousness  and  my  everlasting  life.  In  that  righteousness  and 
life  I  have  no  sin,  no  fear,  no  sting  of  conscience,  no  care  of  death 
I  am,  indeed  a  sinner,  as  touching  this  present  life,  and  the  right- 
eousness thereof,  as  the  child  of  Adam ;  where  the  law  accuses 
me,  death  reigns  over  me,  and  at  length  would  devour  me.  But 
I  have  another  righteousness  and  life  above  this  life,  which  is 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  who  knoweth  no  sin,  nor  death,  but  right- 
eousness and  life  eternal ;  by  whom  this,  my  body,  being  dead, 
and  brought  into  dust,  shall  be  raised  up  again,  and  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  the  law,  and  sin,  and  shall  be  sanctified  to- 
gether with  the  spirit."  Who  may  joy  in  God,  if  such  a  man 
may  not  ? 

27.  The  instruction  given  in  these  verses  i-ii,  is  rich  and  full. 
In  them  we  have  our  attention  turned  to  the  three  persons  of  the 
Godhead,  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  as  united  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  human  salvation.  We  have  a  catalogue,  not 
perfect,  indeed,  yet  quite  comprehensive,  of  the  benefits  enjoyed 
by  believers,  through  the  great  scheme  of  redemption.  What- 
ever else  is  wanted  is  found  in  the  covenant.  Sometimes  particu- 
lars are  stated,  going  down  to  bread  and  water,  yea  even  to  the 
hairs  of  our  heads.  Nothing  is  omitted,  which  faith  and  love  and 
hope  need  to  sustain  and  encourage  them.  Tribulations  are  indeed 
the  lot  of  God's  people  :  but  "  the  pain  of  them  will  soon  be  over ; 
the  happy  consequences  of  them  will  be  as  lasting  as  our  immortal 
souls."  Justification  is  neither  sanctification,  nor  glorification, 
yet  "  in  it  there  is  a  real  relative  change  of  the  man's  state  before 
God,  so  that  in  a  moral  and  law  sense  he  goeth  for  another  man 
than  he  was  formerly,  and  that  even  in  God's  account." 

28.  Christianity  is  true,  and  one  proof  of  its  divine  origin  is 
the  fact  that  it  comes  to  men  loaded  with  unspeakable  blessings, 
blessings  such  as  no  system  of  error  has  ever  conveyed  to  mor- 
tals. See  the  list  in  vs.  i-ii.  The  true  and  infinitely  wise  and 
good  God,  and  he  alone  could  devise  a  scheme  at  once  so  perfect, 
so  honorable  to  its  author,  and  at  the  same  time  conveying  such 
blessings  to  poor,  lost,  ignorant,  guilty  and  depraved  man. 


CHAPTER    Y. 

VERSES  12-2  1. 

OUR  JUSTIFICATION  IN  CHRIST  ILLUSTRATED  BY 
OUR  FALL  IN  ADAM.  THE  DIFFERENCE  BE- 
TWEEN THESE  OUR  REPRESENTATIVES.  THE 
RICHES  OF  GOD'S  GRACE. 

12  Wherefore,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin; 
and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned  : 

13  (For  until  the  law  sin  was  in  the  world  :  but  sin  is  not  imputed  when  there 
is  no  law- 

14  Nevertheless  death  reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses,  even  over  them  that  had 
not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression,  who  is  the  figure  of  him 
that  was  to  come. 

1  5  But  not  as  the  offence,  so  also  is  the  free  gift  :  for  if  through  the  offence 
of  one  many  be  dead,  much  more  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  g^ft  by  grace,  which 
is  by  one  man,  Jesus  Christ,  hath  abounded  unto  many. 

16  And  not  as  it  was  by  one  that  sinned,  so  is  the  gift :  for  the  judgment  was 
by  one  to  condemnation,  but  the  free  gift  is  of  many  offences  unto  justification. 

17  For  if  by  one  man's  offence  death  reigned  by  one;  much  more  they  which 
receive  abundance  of  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness  shall  reign  in  life  by  one, 
Jesus  Christ.) 

18  Therefore,  as  by  the  offence  of  one  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  con- 
demnation ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men 
unto  justification  of  life. 

19  For  as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners,  so  by  the 
obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  righteous. 

20  Moreover  the  law  entered,  that  the  offence  might  abound.  But  where  sin 
abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound  : 

21  That  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign  through 
righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

EESPECTING  this  portion  of  God's  word  a  few  preliminary 
remarks  are  submitted. 
I.  It  is  instructive  to  see  different  classes  of  commentators  ap- 
proach this  passage.      Those,   who  entertain   Pelagian  or  Semi- 
Pelagian  views,  or  are  unsound  or  doubtful  on  the  great  doctrines 

(217) 


2i8  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  12-19. 

of  Original  Sin,  the  Nature  of  Sin,  the  Work  of  Christ,  or  Justi- 
fication, seem  to  look  upon  verses  12-19  with  alarm,  if  not  dread. 
John  Taylor  of  Norwich  among  moderns  took  the  lead  in  this 
course.  He  has  been  followed,  more  or  less  closely,  by  a  multi- 
tude, whose  preliminary  remarks  on  the  passage  commonly  notify 
you  of  what  is  coming.  Frequently  they  early  announce  that 
they  have  had  great  labor  on  the  passage,  and  have  found  it  full 
of  difficulty.  Stuart  says :  "  That  this  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
passages  in  all  the  New  Testament,  will  be  conceded,  I  believe, 
by  all  sober  and  reflecting  critics.  As  I  have  before  remarked, 
I  have  bestowed  repeated  and  long-continued  efforts  upon  the 
study  of  it.  I  do  not  say  this,  however,  as  affording  in  itself  even 
a  presumptive  proof  that  I  have  at  last  attained  to  a  right  un- 
derstanding of  it ;  but  only  to  shew  that  I  have  felt,  and  in  some 
measure  rightly  estimated,  the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the 
nature  of  an  undertaking  to  explain  it,  and  have  not  neglected 
any  efforts  within  my  power  to  overcome  them."  Similar  remarks 
might  easily  be  cited  from  other  writers  of  the  same  class. 

That  there  are  unsearchable  riches  and  unfathomable  depths 
of  love  and  wisdom  and  knowledge  in  this  and  in  many  other 
portions  of  God's  word  is  readily  conceded  by  all  good  men. 
Paul  himself  in  this  epistle  and  elsewhere  frankly  and  adoringly 
admits  all  this,  Rom.  11  :  33-36;  Eph.  3  :  17-21. 

That  those^  who  oppose  the  sound  view,  have  often  shown 
great  ingenuity,  if  not  perversity,  in  making  objections  of  various 
kinds,  philological,  philosophical,  and  rationalistic,  and  thus  suc- 
ceeded in  perplexing  some  of  the  unlearned  is  also  admitted.  In 
some  cases  these  views  have  been  carried  so  far  as  to  subvert  the 
gospel.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  all  religious  error  to  eat  as  doth  a 
canker. 

Sound  expositors,  to  defend  the  truths  here  taught,  have  often 
laid  out  much  strength  in  showing  the  mistakes  of  errorists,  and 
in  vindicating  the  old  orthodox  interpretation.  They  admit  the 
passage  has  been  so  perverted  as  to  require  a  lucid  exposition  of 
its  leading  ideas,  and  an  exposure  of  the  glosses  of  errorists,  who, 
while  complaining  of  the  theories  of  others,  present  their  own 
conceits,  and  would  have  us  follow  them.  But  it  is  not  true  that 
the  great  body  of  sound  divines  have  found  this  portion  of  God's 
word  perplexing  and  hard  to  be  understood.  That  this  is  a  cor- 
rect statement  it  would  be  easy  to  show  in  many  ways.  They 
come  to  it  as  to  any  other  part  of  scripture.  They  take  the  terms 
and  phrases  in  their  connection  and  in  their  obvious  sense,  and 
they  rest  on  the  divine  word  as  conclusive.  One  opens  the 
volumes  written  by  the  fathers  in  the  church  for  the  last  fifteen  or 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19.]  THE  ROMANS.  219 

sixteen  hundred  years,  and  he  finds  them  from  the  days  of  Chry- 
sostom  down  handling  this  scripture  with  great  love  and  reverence, 
but  never  seeming  to  think  the  apostle  was  obscure,  or  that  this 
passage  was  very  difficult,  or  calculated  to  perplex  rather  than 
edify  plain  godly  people. 

The  elder  President  Edwards  has  borne  a  noble  testimony  on 
these  matters :  "  Now  I  think  this  care  and  exactness  of  the 
Apostle  no  where  appears  more  than  in  the  place  we  are  upon. 
[Rom.  5  :  12-19.]  Nay  I  scarcely  know  another  instance  equal  to 
this,  of  the  apostle's  care  to  be  well  understood,  by  being  very 
particular,  expHcit,  and  precise,  setting  the  matter  forth  in  every 
light,  going  over  and  over  again  with  his  doctrine,  clearly  to 
exhibit,  and  fully  to  settle  and  determine  the  thing  at  which  he 
aims." 

Again  :  "  No  wonder,  when  the  apostle  is  treating  so  fully  and 
largely  of  our  restoration,  righteousness,  and  life  by  Christ,  that 
he  is  led  by  it  to  consider  our  fall,  sin,  death,  and  ruin  by  Adam  ; 
and  to  observe  wherein  these  two  opposite  heads  of  mankind 
agree,  and  wherein  they  differ,  in  the  manner  of  conveyance  of 
opposite  influences  and  communications  from  each. 

"  Thus,  if  the  place  be  understood,  as  it  used  to  be  understood 
by  orthodox  divines,  the  whole  stands  in  a  natural,  easy,  and  clear 
connection  with  the  preceding  part  of  the  chapter,  and  all  the 
former  part  of  the  epistle  ;  and  in  a  plain  agreement  with  all  the 
apostle  had  been  saying ;  and  also  in  connection  with  the  words 
last  before  spoken,  as  introduced  by  the  two  immediately  preced- 
ing verses,  where  he  is  speaking  of  our  justification,  reconcilia- 
tion, and  salvation  by  Christ ;  which  leads  the  apostle  directly  to 
observe,  how,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  sin  and  death  by  Adam. 
Taking  this  discourse  of  the  apostle  in  its  true  and  plain  sense, 
there  is  no  need  of  great  extent  of  learning,  or  depth  of  criticism 
to  find  out  the  connection  ;  but  if  it  be  understood  in  Dr.  Taylor's 
sense,  the  plain  scope  and  connection  are  wholly  lost,  and  there 
was  truly  need  of  a  skill  in  criticism,  and  the  art  of  discerning, 
beyond  or  at  least  different  from  that  of  former  divines,  and  a 
faculty  of  seeing  what  other  men's  sight  could  not  reach,  in  order 
to  find  out  the  connection. "  Works,  Vol.  2,  pp.  499-502.  Similar 
remarks  are  made  by  Guyse  and  others. 

2.  On  the  object  and  interpretation  of  this  portion  of  scripture 
sound  divines  have  been  remarkably  agreed.  It  would  be  easy  to 
fill  pages  with  extracts  from  the  best  writers  of  the  last  fifteen 
hundred  years  in  proof  of  this  assertion.  There  is  a  general  agree- 
ment that  this  part  of  the  epistle  is  written  in  confirmation  and 
elucidation  of  what  the  apostle  had  already  taught  respecting 


220  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19. 

man's  justification  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ.  There 
is  no  notice  of  any  change  of  topic.  All  that  is  said  admits  of  a 
satisfactory  explanation  on  this  view  of  the  case.  Perhaps  not  a 
single  writer,  who  denies  this  to  be  the  design  and  bearing  of 
these  verses,  escapes  either  mistake  or  confusion,  while  not  a  few 
are  led  into  strange  contradictions,  or  dangerous  errors. 

3.  Although  this  is  the  design  of  the  passage,  the  method  of 
carrying  it  out  is  quite  different  from  anything  yet  presented  in 
this  epistle.  The  illustration  of  our  recovery  in  Christ  is  borrowed 
from  the  fact  and  manner  of  ouf  ruin  in  Adam.  Paul's  object  is 
not  to  discuss  and  explain  original  sin,  but  by  original  sin  to  ex- 
plain the  method  of  justification.  In  doing  this  he  does  in  a  most 
instructive  and  satisfactory  manner  explain  to  us  the  entrance  of 
sin,  and  our  relations  to  the  father  of  the  human  race.  Indeed  no 
equal  portion  of  scripture  casts  such  light  on  the  introduction  of 
evil,  as  it  involves  the  human  race.  All  this  is  the  more  satisfac- 
tory because  the  apostle  does  not  attempt  to  prove  anything 
respecting  original  sin.  He  either  takes  it  for  granted  that  his 
positions  on  that  subject  will  be  admitted  by  all,  or  he  intends  by 
the  authority  of  God's  Spirit  to  make  known  to  us  the  leading 
truths  respecting  original  sin,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of  letting 
us  see  more  clearly  the  manner  and  the  glory  of  our  recovery  in 
Christ.  And  all  this  comes  in  most  naturally.  He  had  delivered 
a  great  argument  evincing  these  ti'uths,  that  mankind,  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  were  sinners ;  that  their  justification  by  the  deeds  of  the 
law  was  out  of  the  question  ;  that  the  gospel  scheme  had  in  it  a 
righteousness  commensurate  to  the  demands  of  the  law  ;  that  this 
righteousness  was  wrought  out  and  brought  in  by  Jesus  Christ ; 
that  we  become  interested  in  that  righteousness  when  God  im- 
putes it  to  us,  and  we  receive  it  by  faith  ;  that  there  is  no  other 
method  of  justification  for  any  mere  man  ;  that  Abraham  himself 
was  justified  by  faith ;  and  that  the  writings  of  Moses  settled  that 
fact  beyond  all  doubt.  He  then  in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter 
dwells  briefly  on  the  benefits  of  this  justification,  and  on  the  great- 
ness of  the  love  and  humiliation  by  which  our  justification  and  re- 
conciliation were  effected.  Having  in  chapter  IV.  disposed  of  the 
truth  respecting  Abraham,  the  father  of  believers,  he  now  goes 
back  to  Adam,  the  father  of  the  human  race,  and  borrows  an  illus- 
tration of  his  argument  and  principles  from  him.  As  he  had  said 
Abraham  was  a  pattern  of  all  believers,  so  he  now  says  Adam  was 
a  figure,  literally  a  type,  of  our  Saviour. 

4.  If  these  things  are  so,  then  there  is  a  clear  and  definite  object 
before  the  mind  of  the  apostle,  and  all  that  is  said  is  harmonious 
with  what  has  gone  before,  and  is  as  easily  understood  as  any  other 


Ch.  v.,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  221 

part  of  the  epistle,  the  terms  being  simple,  and  the  connection  ob- 
vious. But  Stuart  says,  "  The  main  design  of  this  passage  is  ...  to 
exalt  our  views  respecting  the  blessings  which  Christ  has  pro- 
cured for  us  by  a  comparison  of  them  with  the  evil  consequences, 
which  ensued  upon  the  fall  of  our  first  ancestor,  and  by  shewing 
that  the  blessings  in  question  not  only  extend  to  the  removal  of 
these  evils,  but  even  far  beyond  this ;  so  that  the  grace  of  the  gos- 
pel has  not  only  abounded,  but  superaboundedy  But  what  is  said 
of  superabonnding  grace  is  a  remark  very  just  indeed  but  wholly 
by  the  way,  is  no  part  of  the  main  argument,  yet  grows  out  of  the 
illustration  used.  No  wonder  this  writer  should  find  himself  sadly 
perplexed  and  embarrassed  at  every  step  of  his  exposition  when 
he  misapprehends  the  scope  of  the  passage.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  others,  who  have  alike  mistaken  the  design  of  the  apostle. 
All  these  things  show  the  justice  of  what  is  said  by  the  elder  Pre- 
sident Edwards  :  "It  is  really  no  less  than  abusing  the  scripture 
and  its  readers  to  represent  this  paragraph  as  the  most  obscure  of 
all  the  places  of  scripture,  that  speak  of  the  consequences  of  Adam's 
sin ;  and  to  treat  it  as  if  there  was  need  first  to  consider  other 
places  as  more  plain.  Whereas  it  is  most  manifestly  a  place  in 
which  these  things  are  declared,  the  most  plainly,  particularly, 
precisely,  and  of  set  purpose,  by  that  great  apostle,  who  has  most 
fully  explained  to  us  those  doctrines  in  general,  which  relate  to  the 
redemption  by  Christ,  and  the  sin  and  misery  we  are  redeemed 
from."  Works,  Vol.  2,  p.  511.  These  things  being  so,  let  us  con- 
sider these  verses  in  detail. 

12.  Wherefore,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death 
by  sin ;  and  so  deatli  passed  npon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned. 
Peshito :  As  by  means  of  one  man,  sin  entered  into  the  world, 
and,  by  means  of  sin,  death  ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  the  sons 
of  men,  inasmuch  as  they  all  have  sinned.  The  old  English  ver- 
sions are  very  much  the  sam-e  as  the  authorized  translation.  The 
verse  may  be  fairly  thus  paraphrased  :  Having  largely  explained 
to  you  the  lost  and  guilty  state  of  mankind,  and  shewn  that  they 
are  involved  in  universal  ruin ;  and  having  stated  the  method  of 
recovery  by  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  we  be- 
come interested  by  the  imputation  of  God  when  we  believe,  I  am 
led  to  notice  a  resemblance  between  the  method  of  our  ruin  and  of 
our  recovery.  Our  justification  is  not  by  many,  but  by  one  man,  the 
man  Christ  Jesus,  even  as  our  condemnation  was  not  by  many  but 
by  one  man.  Condemnation  was  followed  by  death,  and  among  ra- 
tional and  accountable  creatures,  death  is  by  sin.  That  is  a  first 
principle  in  this  matter  so  plain  that  I  shall  not  argue  it,  but  take 
it  for  granted.     This  dreadful  curse  and  condemnation  came,  not 


222  EPIS  TL  E    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  12. 

only  on  the  first  transgressor  of  the  covenant  of  works,  but  on  all 
his  posterity ;  for  he  was  their  representative,  and  his  first  sin,  his 
07ie  offence  had  such  an  effect  that  death  passed  upon  all  men  ;  for  by 
the  fall  of  Adam  all  became  sinners,  and  so  were  liable  to  the  curse 
of  God,  expressed  in  the  word  death,  and  manifested  in  the  mise- 
ries of  men  here  and  hereafter,  especially  in  this  life  in  the  disso- 
lution of  the  body,  then  in  separation  of  the  soul  from  God,  and 
finally  in  the  liability  of  both  soul  and  body  to  the  pains  of  hell 
forever. 

The  first  word  wherefore  marks  the  connection  with  the  whole 
of  the  foregoing  argument,  more  especially  as  summarily  stated  in 
vs.  9,  10,  II.  In  Rom.  4  :  13  we  have  precisely  the  same  words 
rendered  Therefore.  If  they  are  illative  there,  why  are  they  not 
illative  here  ?  This  is  by  far  the  more  common  rendering,  and 
there  are  many  instances  of  this  use  in  the  New  Testament  be- 
ginning with  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  running  through  all  the 
Gospels,  Acts,  etc.  down  to  Revelation.  It  shows  the  great  straits, 
into  which  some  are  brought  that  this  wherefore  should  be  so 
troublesome  to  them,  and  they  set  about  with  much  zeal  to  show 
that  it  means  something  else.  Stuart  makes  a  great  effort  to  prove 
that  it  does  not  mean  here  what  it  usually  means.  He  shows  very 
clearly  that  he  is  perplexed,  and  says  others  have  been,  yet  he  has 
the  candor  to  state  that  Tholuck  and  Flatt  give  their  suffrage  in 
favor  of  the  common  view,  which  makes  it  illative.  But  Stuart 
labors  to  show  that  it  neither  notes  a  deduction  nor  is  it  a  formula 
of  transition.  But  these  perplexities  would  never  have  arisen,  if 
the  plain  obvious  teaching  of  these  few  verses  had  not  been  con- 
trary to  favorite  theories.  We  are  at  no  loss  to  know  who  is  the 
one  man  mentioned  in  this  verse.  The  history  of  the  race  points 
to  the  father  of  all  mankind.  A  single  person  is  spoken  of  here  and 
in  verses  14-19.  This  language  excludes  Eve,  not  from  the  sin  of 
eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  nor  from  being  a  tempter  to  her  husband, 
nor  from  suffering  the  displeasure  of  God,  but  from  being  the  fed- 
eral head  of  the  human  family.  Eve  was  not  a  public  person. 
Had  she  alone  sinned,  she  alone  would  have  suffered.  Scott: 
"  Adam  was  the  federal  head,  surety  and  representative  of  all  his 
posterity  ;  nor  did  sin  enter,  save  to  the  personal  condemnation  of 
Eve,  till  he  also  ate  the  forbidden  fruit."  Adam  and  Eve  were  in- 
deed ^'  one  flesh;"  yet  no  more  so  than  are  every  lawfully  married 
man  and  woman.  But  they  were  not  one  person.  They  had  not 
the  same  consciousness.  There  was  a  time  when  Adam  existed 
and  Eve  did  not  exist.  There  was  a  time  when  Eve  was  a  sinner 
and  Adam  was  holy.  Nor  is  there  in  scripture  the  least  hint  that 
Eve  was  a  public  person,  a  federal  head,  a  representative  of  any. 


Ch.  v.,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  223 

In  these  eight  verses  our  ruin  is  twice  distinctly  said  to  have  come 
on  us  by  Adam ;  three  times  by  one  man,  and  four  times  by  one, 
meaning  either  one  person  or  one  act. 

By  this  one  man  sin  entered.  Sin,  the  word  usually  so  ren- 
dered. All  unrighteousness  is  sin.  All  want  of  righteousness  is 
sin.  All  transgression  of  law  is  sin.  All  want  of  conformity  to 
law  is  sin.  Men  may  sin  by  defect  or  by  excess,  by  not  coming 
up  to  the  law  or  by  overleaping  its  prohibitions,  by  omission  of 
duty,  or  by  commission  of  deeds  of  iniquity.  We  sin  when  we 
fail  to  love,  serve  and  obey  God,  or  when  we  love,  serve  and  obey 
any  thing  in  the  place  of  God.  Sometimes  the  word  sin  denotes 
a  state  of  sinfulness  ;  sometimes,  a  principle  of  wickedness ;  some- 
times, a  wicked  influence  having  the  mastery  over  us :  but  in  all 
cases  it  involves  the  idea  of  guiltiness,  or  righteous  liability  to 
God's  displeasure.  Sometimes  this  is  the  prominent  thought.  So 
far  do  the  scriptures  carry  this  idea  that  they  have  the  same  word 
for,, sin  and  sin-offering.  Sometimes  sin  is  personified,  but  that 
does  not  dismiss  either  the  idea  of  wickedness  or  of  exposure  to 
wrath.  Even  when  one  of  these  ideas  is  prominent,  the  other  still 
inheres,  either  as  a  basis  or  an  accompaniment.  Often  the  prom- 
inent idea  suggested  by  the  word  is  the  guilt  of  sin,  its  power  to 
subject  us  to  wrath,  liability  to  punishment.  So  when  we  read  of 
the  remission  of  sins,  or  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  it  is  the  guilt  of 
sin  that  is  meant.  The  pollution  or  stain  of  sin  is  removed  by 
sanctification,  not  by  remission.  Pardon  excludes  punishment. 
It  does  not  render  unnecessary  the  purification  of  the  heart.  That 
must  still  go  on.  When  it  is  said  "  Christ  was  once  offered  to 
bear  the  sins  of  many,"  Heb.  9  :  28,  it  is  blasphemy  to  say  that  he 
bore  the  pollution,  the  stain  of  sin,  while  it  is  glorious  doctrine  to 
say  that  he  bore  the  guilt  of  our  sins,  the  punishment  due  to  us  for 
sin,  our  legal  liability  to  righteous  indignation.  So  when  it  is 
said  "  he  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,"  it  cannot  mean  that 
Christ  was  stained  or.  polluted  with  sin,  for  it  is  immediately 
added  that  he  "  knew  no  sin."  The  meaning  is  that  he  bore  the 
guilt  of  sin,  the  curse  of  the  broken  law,  in  our  room  and  stead, 
though  personally  innocent  and  holy.  Sin  entered  into.  No  word 
in  Scripture  has  a  meaning  less  variant.  It  is  always  rendered  as 
here,  or  came  into,  or  went  into,  but  always  retains  the  idea  of 
entrance.  "  Enter  into  thy  closet,"  "  enter  ye  in  at  the  strait 
gate,"  "  enter  into  fife,"  "  entered  into  the  swine,"  "  entered  into 
rest"  are  samples  of  its  use.  Sin  entered  into  the  world,  the 
same  word  as  in  Rom.  4  :  13,  on  which  see  comment.  It  includes 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

What   then  is   the   meaning   of  the  whole    clause:     ''By  one 


224  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  12. 

man  sin  entered  into  the  world?  "  Some  say  it  simply  teaches  that 
Adam  was  the  first  sinner  in  this  world.  But  this  is  not  true. 
"  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve."  But  Eve  first  sinned,  then 
Adam.  So  all  the  accounts  agree  in  teaching.  Adam  was  not 
the  first  sinner.  He  did  not  commit  the  first  sin.  He  did  not 
set  the  first  example  6f  disobedience.  The  woman  did  that. 
The  clause  says :  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world." 
Some  teach  that  sifnply  as  progenitor  of  the  race,  under  that 
law  of  nature,  that  /i^e  begets  like,  Adam  becoming  a  sinner  intro- 
duced depravity  into  the  world.  No  doubt  like  begets  like. 
No  doubt  our  depravity  is  native,  and  that  all  Adam's  descend- 
ants have  naturally  sinful  affections,  corrupt  natures  derived 
from  him  as  their  root.  But  in  the  same  sense  men  derive 
their  sinful  nature  from  Eve,  as  she  was  the  mother  of  all  liv- 
ing. And  "  who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean  ?  " 
When  David  speaks  of  his  hereditary  depravity,  he  does  not 
even  mention  his  father,  though  doubtless  he  was  included  in 
his  thoughts:  "Behold  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity;  and  in  sin  did 
my  mother  conceive  me,"  Ps.  51:5.  By  one  man  sin  entered  cer- 
tainly means  more  than  that  Adam  set  us  a  bad  example.  Every 
man,  who  has  ever  done  a  known  wrong,  has  set  a  bad  example. 
And  the  phrase  certainly  means  more  than  that  Adam's  descend- 
ants inherit  from  him  a  fallen  nature ;  for  they  inherit  it  no  less 
from  their  immediate  ancestry,  as  David  confesses.  This  whole 
clause  is  explained  in  this  very  chapter  by  such  phrases  as  these : 
"  Through  the  offence  of  one  many  be  dead ;"  "  The  judgment 
was  by  one  to  condemnation ;"  "  By  one  man's  offence  death 
reigned  by  one ;"  "  By  the  offence  of  one  judgment  came  upon 
all  men  to  condemnation ;"  "  By  one  man's  disobedience  many 
were  made  sinners."  The  true  interpretation  of  these  phrases  is 
clearly  indicated  by  the  language  respecting  the  second  Adam 
who  produced  effects  directly  opposite  :  "  The  gift  by  grace,  which 
is  by  one  man,  Jesus  Christ ;"  "  They  whicji  receive  abundance  of 
grace,  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  shall  reign  in  life  by  one, 
Jesus  Christ ;"  "  By  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift  came 
upon  all  men  unto  justification  of  life  ;"  "  By  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  many  be  made  righteous."  None  but  the  loosest  thinkers 
will  say  that  all,  which  these  latter  passages  teach,  is  that  by  his 
example  Jesus  Christ  taught  us  the  way  of  righteousness ;  or  how 
to  secure  the  gift  of  righteousness ;  or  that  his  example  and  doc- 
trine and  sufferings  are  suited  to  win  us  to  righteousness.  Yet 
these  phrases  respecting  Christ  are  in  complete  antithesis  to  those 
respecting  Adam.  Whatever  is  meant  by  one  class  is  just  the 
opposite  of  what  is  meant  by  the  other.     Jesus  Christ  saves  us  as 


Ch.  v.,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  225 

Adam  ruined  us.  Jesus  Christ  brings  us  into  a  state  of  justifica- 
tion, as  Adam  brought  us  into  a  state  of  condemnation.  By  the 
latter  we  have  eternal  life  as  a  free  gift,  yea,  and  abundance  of 
grace,  as  by  the  former  we  received  judgment  unto  condemnation. 
If  ever  any  eight  verses  of  scripture  clearly  interpreted  themselves, 
these  verses  do  that  very  thing.  And  death  [entered]  by  sin.  The 
Scriptures  are  entirely  uniform  and  harmonious  in  accounting  for 
the  entrance  of  death  into  the  world :  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest 
thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die  ;"  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall 
die ;"  "  The  wages  of  sin  is  death ;"  "  Sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
bringeth  forth  death,"  Gen.  2:17;  Ezek.  18:4;  Rom.  6:23; 
James  1:15.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of  death  in  this  passage  ? 
Below  we  have  these  phrases  "  death  reigned,"  "  many  be  dead," 
"judgment  was  by  one  to  condemnation,"  -'judgment  came  upon 
all  men  to  condemnation,"  vs.  14-18.  Death  is  the  opposite  of 
life.  There  is  a  natural  life,  and  there  is  a  natural  death.  In  Scrip- 
ture the  word  death  often  means  simply  that  change  effected  by 
the  separation  of  soul  and  body,  John  11  :  13  ;  Rom.  8  :  38  ;  Phil. 
I  :  20;  Heb.  7  :  23.  All,  who  treat  the  word  of  God  with  rever- 
ence, admit  that  death  in  this  passage  includes  natural  death,  or, 
as  it  is  often  called,  temporal  death.  Some  indeed  contend  that 
no  other  evil  under  the  name  of  death  is  here  meant.  But  this 
cannot  be  so.  Even  if  the  word  never  had  in  itself  another  dis- 
tinct meaning,  yet  we  ask  what  is  this  awful  event?  As  to  the 
body,  it  is  corruption  and  dissolution.  It  is  the  extinction  of  ani- 
mal life.  It  is  the  destruction  of  our  material  organism.  This  is 
its  effect  on  the  body.  But  what  is  the  effect  of  death  on  the 
soul?  There  is  an  impression  very  common  among  thinking  peo- 
ple, and  particularly  among  devout  students  of  God's  word,  that 
when  the  dust  returns  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  the  spirit  returns 
unto  God  who  gave  it ;  and  that  the  immediate  consequences  of " 
temporal  death  are  of  the  most  solemn  and  momentous  charac- 
ter, either  for  bliss  or  for  woe.  Besides,  if  the  death  of  the  body, 
or  the  loss  of  natural  life  exhausts  the  penalty  of  transgression, 
from  what  did  Christ  redeem  us  ?  It  is  admitted  that  but  two 
men  of  former  generations  ever  escaped  natural  death ;  and  that 
since  Christ  left  the  world  not  one  of  his  followers  has  been  exempt 
from  temporal  death.  What  then  has  Christ  done  for  his  people? 
Their  bodies  go  into  the  grave  as  do  also  those  of  other  men. 
From  what  then  did  Christ  save  them  ?  Nor  can  we  reconcile 
this  view  of  the  term  death  with  the  language  of  other  verses  in 
this  connection.  To  reign  in  life  by  one,  Jesus  Christ  (v.  17)  surely 
is  not  escaping  temporal,  death,  and  yet  it  is  the  opposite  of 
death  reigjiing.     The  justification  of  life  (v.  1 8)  is  certainly  not  ex- 

15 


226  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  12. 

emption  from  temporal  death,  and  yet  it  is  the  opposite  of  judg- 
ment coining  unto  condemnation.  Many  being  made  righteous  (v.  19) 
is  the  opposite  of  fnany  being  made  sinners,  and  yet  we  must  be- 
lieve that  all  Christ  did  for  his  people  was  nothing  worth  naming, 
if  he  merely  lived  and  died  to  save  them  from  a  temporal  death, 
from  which  after  all  he  did  not  save  them,  for  like  other  men  they 
die.  This  has  led  some  to  take  the  ground  that  all  Christ  did  was 
to  secure  a  suspension  of  the  execution  of  the  sentence  of  death 
until  men  should  have  time  to  repent  and  turn  to  God — a  respite 
of  a  few  months  or  years.  But  this  is  manifestly  trifling  with  the 
clearest  teachings  of  Scripture.  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him 
might  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  John  3  :  16.  In  scrip- 
ture death  is  used  as  a  term  to  denote  all  the  penal  consequences 
of  sin  whatever  they  may  be.  The  death  of  the  body  under  the 
displeasure  of  God  is  still  a  part  of  that  penalty.  All  the  pains 
and  woes  that  lead  to  such  a  death  are  a  part  of  that  penalty. 
The  life  Adam  led  before  his  fall  was  joyous,  exultant,  bright  and 
brightening.  The  life  men  lead  in  a  state  of  alienation  from  God 
is  sad,  dark  and  full  of  evil  forebodings.  Before  his  fall  Adam 
had  delightful  fellowship  with  God.  By  his  disobedience  he  lost 
communion  with  God.  The  Holy  Ghost  no  longer  made  a  temple 
of  his  person.  All  the  miseries,  the  unblest  sorrows,  of  life  are 
the  fruit  of  transgressing  the  law,  whose  penalty  is  death.  A 
soul  forsaken  by  God  is  a  poor,  withered,  shrivelled  thing,  "  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins,"  however  vigorous  natural  life  may  be,  and 
however  great  may  be  one's  apparent  success  in  schemes  of  earthly 
enjoyment  or  aggrandizement.  Then  there  is  a  life  beyond  this 
world.  It  is  often  mentioned  by  Christ  and  Paul,  also  by  Peter, 
John  and  Jude.  It  is  often  spoken  of  simply  as  life,  Matt,  7  :  14  ; 
18  :  8,  9  ;  Rom.  8  :  6 ;  i  John  5:12;  as  eternal  life,  Matt.  25  :  46 ; 
Mark  10:17;  Acts  13:48;  i  Tim.  6:19;  i  John  5:20;  also  as 
everlasting  life,  Matt.  19  :  29 ;  John  3:16;  Acts  13  :  46 ;  Rom.  6 :  22. 
This  same  life  was  often  promised  in  the  Old  Testament,  Deut. 
30:  15,  19;  Pr.  12^28.  The  opposite  of  this  life  is  death,  several 
times  called  the  secojtd  death,  John  8:51,  52;  Rom.  i  :  32  ;  6  :  21  ; 
7:5;  2  Tim.  1:10;  Heb.  2:14;  Jas.  5  :  20 ;  Rev.  2:11;  20 :  6 ; 
21  :  8.  This  death  is  as  enduring  as  the  life  to  which  it  is  opposed. 
It  is  everlasting,  Dan.  12:2;  Matt.  25  :  46.  It  is  by  Christ  himself 
called  everlasting  punishment.  This  is  the  death,  which  the  Lord 
Christ  says  the  righteous  shall  never  die,  John  6  :  50 ;  8:51;  1 1  :  26. 
This  everlasting  punishment,  this  second  death,  that  has  no  end, 
results  from  the  sin  of  man  in  opposing  the  wise  and  holy  will  of 
God.    It  is  the  chief  penalty  for  sinning  against  God.    It  is  indeed 


Ch.  v.,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  227 

dreadful,  but  not  too  dreadful.  The  law  of  God,  of  which  it  is 
the  sanction,  is  holy,  just,  good,  grand  and  awful.  Dreadful  as  is 
the  penalty,  it  is  not  found  sufficient  to  deter  many  from  very  bold 
sinning.  When  man  endures  the  penalty  of  the  broken  law  in  his 
own  person,  it  is  eternal,  because  God  has  made  rnan  immortal ;  be- 
cause it  inheres  in  man  that  once  lost  he  cannot  by  his  own  strength 
or  merit  recover  himself;  because,  when  in  a  Christian  land  he  dies 
in  his  sins,  he  has  proven  himself  incorrigible,  having  persistently 
^ejected  the  strength  and  righteousness  offered  him ;  and  because, 
going  into  the  eternal  world  will  not  terminate  his  accountability 
for  his  moral  conduct  there.  Well  may  we  therefore  understand 
why  death  should  be  so  uniformly,  at  least  so  frequently  spoken 
of  in  God's  word  as  a  very  great,  an  exceedingly  terrible  evil, 
and  be  associated  as  it  several  times  is  in  Revelation  even  with 
hell  itself 

In  Scripture  death  is  a  name  often  given  to  capital  punishment 
inflicted  as  a  penalty.  Of  this  many  instances  are  found,  see  Matt. 
26:  66;  Mark  14;  64;  Luke  23:  15  ;  Acts  23:  29  and  many  other 
places.  That  is,  the  extreme  penalty  of  human  law  is  expressed 
by  the  term  death,  which  includes  the  pain  and  the  ignominy  of 
such  a  punishment,  as  well  as  the  extinction  of  natural  life.  So  in 
the  word  of  God  death  is  a  name  for  penal  suffering,  whatever  may 
be  its  form,  or  however  lasting  may  be  its  duration.  Therefore, 
when  it  is  said  death  entered  by  sin  the  meaning  is  that  penal  suffer- 
ing came  into  the  world  by  sin.  God's  law  denounces  no  one 
kind  of  suffering,  as  exclusively  penal.  It  places  our  race  under 
the  curse  of  the  law,  as  Paul  calls  it  in  Gal.  3:13;  but  in  what  pre- 
cise way  and  to  what  precise  extent  that  ciirse  shall  come  on  any 
one  man  is  reserved  for  his  own  decision  by  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth,  who  is  too  wise  to  make  mistakes,  too  holy  to  be  unjust,  too 
good  to  practise  any  cruelty,  too  pure  to  look  on  evil,  too  upright 
to  clear  the  guilty,  and  too  mighty  to  be  resisted.  Paul  has 
proven  that  before  grace  comes  men  are  universally  given  up  to 
work  wickedness  and  to  be  tormented  with  wretchedness.  See 
the  former  part  of  this  epistle.  If  sin  defiles  all  his  works,  destruc- 
tion and  misery  are  necessarily  in  his  ways  :  for  he  has  done  things 
worthy  of  death.  The  curse  has  come  upon  our  entire  race,  or 
as  our  verse  has  it.  And  so  death  passed  upon  all  men.  A  good  deal 
has  been  said  about  the  connecting  words  and  so.  Nor  are  they 
without  significance.  The  Greek  for  so  is  also  rendered  thus,  even 
so,  likewise,  on  this  wise,  after  this  manner.  All  these  renderings  in 
this  connection  would  direct  attention  to  the  entrance  of  sin  and 
death  on  all  men  by  the  act  of  one  man.  It  looks  like  levity  in 
men  to  say  that  all  Paul  teaches  is  that  as  Adam  sinned  and  died, 


228  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  12. 

so  all  men  sin  and  die.  Surely  our  apostle  is  not  uttering  in  this 
place  that  proposition.  The  use  of  the  word  in  this  connection 
naturally  points  to  the  manner  of  death  passing  on  all  men  by  the 
sin  of  one  man.  Even  those  most  opposed  to  this  interpretation 
admit  that  the  anciso  is  capable  of  this  interpretation.  Passed  upon, 
some  prefer  reading  passed  over  to  all  men,  or  passed  through  to 
all  men.  Both  of  these  renderings  of  the  verb  are  common.  Ei- 
ther of  them  gives  a  good  sense.  Neither  of  them  need  mislead 
any  one.  Death  has  passed  over  the  human  race  so  as  a  wave  or 
a  tide  passes  over  objects.  It  also  has  passed  through  the  world, 
laying  claim  to  all  men  as  its  victims.  For  that  all  have  sinned. 
For  that,  literally  in  whom.  This  is  the  rendering  of  the  Vulgate, 
Chrysostom,  Beza,  Piscator,  Doway,' Dutch  Annotations,  Assem- 
bly's Annotations,  Evans,  Gill,  Guyse,  Pool  and  Scott.  Wiclif 
has  in  whiche  man.  This  is  a  fair  rendering,  as  every  scholar  must 
see  on  examining  the  original.  Following  it^akes  the  sense  ra- 
ther more  obvious  to  the  common  mind.  But  the  sound  inter- 
pretation is  fairly  reached,  if  we  follow  the  common  version.  The 
meaning  is  well  expressed  by  Guyse  :  "  In  Adam  they  all  sinned, 
as  in  their  public  head  and  representative,  in  whose  loins  they  like- 
wise were  ;  in  so  much  that  they,  on  this  account,  are  by  legal 
estimation  deemed  sinners  in  him,  his  offence  being  imputed,  and 
punished  in  them."  Hawker  uses  like  language  :  "  By  the  sin  of 
the  first  Adam  the  Avhole  race  were  equally  involved  in  the  guilt 
and  punishment  due  to  original  corruption,  although  they  had  no 
hand  in  actual  transgression."  Haldane :  "  The  meaning  is  that 
death  passed  upon  all  men  because-  all  are  sinners  .  .  .  All  have 
really  sinned,  though  not  in  their  own  persons  ...  In  the  guilt  of 
Adam's  sin,  as  well  as  in  its  consequences,  they  became  partakers." 
Hodge :  "  By  one  man  all  men  became  sinners,  and  hence  death 
passed  upon  all  men,  throiigh  that  one  man,  in  whom  all  sinned  .  .  . 
By  one  man  all  men  became  sinners,  and  were  exposed  to  death, 
and  thus  death  passed  on  all  men,  since  all  were  regarded  as  sin- 
ners on  his  account."  The  above  statements  fairly  represent  the 
true  doctrine  so  long  held  in  the  Christian  world. 

That  there  is  nothing  forced  in  explaining  the  terms  and  clauses 
of  this  verse  so  as  to  draw  out  the  meaning  given  above  might  be 
shown  by  many  considerations,  i.  The  whole  verse  is  to  be  ex- 
plained in  consistency  with  the  fact,  established  by  the  context 
and  by  the  terms  employed,  that  Paul  is  expounding  and  illustrat- 
ing justification  and  not  sanctification.  If  this  is  so,  then  the  point 
of  all  he  says  relates  to  condemnation,  not  to  corruption  of  nature 
by  Adam,  as  some  maintain.  Such  an  interpretation  would  quite 
destroy  the  apostle's  reasoning,  and  make  him  speak  thus  :  As 


Ch.  v.,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  229 

Adam  introduced  corruption,  so  Christ  introduces  purity.  And 
this  is  directly  opposed  to  his  own  language  :  "  Judgment  was  by 
one  to  condemnation ;  "  "  Judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  con- 
demnation." It  is  certainly  true  that  we  derive  our  sinful  nature 
from  Adam,  and  it  is  no  less  true  that  Christ  is  made  unto  us 
sanctification  ;  but  clearly  those  are  not  the  truths  here  presented. 
2.  Edwards,  Knapp  and  others  have  abundantly  shown  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  apostle  in  these  verses  respecting  our  condemna- 
tion in  Adam  was  for  ages  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Jews.  So 
that  the  apostle  was  teaching  no  startling  truth,  was  broaching  no 
new  doctrine  when  he  said  that  our  ruin  came  by  one  act  of  one 
man.  This  very  fact  may  account  for  the  manner  in  which  he 
manages  the  argument.  He  finds  in  the  accepted  theology  of  his 
day  a  sound  principle,  a  great  fact  relied  on  and  not  disputed. 
Under  the  guidance  of  God's  Spirit  he  knows  it  is  true.  It  well 
suits  his  purpose.  He  reproduces  it  to  enable  him  the  better  to 
explain  his  great  theme,  justification  by  Christ's  righteousness. 
Thus  explained  the  whole  is  pointed  and  pertinent.  Every  clause 
tells.  The  whole  is  lucid  and  irrefragable.  But  on  any  other 
method  of  interpretation  we  have  nothing  but  perplexity.  This  is 
so  whether  we  consider  the  eight  verses  as  a  whole,  or  the  various 
clauses  by  themselves.  Yea,  even  the  connecting  particles,  though 
of  frequent  occurrence,  give  much  trouble,  and  require  pages  to 
explain  them  away,  and  at  last  some  impotent  conclusion  is  reached, 
such  as  this :  As  Adam  sinned  and  died,  so  all  men  sin  and  die — a 
conclusion,  which  Pelagius  himself  not  only  did  not  deny,  but 
fully  accepted.  He  admitted  that  death  was  by  sin,  but  maintained 
that  sin  was  by  "  imitation."  He  said,  "■  The  sin  of  Adam  has  not 
injured  those  not  sinning." 

3.  Beyond  dispute,  if  the  apostle  would  have  us  regard  him  as 
teaching  the  doctrine  as  stated  above,  he  has  used  the  appropriate 
•terms  and  phrases ;  so  that  his  language  seetns  to  teach  it.  Thus 
the  great  body  of  the  Christian  world  have  long  understood  him 
as  teaching.  Can  it  be  that  the  people  of  God  have  so  generally 
misapprehended  the  mind  of  the  Spirit?  Is  it  possible  that  none 
but  Pelagians  and  their  followers  have  rightly  understood  the 
apostle,  although  he  has  stated  his  points  so  clearly  and  so  vari- 
ously ? 

In  this  verse  the  word  as  remains  to  be  noticed.  Its  considera- 
tion has  been  intentionally  deferred  to  the  last,  that  we  may  more 
easily  understand  *some  remarks  concerning  it.  It  is  generally 
agreed  that  as  introduces  a  comparison,  the  first  member,  or  pro- 
position of  Avhich  is  in  these  words,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into 
the  world,  and  death  by  sin.     Where  is  the  second  part  of  the  com- 


230  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  13. 

parison — the  application?  Sonje  insist  that  it  is  found  in  this 
verse  itself;  but  where  is  it?  If  Paul  is  not  comparing  Adam  and 
his  posterity,  the  second  member  of  the  comparison  is  not  in  this 
verse,  unless  we  adopt  opinions  now  generally  discarded.  One  is 
that  we  should  read  the  verse  thus :  As  by  one  man  sin  entered 
into  the  world,  so  death  entered  by  sin.  The  other  mode  of  read- 
ing suggested  by  some  is  this :  Wherefore  as  by  one  man  we  have 
received  the  atonement,  so  by  one  man  sin  entered  the  world. 
The  objection  to  each  of  these  is  that  it  takes  too  great  liberties 
with  the  text.  Neither  of  them  has  now  any  respectable  defender. 
Even  Macknight  says  that  neither  the  apostle's  argument  nor  the 
original  will  admit  of  the  first.  This  remark  is  as  true  of  the 
second.  We. need  not  therefore  spend  time  upon  them.  Doubt- 
less the  correct  way  of  explaining  the  comparison  is  reached  by 
making  verses  13-17  parenthetical,  and  finding  the  comparison 
renewed  and  finished  in  verses  18,  19.  The  sense  requires  this. 
We  have  it  so  in  the  authorized  version.  Calvin,  Ferme,  Grotius, 
Wetstein,  Flatt,  Hodge  and  others  admit  that  there  is  a  parenthesis. 
Stuart :  "  With  the  majority  of  interpreters,  therefore,  I  hesitate 
not  to  regard  verses  13-17  as  substantially  a  parenthesis.  .  .  In 
this  manner,  and  only  in  this  can  I  find  the  real  antithesis  or  com- 
parison to  be  fully  made  out,  which  the  apostle  designs  to  make." 
The  note  of  Conybeare  &  Howson,  in  which  there  is  an  attempt 
to  shew  that  Matt.  25  :  14  is  like  this,  and  that  in  neither  case  is 
any  answering  so  found,  is  very  inconclusive  and  unsatisfactory. 

If  the  reader  will  revert  to  the  paraphrase  given  early  in  the 
comment  on  this  verse  and  read  it  again,  it  will  give  him  a  sum- 
mary of  the  results  reached.  Having  in  elucidation  of  our  justi- 
fication in  Christ  stated  the  fact  of  our  condemnation  by  the  sin  of 
Adam,  the  apostle  proceeds  in  parenthesis  to  explain  and  confirm 
some  matters,  which  naturally  suggest  themselves  : 

13.  {For  until  the  law  sin  was  in  the  woi'ld :  but  sin  is  not  imputed 
when  there  is  no  law.  The  rendering  of  Peshito  quite  destroys  the 
sense :  For  until  the  law,  sin,  although  it  was  in  the  world,  was 
not  accounted  sin,  because  there  was  no  law.  One  can  hardly 
conceive  of  a  rendering  more  utterly  subversive  of  the  words  and 
the  sense  of  the  passage.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Arabic 
version,  which  is  very  much  the  same.  For  clearly  connects  this 
with  V.  12.  That  contained  a  statement  of  a  truth.  This  and 
V.  14  contain  the  proofs.  Until  the  law.  The  chief  difficulty  in 
the  mind  of  the  English  reader  arises  from  tne  word  until,  else- 
where rendered  unto,  even  to.  The  meaning  is  that  from  the  fall 
of  Adam  even  to  the  giving  of  the  law  we  find  just  such  proofs  of 
the  existence  of  sin  as  we  find  in  later  periods  of  the  world.     Until 


Ch.  v.,  V.  13.]  THE  ROMANS.  231 

the  law,  therefore,  points  to  the  whole  of  that  long  period  from  the 
fall  of  Adam  to  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Mount  Sinai.  In  the 
next  verse  the  same  idea  is  expressed  by  the  words  "  from  Adam 
to  Moses,"  designating  a  period  of  over  twenty-five  hundred  years. 
Sin  was  in  the  world  all  that  time.  Men  were  regarded  and 
treated  as  sinners.  It  was  during  that  period  that  two  of  the  most 
terrific  judgments,  of  which  we  have  any  record,  befell  mankind. 
One  was  the  Noachic  deluge,  proofs  of  which  are  still  abundant  on 
our  earth.  The  other  was  the  overthrow  of  the  cities  of  the  plain, 
and  forming  on  the  plain  that  monument  of  God's  wrath  the  Dead 
Sea.  These  awful  instances  of  the  anger  of  heaven  against  the 
human  race  as  well  as  the  miseries  and  death  that  reigned  all  that 
time  evince  that  beyond  a  doubt  God  even  then  regarded  and 
treated  men  as  sinners.  And  he  did  this  justly  and  truly,  for  they 
were  sinners.  A  constitution  older  than  that  of  Sinai  had  been 
broken.  God's  will  had  been  disregarded  in  the  covenant  of  works. 
God  had  made  man  upright,  but  he  sought  out  many  inventions. 
Some  propose  to  read  our  clause  thus :  From  the  fall  even  to  the 
giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai  sin  was  imputed  or  counted  in  the  world. 
Macknight  favors  this  paraphrase.  This  is  not  authorized ;  nor 
does  it  relieve  any  difficulty.  But  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is 
no  lazv.  The  fact  that  men  were  regarded  and  treated  as  sinners 
is  proof  enough  that  some  law  had  been  broken.  What  law  could 
that  be  ?  The  true  answer  is,  the  law  of  Eden,  ''  Of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the 
day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  The  violation 
of  this  law  brought  down  th.e  curse,  and  from  that  day,  even  the 
law  of  nature  written  on  the  heart  of  man  was  constantly  violated, 
and  to  a  fearful  extent  men  committed  such  things  as  are  worthy 
of  death,  although  they  knew  the  judgment  of  God  against  them. 
During  all  this  time  sin  was  imputed,  not  only  the  first  sin  of  the  first 
man  against  the  law  of  probation,  but  also  the  personal  sins  of  all 
men  against  the  will  of  God  made  known  by  such  faithful  men  as 
Abel,  Enoch  and  Noah,  and  especially  as  made  known  in  the  law 
of  God  written  on  the  heart.  Never  was  there  closer  reasoning 
than  that  of  Paul.  In  v.  12  he  says  death  in  the  human  family 
proves  the  existence  of  sin.  Here  he  says  sin  proves  the  existence 
of  law.  One  wonders  when  he  finds  Stuart  following  Bretschneider 
seriously  and  after  long  argument  maintaining  that  the  clause,  sin 
is  not  imputed  when  there  is  no  /«w,  means  simply  that  meji  did  not 
regard  sin  as  sin,  did  not  esteem  themselves  sinners,  during  that 
period.  Tholuck  well  designates  this  as  "  another  expedient  of 
rather  a  violent  kind,  which  many  have  adopted  for  removing  the 
difficulties  of  this  text."     And  it  is  a  relief  to  find  Stuart  himself 


232  EPISTLE    TO  Ch.  V.,  v.  13. 

full  of  misgivings  about  his  own  exposition.  He  says :  "  I  admit 
that  a  modified  sense  of  the  expression  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  true 
one,  viz.  it  is  not  to  be  considered  so  absolute  as  to  convey  the 
idea  that  no  sense  of  sin  existed  among  the  heathen  in  any  measure, 
for  this  would  contradict  fact,  and  contradict  what  Paul  says  in 
chap.  2  :  14,  15."  See  Stuart  on  that  place.  Nor  has  this  exposi- 
tion any  pertinency  to  the  matter  in  hand.  Paul  is  shewing  how 
men  are  justified  in  Christ.  In  doing  this  he  refers  to  the  manner 
of  their  condemnation  in  Adam.  That  condemnation  was  mani- 
fested by  death  reigning.  Whether  men  during  those  twenty-five 
hundred  years  in  their  own  consciences  excused  or  condemned 
themselves  we  well  know,  but  the  fact  in  that  matter  has  nothing 
to  do  with  Paul's  argument.  By  God's  judgment  death  reigned 
over  mankind  and  that  proves  beyond  a  doubt  that  some  law  had 
existed  before  Moses,  that  its  penalty  death  had  been  incurred,  and 
that  thus  sin  had  been  imputed  by  God,  for  it  was  punished  by  his 
judgment.  It  is  pleasant  to  find  Stuart  successfully  combatting 
the  idea  of  some  Germans  ''  that  although  the  guilt  of  men,  who 
sinned  against  the  law  of  nature,  was  not  taken  away  absolutely, 
yet  their  accountability  for  it  was  in  a  good  measure  superseded^ 
The  texts  relied  on  to  prove  this  dangerous  position  were  Acts 
17  :  30;  Rom.  3  :  26.  But  Stuart  well  says:  "Both  of  these  in- 
stances, however,  relate  to  deferring  punishment,  not  to  a  remission 
of  accountability ;  compare  2  Pet.  3  :  8,  9.  Such  a  remission  of 
punishment  would  directly  contradict  what  Paul  has  fully  and 
strongly  asserted,  in  Rom.  2  :  6-16." 

This  verse  may  well  be  paraphrased  thus :  I  have  stated  that 
by  the  sin  of  Adam  men  were  no  longer  in  covenant  with  God  but 
were  under  the  penalty  of  a  broken  law,  as  is  proven  by  the  reign  of 
death,  by  the  horrors  of  men's  consciences,  by  their  just  apprehen- 
sion of  wrath  to  come,  by  all  the  miseries  they  endure  and  by 
death  itself,  all  which  things  are  not  accidental,  but  penal,  not  mis- 
fortunes but  punishments  for  sin,  and  thus  all  men  are  proven  to  be 
sinners.  In  elucidation  and  confirmation  of  this  position  I  further 
observe,  tliat  the  penalty  of  death,  whose  existence  was  proven 
by  conscience,  by  human  wretchedness  and  by  temporal  death, 
establishes  the  fact  that  sin  was  in  the  world  from  the  fall  of  Adam, 
that  the  origin  of  sin  therefore  cannot  be  traced  to  the  giving  or 
the  breach  of  the  law  of  Moses  ;  for  the  Lord  is  holy  and  just.  He 
sends  not  suffering  on  those  who  are  rightly  regarded  as  innocent. 
Under  his  government  men  cannot  suffer  unless  they  are  charged 
with  the  guilt  of  sin.  Nor  does  God  charge  men  with  guilt  by  a 
mere  arbitrary  act  of  his  own.  Where  the  penalty  is  inflicted, 
sin  is  charged  ;  and  where  sin  is  charged,  some  law  (and  all  God's 


Ch.  v.,  V.  I4.J  THE  ROMANS.  233 

laws  are  holy,  just  and  good)  must  have  been  broken.  But  all  the 
generations  of  men  before  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai  both  suf- 
fered and  died.  This  proves  that  they  were  guilty  in  God's 
account ;  and  that  some  law  must  have  been  broken.  What  that 
law  and  its  penalty  were  we  learn  in  Gen.  2  :  17 — a  law  given  and 
a  curse  pronounced  very  early  in  the  history  of  the  human  race. 
It  was  Adam's  breach  of  the  covenant,  his  violation  of  the  law  of 
his  probation,  that  made  all  men  sinners.  Of  this  we  may  rest 
assured  for  God  never  imputes  sin  where  no  law  is  violated. 
After  Adam  no  one  ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit. 

14.  Nevertheless  death  reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses,  even  over 
them  that  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression, 
who  is  the  figure  of  him  that  was  to  come.  Nevertheless,  the  same 
word  is  commonly  rendered  but,  or  yet,  or  howbeit.  Here  we  shall 
best  get  the  sense  by  reading  Yet  or  And  yet,  for  it  is  clearly  the 
continuation  of  his  argument.  He  had  said,  "  Sin  is  not  imputed 
where  there  is  no  law."  He  now  adds.  And  yet  death  reigned 
from  Adam  to  Moses,  i.  e.  death  held  sway  in  the  history  of  the 
world  from  Adam  to  Moses,  and  in  God's  treatment  of  man  death 
is  by  sin,  and  so  it  is  a  penalty,  and  where  penal  suffering  is  there 
must  be  sin,  and  where  sin  is,  there  must  be  a  law  broken.  Thus 
far  the  verse  reiterates  in  other  words  what  was  said  in  v.  13 — 
"  Until  the  law  sin  was  in  the  world."  The  apostle  now  goes 
further,  and  says  that  death  reigned,  even  over  them  that  had  not 
sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression.  What  was  the 
likeness  of  Adam's  transgression  ?  His  transgression  was  personal 
and  actual  disobedience  to  God's  will.  Now  who  ever  lived 
between  the  fall  of  Adam  and  the  time  of  Moses,  that  did  not  in 
any  case  or  in  any  degree  personally  or  actually  disobey  God's 
will  ?  There  is  but  one  class  of  the  human  family  who  in  that  age 
or  any  other  suit  this  description,  namely  infants.  Calvin  gives 
it  a  more  extended  application  but  adds :  "  Infants  are  at  the 
same  time  included  in  this  number."  Diodati :  "  Over  them, 
namely,  over  little  children,  who  were  not  come  to  the  age  of 
judgment,  and  consequently  could  not  be  guilty  of  an  actual,  de- 
liberate and  voluntary  sin,  such  a  one  as  Adam's  was."  Cornelius 
a  Lapide  :  "  You  will  object  that  where  there  is  no  law,  there  can 
be  no  sin.  As  the  men,  however,  in  the  interval  between  Adam 
and  Moses  died,  it  is  evident  that  they  must  necessarily  have  been 
sinners.  And  in  case  you  may  perchance  insinuate  that  this  is 
merely  a  proof  of  their  actual  sins,  and  not  of  original  guilt,  I  ap- 
peal to  children,  who  though  they  had  not  offended  against  any 
divine  law,  were  also,  during  that  period,  subject  to  death." 
Ferme  :  "  Death  reigned  not  only  over  those  who  sinned  actually, 


234  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  14. 

as  did  Adam,  but  even  over  those  who  could  not  sin  in  like  manner, 
on  account  of  their  age,  as  infants  unconscious  of  the  law."  Guyse : 
"  Death  with  all  its  dreadful  and  unknown  attendants,  exercised 
a  terrible  and  universal  dominion,  not  only  over  grown  persons, 
that  sinned  actually,  as  Adam  did,  but  even  over  infants  them- 
selves ;  witness  those  of  the  old  world,  that  perished  in  the  deluge  ; 
and  those  that  were  cut  off  in  the  tremendous  destruction  of  Sodotn 
and  Gomorrah,  as  well  as  all  the  little  children  that  were  sick,  con- 
vulsed, tortured,  and  then  died,  in  every  generation,  though  none 
of  them  could  have  committed  any  actual  sin  to  deserve  such  pun- 
ishment, as  Adam  had  done."  Evans  :  *'  Death  reigned  over  those 
that  had  not  sinned  any  actual  sin,  never  sinned  in  their  own  per- 
sons as  Adam  did  ;  which  is  to  be  understood  of  infants,  that  were 
never  guilty  of  actual  sin,  and  yet  died,  because  Adam's  sin  was 
imputed  to  them."  The  remarks  of  the  judicious  Thomas  Scott 
on  these  verses  are  guarded  and  must  commend  themselves  to  se- 
rious Christians :  "  In  proof  of  this  our  union  with  Adam  [he  had 
said  Adam  was  our  federal  head,  surety  and  representative],  and 
our  concern  in  his  first  transgression,  which  the  proud  heart  of 
man  is  prone  to  deny,  or  object  to,  even  with  blasphemous  enmity, 
it  should  be  observed,  that  for  two  thousand  five  hundred  years 
before  the  giving  of  the  law,  sin  prevailed  in  the  world,  and  was 
punished  with  death  ;  but  sin  cannot  he  imputed,  where  no  law  is, 
of  which  it  is  a  transgression.  None  of  the  immense  multitudes, 
who  died  between  the  fall  of  Adam  and  the  promulgation  of  the 
law,  could  personally  violate  the  prohibition,  to  which  the  penalty 
of  death  had  been  originally  annexed  ;  yet  they  were  included  in 
the  sentence  denounced  against  Adam,  and  after  much  toil  and 
suffering,  '  returned  to  the  dust  whence  they  were  taken.'  And, 
though  adults  might  be  thought  to  die  for  their  personal  violation 
of  the  law  of  tradition,  or  of  their  own  reason  and  conscience ;  yet, 
during  this  long  interval,  an  innumerable  multitude  had  been  sub- 
jected to  death,  who  had  never  broken  any  law  '  after  the  similitude 
of  Adam's  transgression  ;'  that  is  wilfully  and  deliberately.  For 
the  number  of  infants,  who  had  been  cut  off  with  great  pain  and 
agony,  previously  to  their  commission  of  actual  sin,  had  been  im- 
mensely great."  Edwards  :  "  I  can  see  no  reason,  why  that  expla- 
nation of  this  clause,  which  has  been  more  commonly  given,  viz. 
That  by  them  who  have  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  trans- 
gression, are  meant  infants ;  who  though  they  have  indeed  sinned 
in  Adam,  yet  never  sinned  as  Adam  did,  by  actually  transgressing 
in  their  own  persons ;  unlesss  it  be  that  this  interpretation  is  too 
old,  and  too  common  .  .  .  We  read  of  two  ways  of  men  being  like 
Adam,  or  in  which  a  similitude  is  ascribed  to  men ;  one  is,  being 


Ch.  v.,  V.  14.]  THE  ROMANS.  235 

begotten  or  born  in  his  image  or  likeness,  Gen.  5  :  3.  Another  is 
transgressing  God's  covenant  or  law,  like  him,  Hos.  6  :  7.  They 
like  Adam,  (so  in  the  Hebrew  and  Latin  Vulgate)  have  transgressed 
the  covenant.  Infants  have  the  former  similitude  but  not  the  latter." 
pp.  506,  507.  The  same  writer  has  a  whole  chapter  (P.  i.  Ch.  2)  to 
prove  that"  Universal  Mortality  proves  Original  Sin,  particularly 
the  Death  of  Infants,  with  its  various  Circumstances."  And  when 
Taylor  stated  that  death  was  sent  as  a  benefit  to  make  us  moderate,  to 
mortify  pride,  &c.,  and  not  as  a  curse  or  penalty,  Edwards  asked  :  "  Is 
it  not  strange  that  it  should  fall  so  heavily  on  infants,  who  are  not 
capable  of  making  any  such  improvement  of  it ;  so  that  many  more 
of  mankind  suffer  death  in  infancy  than  in  any  other  equal  part 
of  the  age  of  man?"  p.  398.  "The  apostle's  main  point  evidently 
is  that  si?i  and  guilt,  and  Just  exposedness  to  death  and  ruin,  come  into 
the  world  by  Adam's  sin  ;  as  righteousness,  justification  and  a  title  to 
eternal  life  come  by  Christ.  Which  point  he  confirms  by  this  con- 
sideration, that  from  the  very  time  when  Adam  sinned,  sin,  guilt, 
and  desert  of  ruin  became  universal 'vc\.  the  world,  long  before  the 
law  given  by  Moses  to  the  Jewish  nation  had  any  being."  p.  503. 
Are  not  these  things  clear?  Is  not  all  this  fair,  logical,  scriptural 
reasoning  ?  Could  it  be  more  indubitably  stated  that  it  is  not  ■ 
m.en's  relation  to  parents,  to  Moses,  to  Abraham  or  to  any  other 
person  but  to  Adam  only,  that  determines  "our  native  moral 
state?" 

In  elucidation  and  establishment  of  his  main  position  that 
life,  justification  and  righteousness  come  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ  in  a 
manner  resembling  that  whereby  death,  ruin  and  condemnation 
came  to  us  by  Adam,  the  apostle  in  this  same  verse  says  of  Adam 
that  he  "  was  t lie  figure  of  him  that  was  to  come,''  i.  e.  Christ.  This 
is  another  step  in  the  same  direction  with  what  is  found  in  several 
preceding  clauses.  The  word  rendered  figure  is  the  Greek,  from 
which  we  get  our  word  type.  It  is  elsewhere  rendered  pattern, 
example,  ensample.  Our  theological  term  type  suits  well  here. 
Now  it  may  be  asked,  in  the  way  of  challenge,  in  what  conceivable 
sense  was  Adam  a  type,  a  pattern,  an  ensample,  a  figure  of  Christ, 
unless  he  was  so  in  this  that  he  was  a  public  person  acting  for  oth- 
ers, the  federal  or  covenant  head,  the  representative  of  his  seed  as 
Christ  was  of  his  ?  Calvin  :  "  In  saying  that  Adam  bore  a  resem- 
blance to  Christ,  there  is  nothing  incongruous ;  for  some  likeness 
often  appears  in  things  wholly  contrary.  As  then  we  are  all  lost 
through  Adam's  sin,  so  we  are  restored  through  Christ's  right- 
eousness :  hence  he  calls  Adam  not  inaptly  the  type  of  Christ. 
But  observe,  that  Adam  is  not  said  to  be  the  type  of  sin,  nor 
Christ  the  type  of  righteousness,  as  though  they  led  the  way  only 


236  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  v.,  V.  14. 

by  their  example,  but  that  the  one  is  contrasted  with  the  other." 
It  makes  one's  heart  sink  into  sadness  to  read  in  Stuart:  "The 
actual  and  principal  point  of  similitude  is  that  each  individual  re- 
spectively, viz.  Adam  and  Christ,  was  the  cause  or  occasion,  in 
consequence  of  what  he  did,  of  greatly  affecting  the  whole  human 
race ;  although  in  an  opposite  way."  His  subsequent  remarks 
chime  in  with  this.  And  has  it  come  to  this  ?  Are  we  all  to  con- 
tinue in  doubt  whether  Christ  was  the  cause,  or  the  occasion  of  sal- 
vation ?  From  God's  word  many  have  been  led  to  believe  that 
Jfesus  Christ  was  the  "  author  of  life,"  "  the  author  of  salvation," 
Acts  3:15;  Heb.  5:9;  that  he  had  "made  an  end  of  sins,  and 
made  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  brought  in  everlasting  right- 
eousness," Dan.  9  :  24  ;  that  he  himself  was  "  the  way,  the  truth  and 
the  life  ;"  John  14:6;  that  if  there  was  such  a  thing  known  as  an 
efficient  and  a  sufficient  cause,  Jesus  Christ  was  such.  But  this 
writer  thinks  he  may  have  been  only  the  occasion  of  good  to  men, 
as  Adam  was  the  occasion  of  evil  to  his  descendants.  But  no  man 
ever  wrought  mischief  on  a  great  scale  like  Adam.  His  sin  com- 
bined in  it  many  things  calculated  to  make  it  blameworthy  and 
destructive — unbelief,  belief  of  the  devil,  ingratitude,  ambition, 
wilfulness,  deliberation,  pride,  discontent,  luxuriousness,  despera- 
tion and  the  involving  of  all  his  posterity.  For  extent  of  influence 
and  vastness  of  results  no  man  has  ever  wielded  a  millionth  part  of 
the  power  for  evil,  wielded  by  Adam,  or  has  ever  wrought  a 
millionth  part  of  the  ruin  and  destruction  effected  by  him.  The 
fruit,  the  legitimate  fruit  of  his  doings  will  be  felt  through  all  the 
cycles  of  eternity.  For  sweep  of  influence  he  never  had  but  one 
equal,  and  that  was  his  antitype.  It  was  in  his  federal  headship, 
his  representative  character  that  Adam  was  a  type  of  Christ. 
Take  this  away,  and  he  is  no  more  a  type  of  Christ  than  any 
other  man  among  the  patriarchs.  Indeed  this  is  the  point,  the 
only  point  where  the  globe  touches  the  plane. 

Some  object  to  this  whole  matter,  that  Adam  in  his  simplicity 
did  not  know  that  he  was  acting  for  his  posterity.  To  this  several 
things  should  be  said  in  reply,  i.  Men  cannot  prove  that  Adam 
did  not  know  that  his  acts  would  involve  others.  It  is  on  their 
part  a  mere  conjecture,  and  may  be  sufficiently  answered  by  a 
counter  conjecture.  2.  Adam  was  not  a  child  in  understanding. 
He  had  a  mind  full  of  vigor,  fresh  from  the  breath  of  God.  He 
conversed  with  God  as  a  man  with  his  friend.  The  inspiration  of 
the  Almighty  gave  him  understanding.  He  had  already  such  in- 
telligence that  the  Lord  appointed  him  to  name  every  beast  of  the 
field,  every  fowl  of  the  air  and  all  cattle.  Adam's  simplicity,  when 
appointed  by  God  our  representativej  consisted  not  in  ignorance, 


Ch.  v.,  V.  14.]  THE  ROMANS.  237 

or  puerility,  or  imbecility,  but  in  virtue  and  purity.  3.  It  is 
doubtless  true  that  Adam  did  not  know  all  the  bearings  or  any 
considerable  part  of  the  efifects  of  his  actions  on  his  posterity.  It 
is  seldom  if  ever  given  to  mortals  to  see  the  end  from  the  be- 
ginning of  any  matter.  That  is  the  prerogative  of  omniscience 
alone.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  the  fairness  of  any  probation  that 
he,  who  undergoes  it,  should  be  as  God,  knowing  all  things. 
Indeed  there  often  would  be  no  test  at  all,  if  men  knew  what  God 
afterwards  reveals.  This  was  strikingly  illustrated  in  Abrahajn's 
offering'  of  Isaac.  Had  that  patriarch  known  what  the  precise 
issue  would  be,  there  would  have  been  no  trial  at  all.  4.  It  is 
enough  for  the  guidance  of  any  one  rightly  disposed  under  trial  to 
understand  the  preceptive  will  of  God,  whether  he  knows  or  does 
not  know  all  of  the  reasons  for  it,  or  all  of  the  remote  or  imme- 
diate bearings  of  obedience  or  of  transgression.  Thus  Abraham 
saw  not  how  the  promises  were  to  be  fulfilled,  if  Isaac  were 
sacrificed.  But  God's  command  was  clear,  and  God's  power  was 
unlimited,  and  he  believed  God  could  raise  him  from  the  dead ; 
and  he  did  his  duty.  In  the  case  of  Adam  the  prohibitory  pre- 
cept was  perfectly  clear  :  "  Of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it."  Nothing  could  be  clearer.  5. 
The  penalty  was  clearly  annexed  :  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof 
thou  shalt  surely  die."  The  Hebrew  is  if  possible  still  stronger. 
Beyond  a  doubt  Adam  knew  that  a  curse,  the  curse  of  God, 
would  follow  disobedience.  If  he  did  not  know  all  that  was 
included  in  death,  neither  does  any  living  man  know  all  that  is 
now  meant  by  death,  temporal  or  eternal.  Yet  who  will  say  the 
sinner  has  not  fair  warning,  when  Jehovah  says,  "  The  soul  that 
sinneth  it  shall  die?"  6.  The  first  three  chapters  of  Genesis 
make  it  highly  probable  that  Adam  well  understood  that  the 
welfare  or  misery  of  his  posterity  was  involved  in  the  course  he 
should  pursue.  When  Taylor  said,  "  Observe  here  is  not  one 
word  relating  to  Adam's  posterity ; "  Edwards  replied  :  "  But  it 
may  be  observed  in  opposition  to  this,  that  there  is  scarcely  one 
word  that  we  have  an  account  of,  which  God  ever  said  to  Adam 
or  Eve,  but  what  does  manifestly  include  their  posterity  in  the 
meaning  and  design  of  it.  There  is  as  much  of  a  word  said  about 
Adams  posterity  in  that  threatening  \Thoii  shalt  surely  die'],  as 
there  is  in  those  words  of  God  to  Adam  and  Eve,  Gen.  i  :  28,  Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it ;  and  as 
much  in  events,  to  lead  us  to  suppose  Adam's  posterity  to  be  in- 
cluded. There  is  as  much  of  a  word  of  his  posterity  in  that 
threatening  as  in  those  words.  Gen.  i  :  29,  Behold  I  have  giveri  you 
every  herb  bearing  seed,  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and 


238  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  14. 

every  tree,  in  the  which  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree  yielding  seed :  to  you  it 
shall  be  for  meat.  Even  when  God  was  about  to  make  man,  what 
he  said  on  that  occasion  had  not  respect  to  Adam  only,  but  to  his 
posterity,  Gen.  i  :  26 :  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  and  let  them 
have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  &c.  And,  what  is  more  re- 
markable, there  is  as  much  of  a  zvord  said  about  Adam's  pos- 
terity in  the  threatening  of  death,  as  there  is  in  that  sentence, 
(Gen.  3  :  19,)  Unto  dust  thou  shalt  return,''  pp.  424,  425.  Is  there 
a  serious  student  of  scripture,  who  doubts  that  this  sentence  exactly 
corresponds  to  the  threatening,  or  that  Adam  knew  that  his  de- 
scendants were  included  in  the  sentence?  I  know  not  of  any. 
Why  then  should  we  doubt  that  he  knew  his  posterity  were 
included  in  the  threatening  ? 

When  it  has  been  stated  that  Adam  was  the  representative  of 
his  posterity,  some  wits,  with  a  glibness  bordering  on  profanity, 
have  given  currency  to  the  remark :  "  Adam  was  not  my  repre- 
sentative— I  never  voted  for  him."  No  doubt  those,  who  speak 
thus,  think  they  give  some  proof  of  cleverness.  But  such  a  re- 
mark has  no  manner  of  pertinency  to  the  business  in  hand,  for  this 
reason :  God's  government  over  the  world  is  not  a  democracy, 
nor  a  representative  republic,  nor  an  oligarchy,  nor  a  limited 
monarchy.  It  is  a  -government  of  one  infinitely  holy,  just,  good 
and  omnipotent  Sovereign,  who  has  not  a  cabinet  council,  nor  any 
advisers,  nor  any  checks  upon  his  plans  outside  of  his  own  ineffa- 
ble and  glorious  nature,  Isa.  40  :  13,  14  ;  46:  iq  ;  Jer.  32  :  19  ;  Acts 
5  :  38,  39  ;  Rom.  1 1  :  34  ;  Eph.  i  :  1 1  ;  Heb.  6:17.  Jehovah  kills, 
and  he  makes  alive  ;  he  wounds,  and  he  heals  ;  he  sets  up  on  high 
those  that  be  low ;  he  raiseth  up  the  poor  out  of  the  dust,  and 
lifteth  up  the  beggar  from  the  dunghill,  to  set  them  among 
princes ;  promotion  cometh  neither  from  the  east,  nor  from  the 
west,  nor  from  the  south.  But  God  is  the  judge  :  He  putteth 
down  one,  and  setteth  up  another.  Deut.  32  :  39 ;  i  Sam.  2:8;  Job 
5:11;  Ps.  75  ;  6,  7.  In  laying  his  plans  and  putting  man  under  a 
constitution  God  asked  the  advice  of  neither  man  nor  angel.  If 
men,  who  use  such  language  as  that  given  above,  mean  anything 
more  than  to  make  a  laugh,  if  they  are  in  solemn  earnest,  they 
might  as  well  object  to  their  own  lineal  ancestry,  even  to  a  natural 
descent  from  Adam,  because  they  did  not  vote  for  him  as  their 
first  parent.  No  man  ever  votes  on  his  own  lineage.  Yet  lineage 
carries  with  it  honor  or  dishonor,  good  health  or  a  feeble  consti- 
tution, riches  or  poverty,  and  affects  our  destiny  in  a  thousand 
things.  Not  a  British  subject,  living  or  dead,  ever  voted  that 
Victoria  should  be  his  monarch.  When  the  laws  of  the  realm  are 
promulged,  they  may  greatly  and  injuriously  affect  the  welfare  of 


Ch.  v.,  V.  14-]  THE  ROMANS.  239 

a  given  man  or  class,  but  can  they  evade  their  force,  or  their  bind- 
ing obhgation  by  saying,  I  never  voted  for  Victoria  to  be  my 
sovereign  ?  Even  in  our  own  land,  America,  the  great  majority 
of  the  people,  women  and  minors,  never  vote  for  their  rulers. 
Does  this  fact  in  the  slightest  degree  relax  their  obligations  "to 
submit,  in  the  Lord,  to  the  powers  that  be  ?  No  good  man  so 
affirms.  By  the  holy,  sovereign,  uncontrollable  will  of  God  Adaui 
was  made  the  covenant  head  of  his  seed,  and  there  the  matter 
must  rest.     In  this  he  was  a  figure  or  type  of  Christ. 

Very  few  men,  who  profess  the  least  reverence  for  God's  word, 
deny  that  pain  and  temporal  death  came  on  mankind  by  one  man, 
by  the  one  offence  of  Adam.  Even  Locke  sa3^s  that  Paul  here 
"  teaches  that  by  Adam's  lapse  all  men  were  brought  into  a  state 
of  death."  Macknight  also  :  "  Death,  the  punishment  of  sin, 
reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses,  even  over  infants,"  etc.  During  the 
XVin.  century  some  taught  that  Adam's  first  sin,  though  truly 
imputed  \.o  infants,  so  that  they  are  thereby  exposed  to  a  proper 
punishment,  is  not  imputed  to  them  in  so  high  a  degree  as  to  Adam 
himself.  To  all  such  remarks  it  is  sufficient  to  say  as  Edwards 
does:  "To  suppose  God  imputes  not  ^-Z/the  guilt  of  Adam's  sin, 
but  only  some  little  part  of  it,  relieves  nothing  but  one's  imagina- 
tion. .  .  But  it  does  not  at  all  relieve  one's  reasoi.  .  .  All  the 
reasons  (if  there  be  any)  lie  against  the  impictation ;  not  the  quan- 
tity or  degree  of  zvJiat  is  imputed,''  p.  561.  If  Adam  had  successfully 
stood  his  probation,  would  his  obedience  have  profited  his  pos- 
terity but  a  little  ?  or  would  they  have  been  for  ever  confirmed  in 
holiness  and  God's  favor  just  as  he  would  have  been  ?  Probably 
but  one  answer  will  be  given  to  that  interrogatory.  The  fact  is 
that  if  Adam  was  at  all  a  public  person,  if  he  at  all  acted  as  a 
representative,  he  did  so  to  this  extent,  th"!at  he  and  his  posterity 
should  fare  alike  in  the  results  of  his  probation.  If  he  stood,  he 
and  they  would  be  regarded  and  treated  as  righteous ;  if  he  fell,  he 
and  they  would  be  regarded  and  treated  as  sinners.  This  com- 
munion in  guilt  might  be  confirmed  by  a  detailed  examination  of 
the  sentence  passed  on  our  first  parents,  as  we  see  it  executed  in 
our  own  time.  Did  Adam  die  a  temporal  death  ?  So  do  his 
posterity.  Can  any  one  shew  that  there  was  anything  appalling 
in  the  manner  of  his  death  ?  It  could  hardly  have  been  more  so 
than  what  may  be  witnessed  every  day  in  this  world  among  old 
and  young.  Was  the  ground  cursed  for  his  sake,  so  that  in  sorrow 
he  ate  bread  all  the  days  of  his  life,  the  earth  bringing  forth  thorns 
and  thistles  to  him,  and  he  in  the  sweat  of  his  face  eating  bread 
till  he  returned  to  the  ground  ?  Gen.  3:17,  18.  The  very  same 
thing  occurs  all  over  the  earth  all  the  time.     The  rich  are  no  ex- 


240  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  14. 

ception,  for  often  their  abundance  will  not  suffer  them  even  to 
sleep,  Ecc.  5:12.  Did  the  Lord  multiply  the  sorrows  and  concep- 
tion of  the  first  woman,  so  that  in  sorrow  she  brought  forth 
children?  Gen.  3  :  16.  Is  not  the  same  as  true  of  Adam's 
daughters  to  this  day  ?  We  have  then  the  great  fact  beyond  dis- 
pute among  serious  students  of  the  Bible.  God  visits  on  all  our 
race  the  very  evils  that  he  sent  on  the  first  pair  —  toil,  sorrow, 
pangs  and  death.  All  this  does  not  argue  that  all  incorrigible 
sinners,  who  spend  their  lifetime  on  earth  in  impenitence,  are 
equally  ill  deserving  and  will  suffer  equally  in  the  next  world  for 
their  own  ungodly  deeds  and  speeches.  Far  from  it.  He,  that 
knew  his  Lord's  will,  and  did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  many 
stripes  ;  but  he  that  knew  it  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy  of 
stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes,  Luke  12  :  47,48.  Human 
accountability  was  in  no  sense  exhausted  in  the  garden  of  Eden  ; 
nor  will  it  be  exhausted  in  this  life,  no,  nor  in  eternity. 

It  may  here  be  observed  that  from  the  history  of  theological 
doctrine  it  appears  that  ordinarily  when  men  have  denied  our 
representation  in  Adam  they  have  also  hesitated  in  receiving  the 
orthodox  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  native  depravity.  Laxity  in 
the  former  almost  uniformly  results  in  looseness  respecting  the 
latter.  It  was  so  in  the  days  of  Pelagius.  He  and  Julian  and 
Coelestius  attacked  both  branches  of  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin. 
It  was  so  in  the  XVII.  and  XVIII.  centuries  both  in  Great  Britain 
and  on  the  Continent..  It  has  been  so  in  this  century  and  in  this 
country.  Another  historic  fact  is  no  less  admonitory.  It  is  that 
when  men  deny  or  explain  away  the  federal  headship  of  Adam,  or 
the  imputation  of  the  guilt  of  his  first  sin  to  his  seed,  we  almost 
invariably  find  them  in  doubt  respecting  the  imputation  of  the 
sins  of  the  elect  to  Christ,  and  of  Christ's  righteousness  to  his 
believing  people.  In  other  words,  men,  who  are  unsound  on  the 
manner  of  our  condemnation,  are  seldom  clear  and  scriptural  on 
the  subject  of  our  justification.  Now  and  then  we  meet  with 
cases,  where,  by  a  happy  inconsistency,  men  are  sound  on  one  of 
these  points,  and  yet  erroneous  on  the  rest.  Such  cases,  are,  how- 
ever, rare.  Commonly  errors  are  grouped  together.  And  it  is 
the  tendency  of  error  to  make  continual  aggressions.  On  the 
other  hand  there  is  a  consanguinity  between  religious  truths. 
Truth  is  one.     Error  is  multiform. 

In  summing  up  the  argument  we  may  thus  paraphrase  our 
verse  :  It  has  been  admitted  that  where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no 
sin,  and  yet  there  meet  us  as  strong  proofs  of  the  reign  of  death 
during  the  first  twenty-five  hundred  years  of  the  world  as  we  find 
even  in  our  own  time.     In  this  whole  argument  it  is  a  first  princi- 


Ch.  v.,  V.  15.]  THE  ROMANS.  241 

pie  that  wherever  death  is  found  among-  men,  it  is  proof  of  the  ex- 
istence of  sin,  and  where  sin  is,  some  law  must  have  been  broken. 
Now  none  of  these  people  had  the  law  of  Sinai,  and  their  sin 
could  not  have  been  against  that.  Nor  did  any  of  them  but  the 
first  pair  actually  eat  the  forbidden  fruit,  yet  we  find  men  subject 
to  death  then  as  at  other  times.  We  find  too  a  law  given  in  Eden 
with  the  sanction  of  a  death  penalty.  That  law  was  violated  by 
Adam,  who  was  not  only  the  father  but  the  covenant  head  of  the 
race  and  acted  for  them.  This  is  the  law,  whose  violation  consti- 
tuted in  God's  esteem  all  men  sinners,  and  subjected  all  to  death. 
So  that  even  infants,  of  whom  no  man  can  prove  and  very  few  if 
any  will  assert  that  they  have  committed  any  actual  sin,  have  from 
the  earliest  ages  to  the  present  time  not  only  died,  but  died  in 
great  numbers  and  often  in  great  agony.  The  explanation  of  these 
amazing  scenes  of  woe  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  Jehovah  con- 
stituted Adam  a  public  person,  and  in  his  infinite  wisdom  ordained 
that  he  should  act  for  others  as  well  as  for  himself  In  this  way, 
as  a  federal  head,  Adam  became  a  type  of  Christ ;  as  Christ  acted 
for  his  seed  so  did  Adam  act  for  his  seed.  The  mode  and  results 
of  action  in  these  two  cases  were  very  different ;  but  the  principle 
of  representation  in  both  was  the  same.  Else  in  what  possible 
sense  was  Adam  a  figure  of  him  that  was  to  come  ? 

15.  Biit  not  as  the  offence,  so  also  is  the  free  gift :  for  if  t  J  trough 
the  offence  of  one  many  be  dead,  much  more  the  grace  of  God,  and  the 
gift  by  grace,  which  is  by  one  man,  Jesus  Christ,  hath  abounded  unto 
many.  Here  the  apostle  guards  us  against  mistaking  his  teaching, 
by  commencing  to  shew  that  Adam  was  not  in  all  or  even  in  many 
respects  a  figure  or  type  of  Christ.  The  similitude  on  which  he 
has  insisted  is  exhausted  in  the  one  point  of  the  federal  headship, 
the  representative  character  of  each.  Wardlaw :  "  The  parallel 
lies  chiefly  in  one  point ;  namely,  that  the  first  and  second  Adam 
acted  each  a  public  part,  standing  for  others  and  not  for  them- 
selves merely ;  a  part  from  which  important  results  were  to  arise 
to  those  whom  they  are  considered  respectively  as  representing." 
This  is  enough.  This  aids  and  elucidates  the  argument  on  justi- 
fication by  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  But  the  effects  of  this 
headship  respectively  are  as  diverse  as  any  things,  of  which  we 
can  conceive.  On  one  side  are  sin,  miser)'^  and  death ;  on  the 
other  obedience,  reconciliation,  life.  The  offence,  so  rendered  no- 
where else  but  in  four  verses  here  closely  connected,  and  in  Rom. 
4:25;  elsewhere  fall,  fault,  sin,  trespass.  The  offence,  here  alluded 
to,  was  the  breach  of  covenant  with  God  in  eating  the  forbidden 
fruit.  Free  gift,  so  rendered  here  only  and  in  v.  16;  everywhere 
else,  gift.  But  a  gift,  properly  so  called,  is  of  course  unbought. 
16 


242  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  15. 

It  is  free,  without  money  and  without  price.  It  is  the  same  word 
used  in  Rom.  6  :  ,23,  "  The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life,"  and  in 
Rom.  1 1  :  29,  "  The  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  repent- 
Ance."  It  is  elsewhere  used  to  denote  spiritual  gifts,  miraculously- 
bestowed,  for  the  edification  of  the  church.  Now,  says  Paul,  the 
effect  of  our  fall  in  Adam  was  wholly  diverse  from  the  effect  of 
our  recovery  by  Christ.  One  brought  death  ;  the  other  brings 
life.  The  former  was  in  the  course  of  righteous  judgment  on  the 
race  ;  the  latter  is  the  most  amazing  expression  of  divine  com- 
passion. For  if  through  the  ojfence  of  one  many  be  dead,  many  be 
fallen  under  the  penalty  of  a  broken  covenant,  and  so  are  dead,  as 
we  have  already  shewn  to  be  the  case,  much  more  the  grace  of  God, 
and  the  gift  by  grace,  ivhich  is  by  one  man  Jesus  Christ,  hath  abounded 
unto  many.  Offence,  as  in  the  preceding  clause.  Grace  of  God,  ex- 
plained on  Rom.  1:5.  It  here  points  out  God's  undeserved  kind- 
ness. Gift,  not  the  same  word  as  free  gift  in  this  verse,  bvit  another 
not  cognate  but  nearly  synonymous,  always  rendered  gift.  The 
cognate  adverb  occurs  in  Rom.  3  :  24,  and  is  rendered  freely,  on 
which  see  above.  What  is  here  called  the  gift  by  grace  is  in  the 
next  verse  called  the  free  gift,  which  brings  the  pardon  of  many 
offences  and  goes  on  unto  justifieation  ;  in  v.  17  it  is  called  the  gift 
of  righteousness ;  and  in  v.  \'^,  justification  of  life.  Even  if  we  had 
not  these  explanations  in  the  immediate  context,  the  whole  train 
of  argument  in  several  preceding  chapters  shews  that  the  great 
benefits  derived  from  Christ,  and  here  made  the  subject  of  dis- 
course, are  justifying  righteousness  and  its  inseparable  concomi- 
tants. Many,  the  numerous  seed  of  each  respectively  ;  Locke : 
"  the  multitude  ;"  Hodge  :  "  the  mass ;"  Conybeare  and  Howson  : 
"  the  many."  No  doubt  the  term  in  each  clause  includes  all  that 
the  first  and  second  Adam  respectively  represented.  In  v.  18  the 
word  all  is  used  as  an  equivalent.  What  is  precisely  meant  by 
these  words,  all  and  many,  will  be  considered  when  we  reach  v.  1 8. 
In  V.  15  now  under  consideration  the  most  difficult  phrase  to  ex- 
plain is  much  more.  The  rendering  is  literal  and  undisputed. 
There  are  various  views  taken  of  the  significancy  of  these  words. 
All  agree  that  they  indicate  the  argument  a  fortiori.  But  in  what 
particular  does  the  grace  of  the  work  of  the  second  Adam  so  much 
more  abound,  than  did  the  death  brought  on  men  by  the  first  Adam  ? 
Some  have  said  the  meaning  is  that  the  pre-eminence  consists  in 
the  fact  that  a  greater  number  are  saved  by  Christ  than  were  lost 
in  Adam.  To  make  this  appear  they  have  alleged  that  great 
numbers  of  men  were  not  made  subject  to  death  by  Adam's  fall, 
but  only  by  their  own  sins.  But  any  argument,  by  which  the 
people  of  any    particular  age  or   country  can  be    shewn  not   to 


Ch.  V.,v.  15-]  THE  ROMANS.  243 

have  been  involved  in  penal  suffering  by  the  lapse  of  Adam, 
will  as  fully  prove  that  he  acted  for  no  one  except  himself,  and 
then  how  is  he  the  type  of  Christ  ?  Those,  who  hold  this  view, 
maintain  that  those,  who  perished  in  the  deluge,  died  for  their  own 
sins.  No  doubt  their  death  by  so  awful  a  judgment  and  in  so 
dreadful  manner,  was,  and  was  intended  to  be  understood  as  an 
expression  of  God's  abhorrence  of  their  great  personal  wick- 
edness. The  same  may  be  said  of  those,  who  perished  in  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  Admah  and  Zeboim,  yea,  and  of  vast  multitudes, 
who  have  been  cut  off  by  terrific  judgments.  But  does  any  one 
believe,  and  if  he  so  believes,  can  he  prove  that  these  people 
would  never  have  died  at  all  but  for  their  actual  atrocious  sins? 
Their  superadding  the  guilt  of  many  and  aggravated  sins  did  not 
before  God  obscure  the  guilt  of  original  sin,  and  did  not  set  aside 
but  caused  to  be  executed,  before  the  time  indicated  by  the  course 
of  nature,  the  sentence  of  death  brought  on  the  race  by  Adam. 
Locke  :  "  By  their  own  sins  they  were  not  made  mortal :  they 
were  so  before,  by  their  father  Adam's  eating  the  forbidden  fruit : 
so  that  what  they  paid  for  their  own  sins,  was  not  immortality, 
which  they  had  not."  It  is  believed  that  none  maintain  that  Christ 
has  saved  or  will  save  a  greater  number  than  were  lost  in  Adam 
except  those,  who  contend  that  mere  temporal  death  and  the  pains 
which  lead  to  it  exhausted  the  penalty  of  breaking  the  covenant  of 
Eden,  and  that  even  that  penalty  made  not  all  men  mortal,  but 
many  died  solely  because  of  their  enormous  actual  sins.  In  the 
comment  on  v.  12  it  has  been  shewn  that  the  penalty  did  indeed 
include  temporal  death,  but  extended  much  farther  also. 

Locke  suggests  another  way  in  which  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
gift  by  grace  excel  the  offence  :  "  It  seems  to  lie  in  this,  that  Adam's 
lapse  came  barely  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  own  appetite,  and  de- 
sire of  good  to  himself;  but  the  restoration  was  from  the  exuberant 
bounty  and  good-will  of  Christ  towards  men,  who,  at  the  cost  of 
his  own  painful  death,  purchased  life  for  them."  No  doubt  sin  in 
all  its  stages  and  in  all  its  workings  is  very  inferior  to  holiness. 
No  doubt  the  sin  of  Adam  had  in  it  the  element  of  low  personal 
gratification  ;  and  we  know  the  love  of  Christ  for  men  was  trans- 
cendant,  vs.  6-8.  But  does  Paul  take  no  higher  view  in  this  verse 
than  merely  to  state  the  superiority  of  benevolence  over  selfish- 
ness ?  The  apostle  does  not  seem  to  be  speaking  of  human  esti- 
mates of  things,  so  much  as  of  the  exceedingly  excellent  nature  of 
the  benefits  received  by  Christ,  especially  as  contrasted  with  the 
ruin  wrought  by  Adam.  In  other  words  he  is  laboring  to  make 
our  views  conform  to  the  facts  in  the  case  as  they  are  known 
and   estimated   by  God.      It  is  a   fact  that  the   undertaking   of 


244  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  i6. 

Christ  does  abound  in  a  way  that  the  fall  of  Adam  does  not, 
whatever  men's  views  of  these  matters  may  be.  Wardlaw  has 
probably  given  a  better  statement  of  the  whole  case :  "  There  is 
one  more  general,  and  there  are  three  more  particular  points  of 
contrast  here.  The  general  point  is,  that  whereas  the  condemna- 
tion and  death  which  came  by  the  first  Adam  were  the  due  wages 
of  sin  ;  the  righteousness  and  life  which  came  by  the  second  Adam 
are  the  bestowment  of  pure  grace,  of  entirely  unmerited  favor. 
This,  indeed,  runs  through  the  whole  passage,  and  it  forms  the 
characteristic  distinction  between  the  law  and  the  gospel.  The 
sentence  of  death  pronounced  on  Adam,  and  in  him  on  his  pos- 
terity, is  the  sentence  of  justice  incurred  by  transgression,  de- 
served by  guilt.  The  Supreme  Ruler,  therefore,  by  whom  it  had 
been  pronounced,  was  under  no  obligation  of  righteousness  to  de- 
liver from  it.  He  was  rather  under  the  obligation  of  truth  and 
justice  to  see  it  executed.  A  condemned  malefactor,  if  pardoned, 
must  be  pardoned  by  grace  ;  if  his  condemnation  be  in  justice,  the 
remission  of  his  sentence  must  be  in  clemency.  Where  death  is 
due,  life  must  be  a  gift.  Where  a  curse  is  merited,  the  blessing 
must  flow  from  purely  spontaneous  favor,"  Vol.  2  ;  pp.  283-4.  He 
then  mentions  three  more  particular  points  of  contrast  between 
our  representation  in  the  first  and  second  Adam.  "  The  first  ap- 
pears to  me  to  relate  to  the  superior  dignity  of  the  second  Adam, 
in  whom  sinners  have  life,  above  the  first,  in  whom  they  died.  The 
second  relates  to  the  superabundance  of  pardoning  grace,  as  ex- 
tending beyond  the  guilt  of  the  one  offence,  by  which  sin  entered, 
even  to  all  the  multiplied  acts  and  words,  and  thoughts  of  personal 
transgression — 'many  offences.'  The  third  has  respect  to  the 
superiority  of  the  life  to  which  sinners  are  brought  by  grace,  to 
that  life  which  they  lost  by  Adam's  sin,"  p.  284.  These  points  of 
contrast  duly  carried  out  seem  to  cover  very  much  the  whole 
ground,  not  only  given  us  in  this  verse  but  also  in  vs.  16-19.  ^^^ 
this  verse  very  much  of  the  sense  depends  on  the  right  place  being 
given  to  the  one  man,  Jesus  Christ.     The  same  is  true  of  v.  17. 

16.  And  not  as  it  was  by  one  that  sinned,  so  is  the  gift :  for  the 
Judgment  was  by  one  to  condemnation,  but  the  free  gift  is  of  many  of- 
fences unto  Justification.  One  that  sinned  beyond  a  doubt  points  to 
Adam.  Gift,  the  word  is  found  nowhere  else  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, except  in  Jas.  1:17.  It  is  a  noun  cognate  to  that  rendered 
gift  in  V.  15.  Judgment,  often  so  rendered  ;  also  damnation,  condem- 
nation. See  above  on  Rom.  2  :  2,  3  ;  3:8.  Condemnatioti,  the  word 
so  rendered  is  found  in  the  New  Testament  here  only,  in  v.  18,  and 
in  Rom.  8:1.  The  cognate  verb  occurs  often  and  is  commonly 
rendered  condemned,  also  damned.      We  met  it  in  Rom.  2:1. 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  17,  18.]  THE  ROMANS.  245 

Free  gift  as  in  v.  15.  The  one,  that  sinned,  by  one  act  brought  a 
condemning  sentence,  ready  to  be  executed  at  any  moment,  and 
now  continually  in  a  course  of  rapid  execution  on  all  his  posterity. 
But  the  Son  of  God  shows  his  great  power  to  save  by  blotting 
out  innumerable  transgressions  committed  by  innumerable  sinners, 
as  well  as  washing  away  the  guilt  of  original  sin  from  their  souls, 
and  not  leaving  them  merely  pardoned.  He  accepts  them  as 
righteous  and  so  secures  to  them  full  justification.  Whenever 
called  to  appear  before  God,  their  raiment  will  be  shining,  exceed- 
ing white  as  snow  ;  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  white  them.  That 
the  above  gives  the  true  sense  of  the  passage  is  made  plain  by  the 
very  terms  employed,  and  by  the  context. 

17.  For  if  by  one  mans  offence  death  reigned  by  one ;  much  more 
they  whicJi  receive  abundance  of  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness 
shall  reign  in  life  by  one,  Jesus  Christ.  This  verse  terminates  the 
parenthesis  begun  in  v.  13.  This  verse  is  remarkably  clear.  It 
changes  the  form  but  not  the  purport  of  the  antithesis,  which  is 
found  in  several  preceding  verses.  Here  we  have  death  reigning 
by  one  and  the  redeemed  reigning  in  life  by  one.  The  first  iVdam 
brought  ruin  by  one  offence.  The  second,  abundance  of  grace  and 
of  the  gift  of  righteousness.  Abundance,  not  elsewhere  in  this 
epistle,  but  well  rendered.  We  have  the  same  word  in  2  Cor. 
8:2;  in  Jas.  1:21  it  is  rendered  superfluity.  It  expresses  supera- 
bundance, overflowing  riches.  Gift  as  in  v.  15.  Righteousness,  as 
already  explained  at  large.  The  general  course  of  the  argument 
here  is  very  clear  and  pointed.  If  one  man  and  he  a  mere  man, 
by  one  act,  in  which  we  partook  in  no  other  way  than  that  by  di- 
vine appointment  he  acted  for  us,  as  well  as  for  himself,  installed 
death  as  a  tyrant  over  us,  much  more  shall  one,  who  is  at  once 
man  and  man's  maker,  when  we  cordially  embrace  him  as  our  Sa- 
viour, and  accept  his  offers,  cause  us  to  be  kings  and  sharers  of  the 
vast  treasures  of  his  grace,  one  of  whose  richest  fruits  is  the  gift 
of  righteousness,  so  as  to  make  sure  to  us  the  blessings  of  eternal 
life,  of  which  we  have  the  pledge  in  the  newness  of  life  granted  us 
in  this  world. 

18.  Therefore,  as  by  the  offence  of  one  judgment  came  upon  all 
men  to  condemnation  ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift 
came  upon  all  men  unto  justificaton  of  life.  Therefore  the  two  words 
so  rendered  are  not  the  same  as  those  rendered  wherefore  in  v.  12. 
But  they  are  of  like  import,  and  clearly  mark  the  connection  of 
this  with  V.  12.  The  comparison  there  begun,  and  interrupted  by 
the  parenthesis,  is  here  fully  carried  out,  only  the  leading  terms 
judgment  and  free  gift,  being  properly  borrowed  by  our  transla- 
tors from  preceding  sentences.     Some  prefer  to  read  07ie  offence 


246  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  i8. 

and  one  righteousness,  instead  of  the  offence  of  one  and  the  righteous- 
ness of  one.  No  doubt  Adam  brought  ruin  on  us  by  one  act.  Nor 
does  the  grammar  forbid  this  rendering.  Yet  the  objections  to  it 
are  perhaps  sufficient  to  cause  its  rejection.  They  are  such  as 
these:  i.  The  term  one  in  the  context  uniformly  applies  to  one 
person.  Both  in  vs.  17,  19,  one  man  is  named.  The  sense  in  v.  18 
is  best  reached  by  understanding  one  person  in  each  case.  At  all 
events  there  is  no  improvement  in  the  force  of  the  argument  by 
the  proposed  change.  2.  Throughout  the  passage  the  apostle 
all  along  carefully  marks  the  distinction  between  the  07ie  and  the 
all,  the  one  and  the  many.  3.  If  the  phrase  one  righteousness  is 
found  elsewhere  in  scripture,  the  author  does  not  remember  it.  4. 
Those,  who  contend  for  the  change  do  ask  us  to  believe  that 
Christ  saves  us  by  one  act  of  righteousness,  viz.  his  obedience 
unto  death,  understanding  that  phrase  to  mean  his  obedience  in 
dying.  This  is  not  safe  doctrine.  Speaking  of  the  proposed 
change  and  the  reason  of  it  Wardlaw  says  :  "  It  seems  to  be  not 
merely  a  superfluous  refinement,  but  moreover  to  proceed  from  a 
false  principle  with  regard  to  what  is  necessary  as  the  ground  of 
acceptance  and  of  life.  And  without  entering  largely  into  the  dis- 
cussion about  the  active  and  passive  obedience  of  Christ,  I  would 
say  it  seems  to  give  us  a  more  complete  and  satisfactory  view  of 
the  finished  work  of  Jesus,  when  we  consider  him  as  not  only 
bearing  the  curse  which  forms  the  sanction  of  the  law,  but  also  as 
rendering  to  its  requirements  that  sinless  obedience,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  original  engagement  of  God,  entitles  to  life.  That 
the  Lord  our  righteousness  did  render  such  a  sinless  obedience  to 
all  the  great  spiritual  principles  and  requirements  of  the  law  can- 
not be  doubted,"  p.  281.  All  Christ  did  and  all  he  bore  was  for 
our  salvation.  He  suffered  in  obeying.  He  obeyed  in  suffering. 
No  fair  criticism  can  ever  shew  that  righteousness  in  this  verse  or 
obedience  in  v.  19  means  simply  his  sufferings,  much  less  his  obedi- 
ence in  the  mere  act  of  dying.  His  circumcision  and  baptism 
were  as  much  in  fulfilment  of  all  righteousness  as  his  death.  His 
perfect  love  to  God  and  his  equal  love  to  man,  evinced  in  every 
way,  were  essential  to  his  righteousness.  There  is  a  sense  in 
which  Christ's  righteousness  is  one.  It  is  a  seamless  robe.  There 
is  no  rent  in  it.  It  is  undivided.  It  cannot  be  divided.  But  this  is 
a  very  different  thing  from  saying  that  Christ  wrought  out  his 
righteousness  the  last  few  hours  of  his  life.  The  parallel  between 
Adam  and  Christ  is  not  intended  to  be  preserved  in  the  shortness  of 
the  time  in  which,  or  the  ease  with  which  ruin  and  recover)^  were 
wrought.  No  ?  Destruction  is  easy.  Recovery  is  difficult.  It 
is  so  in  every  thing.     A  rash  act  of  one  may  destroy  a  thousand 


Ch.  v.,  V.  1 8.]  THE  ROMA  NS.  247 

lives,  but  all  the  power  of  men  and  angels  cannot  restore  one  life. 
A  child  may  in  a  few  hours  burn  down  a  city,  which  ten  thousand 
men  could  not  build  in  a  year.  In  a  moment  Adam  brought  down 
ruin.  It  required  the  righteousness  and  obedience  of  the  life  of 
Christ  and  his  agony  in  the  garden  and  on  the  cross  to  bring  us  to 
God.  Yea,  to  the  same  end  he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession 
for  us.  "  The  truth  is,  the  work  of  Christ  is  just  the  whole  of  his 
humiliation,  with  all  that  he  did  and  all  he  suffered  in  the  nature 
which  he  humbled  himself  to  assume.  That  on  account  of  which 
God  exalted  and  glorified  Christ,  is  that  on  account  of  which  he 
justifies  and  glorifies  sinners." 

In  considering  a  previous  verse  a  promise  was  made  to  consider 
the  meaning  of  the  terms  many  and  all,  when  we  should  reach  this 
verse.  In  this  verse  we  twice  have  all  men  ;  in  vs.  15,  16,  19,  we 
have  many,  or  tJie  many.  Evidently  these  terms  are  used  inter- 
changeably. The  all  of  this  verse  corresponds  to  the  many  of  the 
other  verses.  On  this  there  is  no  dispute.  As  to  the  extent  of 
meaning  of  these  terms,  there  are  five  distinct  views,  i.  The  old 
Universalists  held  that  in  both  cases  all  mere  men  were  embraced  ; 
that  is,  Adam  on  the  one  hand  brought  down  the  curse  of  the  law 
on  his  posterity,  descending  from  him  by  ordinary  generation  ; 
and  Christ,  being  truly  divine,  and  having* lived  and  died  with  the 
purpose  of  saving  all  men,  his  atonement  being  strictly  vicarious 
and  designed  to  save  all  men,  all  men  shall  surely  be  saved  by 
Christ  and  raised  to  the  everlasting  enjoyment  of  God  in  heaven. 
These  persons  were  consistent  in  their  interpretation  of  the  terms 
all  and  many.  But  they  flatly  contradicted  many  clear,  positive 
declarations  of  God's  word  when  they  asserted  that  every  man 
would  be  saved,  Dan.  12:2;  Matt.  25  :  46  ;  John  5  :  28,  29 ;  and 
many  other  places. 

2.  Another  class  of  writers  maintain  that  the  whole  extent  of 
the  curse  brought  on  us  by  the  fall  of  Adam  was  temporal  death, 
and  that  all  Christ  is  here  said  to  have  done  for  us  was  to  secure 
to  us  natural  life ;  that  Adam  brought  temporal  death  on  all  his 
posterity,  and  that  Christ  secured  to  all  men  a  temporal  life.  If 
Locke  is  not  misunderstood,  this  is  his  view.  His  language  is : 
'*  The  apostle  teaches  them  that  by  Adam's  lapse  all  men  were 
brought  into  a  state  of  death,  and  by  Christ's  death  all  were  restored 
to  life."  In  his  paraphrase  he  seems  to  express  himself  to  the  same 
effect.  And  in  a  note  he  pleads  for  his  rendering  of  the  phrase  all 
have  sinned,  as  meaning  no  more  than  this  all  became  mortal.  If 
Adam  brought  only  temporal  death,  the  parallel  would  suggest 
that  Christ  merely  secured  temporal  life.  In  commenting  on  v. 
12  it  has  been  shewn  that  temporal  death  was  not  all  nor  even  the 


248  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  i8. 

chief  evil  brought  on  us  by  Adam.  And  surely  Christ  has  done 
much  more  for  men  than  to  secure  a  short  and  miserable  temporal 
existence.  Some  human  beings  are  never  even  born.  The  womb 
is  their  grave.  Others  live  a  minute,  others  an  hour,  others  a  day, 
others  a  week,  others  a  year,  and  the  general  limit  is  three  score 
and  ten.  This  whole  existence  is  sometimes  spent  in  pain.  Surely 
Jesus  Christ  did  more  for  those  he  represented  than  to  secure  a 
temporal  life  to  man.  But  see  above  on  v.  12.  This  mode  of  ex- 
planation would  make  the  all  and  the  many  in  every  case  include 
every  human  being  that  ever  lived  or  ever  shall  live. 

3.  Another  explanation  given  by  some  is  that  Adam  involved 
his  posterity  in  penal  evils,  including  temporal  death  and  that 
Jesus  Christ,  by  his  undertaking,  removed  not  the  curse  of  tem- 
poral death  which  remains,  but  brought  literally  all  the  race  of 
man  into  a  state,  where  it  was  possible  they  might  be  saved.  These 
agree,  as  we  do,  that  the  curse  fell  on  all  who  descended  from 
Adam  by  ordinary  generation.  They  contend  that  the  effect  of 
Christ's  work  in  removing  the  curse  extends  to  as  many  of  iVdam's 
descendants  as  were  under  the  penalty  of  death,  so  that  to  all  men 
capable  of  understanding  anything  a  sincere  offer  of  salvation  is 
made.  But  in  the  first  place  there  are  millions  on  millions,  to  whom 
no  such  offer  was  evei*  made.  It  is  only  within  the  last  three  or 
four  hundred  years  that  Jesus  Christ's  name  was  ever  pronounced 
on  the  continent  of  America.  Did  all,  who  lived  here  before  that 
time  reap  any  such  benefit  from  the  work  of  Christ  as  to  have 
even  an  offer  of  eternal  life  by  his  blood  made  to  them?  No  one 
will  contend  for  that.  Nor  will  any,  who  hold  this  view,  contend 
that  all  these  people  were  saved.  If  they  were  all,  old  and  young, 
eternally  saved,  then  there  would  be  consistency  in  interpreting 
the  words  many  and  all  as  the}"  do,  but  other  Scriptures  would  be 
.strangely  opposed  and  contradicted.  And  in  our  chapter  there 
is  not  a  word  about  men  being  merely  brought  into  a  state  of  salv- 
ability  by  Christ.  On  the  contrary  they  are  said  to  be  justified,  to 
have  peace  with  God,  access  into  grace,  joy,  hope,  triumph  in 
afflictions,  patience,  love,  all  Christian  graces.  And  in  the  imme- 
diate context  we  read  of  their  sharing  in  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
gift  by  grace,  of  the  free  gift  [of  remission]  of  many  offences  unto 
justification,  of  the  abundance  of  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteous- 
ness, and  that  by  the  rigJiteousness  of  one  the  free  gift  came  unto  the 
justification  of  life.  Surely  these  terms  and  phrases  express  a 
great  deal  more  than  that  those  here  spoken  of  are  brought  into  a 
state,  in  which  it  is  possible  they  may  be  saved.  They  are  saved,  else 
to  what  use  is  the  grace  of  God,  the  gift  by  grace,  the  free  gift,  the 
abundance  of  grace,  the  gift  of  righteousness,  justification  unto 


Ch.  v.,  V.  i8.]  THE  ROMANS.  249 

life  ?      Such   language  denotes  actual   salvation,   not  mere  salv- 
ability. 

4.  Another  explanation  of  the  terms  is  that  all  men,  which  of 
course  includes  the  majiy,  here,  as  in  some  other  places,  means,  not 
all  men  without  exception,  but  all  men  without  discrimination, 
Diodati :  '*  All  manner  of  persons  indifferently,  though  not  all 
universally."  Wardlaw  argues  for  this  at  length.  He  says  the 
phrase  is  frequently  used  in  this  sense ;  and  so  it  is.  He  might 
have  cited  Tit.  2:11  and  many  other  verses  in  proof.  He  also 
says  that  the  argument  in  the  epistle  shews  that  men  without 
regard  to  nationality  are  included.  This  is  also  true.  Conceding 
these  points,  the  explanation  will  still  probably  be  generally  re- 
garded as  unsatisfactory.  Indeed  it  has  been  generally  so  esteem- 
ed.    Very  few  adopt  it. 

5.  The  method  of  explaining  these  terms  adopted  by  sound 
writers  generally  is  that  the  many  and  all  men  are  to  be  understood 
of  all  who  are  represented  by  Adam  and  Christ  respectively.  In 
other  words  these  and  like  terms  here  as  in  other  places  are  to  be 
construed  according  to  the  subject  and  connection,  in  which  they 
are  found.  This  explanation  is  thought  to  be  fair  and  conclusive 
for  the  following  reasons :  i .  We  are  compelled  to  limit  the  term 
all  even  in  regard  to  Adam ;  for  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  though 
according  to  the  flesh  descended  from  Adam,  was  not  represented 
in  Adam  and  was  not  chargeable  with  original  sin.  Here  is  one 
exception.  Eve  was  another,  who  was  not  brought  under  the 
penalty  for  Adam's  but  for  her  own  sin.  She  was  a  sinner,  and 
under  the  penalty  of  death,  while  Adam  was  yet  an  unfallen  crea- 
ture. How  long  she  was  so  we  know  not,  but  if  she  was  a  sinner 
and  under  wrath  the  smallest  portion  of  time,  it  is  sufficient  for  our 
purpose.  Here  then  we  have  two  human  beings  not  included  in 
the  all  represented  in  Adam.  2.  The  language  of  the  apostle 
clearly  confines  the  all  men  represented  by  the  second  Adam  to 
such  as  derive  saving  benefits  from  him.  They  are  such  as  have 
the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by  grace,  the  free  gift,  abundance  of 
grace,  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  justification,  righteousness, 
justification  of  life.  Yea,  it  is  expressly  said,  they  sJiall  reign  in  life 
by  one,  Jesus  Christ.  No  language  could  more  clearjy  mark  a  class 
of  persons  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  having  the 
redemption  of  Christ  actually  applied  to  them.  We  freely  admit 
that  all,  who  sinned  in  Adam  and  fell  with  him,  are  embraced  in 
the  many  and  all  men  where  they  first  occur  in  these  verses.  We 
as  freely  concede  that  all  men,  who  shall  reign  in  life,  who  have  or 
shall  ever  have  abundance  of  grace,  and  justification  unto  life,  are 
embraced  in  the  terms  many  and  all  men,  where  they  occur  in  the 


250  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  i8. 

latter  clauses  of  these  verses.  3.  The  construction  contended  for 
is  clearly  supported  by  the  fact  that  Adam  was  a  type  of  Christ. 
And  Edwards  justly  says :  "  The  agreement  between  Adam  as  the 
type  or  figure  of  him  that  was  to  come,  and  Christ  as  the  antit3='pe, 
appears  full  and  clear,  if  we  suppose  that  all  who  are  in  Christ 
(to  use  the  common  scripture  phrase)  have  the  benefit  of  his  obe- 
dience even  as  all  who  are  in  Adam  have  the  sorrowful  fruit  of 
his  disobedience."  4.  Other  scriptures  use  the  term  many  in  the 
very  sense  contended  for  in  this  place.  In  Rom.  12  :  5  Paul  says: 
"We  being  many  are  one  body  in  Christ;"  and  in  i  Cor.  10  :  17 
"  We  being  many  are  one  bread,  and  one  body."  The  Greek  is 
exactly  the  same  as  in  Rom.  5,  the  many,  the  mass,  the  multitude. 
Indeed  in  Rom.  4:18  the  spiritual  seed  of  Abraham  is  spoken  of 
as  '  ma7iy  nations,'  words  indicating  as  vast  and  comprehensive  a 
multitude  as  any  phrase  employed  here.  So  also  we  read  in  Rom. 
8  :  29  of  Christ  being  "  the  firstborn  among  many  brethren,"  where 
we  have  the  same  word.  5.  The  same  line  of  remark  may  be 
applied  to  the  words  all  men.  We  hardly  have  begun  to  read  the 
New  Testament  until  we  find  such  language  incapable  of  any  other 
than  a  limited  meaning :  "  Then  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem,  and 
all  Judea,  and  all  the  region  round  about  Jordan,  and  were  bap- 
tized of  him  in  Jordan,  confessing  their  sins,"  Matt.  3  :  5,  6.  That 
this  language  may  not  be  so  understood  as  to  embrace  all  the 
people  there  is  declared  by  Christ  himself.  Matt.  21  :  32.  So  in 
Luke  2  :  I  it  is  said  "  there  went  out  a  decree  from  Cesar  Augustus, 
that  all  the  world  should  be  taxed."  It  is  probable  that  only  Syria 
is  here  intended.  But  it  is  certain  that  it  cannot  mean  more  than 
the  Roman  empire,  which  though  a  very  important  part  of  the 
world  did  not  embrace  the  half  of  it,  as  every  one  knows.  In  John 
12  :  32  Jesus  says:  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me."  All  men  have  not  embraced  Christ, 
although  a  great  multitude  of  all  sorts  and  ranks  of  men  have 
believed  on  him.  Great  numbers  of  texts  might  be  adduced  to  the 
same  effect.  6.  That  passage  in  i  Cor.  15  :  21,  22  uses  the  same 
language  and  yet  on  the  one  side  none  but  Christ's  own  people  are 
meant.  "  For  since  by  man  came  death,  by  man  came  also  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive."  Now  the  whole  context,  preceding  and 
subsequent,  for  many  verses  together,  shews  that  the  apostle  is 
speaking  not  at  all  of  the  resurrection  of  the  wicked,  but  of  those 
that  are  fallen  asleep  m  Jesus,  of  those  zvho  have  hope  in  Christ,  of 
those,  who  shall  be  raised  in  glory, ^in  incorruption,  in  immortality, 
of  those,  who  shall  at  last  sing,  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?     Even  many,  who  oppose  the  precise 


Ch.  v.,  V.  19.]  THE  ROMANS.  251 

views  given  in  this  commentary  admit  that  it  is  the  resurrection 
of  the  just,  not  of  the  unjust,  that  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  15th 
chapter  of  i  Corinthians.  Even  Stuart  admits  this.  7.  Hodge  : 
"  In  a  multitude  of  cases,  the  words  all,  all  things,  mean  the  all 
spoken  of  in  the  context,  and  not  all  without  exception  ;  see  Eph. 
I  :  10;  Col.  I  :  20;  I  Cor.  15  :  51  ;  2  Cor.  5  :  14,  15."  This  list  of 
texts  might  be  greatly  extended.  8.  This  explanation  covers  the 
whole  case,  and  makes  all  plain  and  consistent.  In  this  view  all, 
who  are  in  Christ,  who  are  his  seed,  his  redeemed,  have  the  grace 
of  God,  and  the  gift  by  grace,  the  free  gift  of  forgiveness  of  viany 
offences  unto  justification,  abundance  of  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  right- 
eousness, the  justification  of  life,  and  shall  reign  in  life  by  one,  Jesus 
Christ.  These  things  cannot  be  said  of  the  wicked,  the  ungodly, 
but  only  of  believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  So  that  we  are 
compelled  at  last  to  admit  that  those,  who  are  never  saved,  are 
not  partakers  of  the  benefits  of  Christ's  undertaking  as  here  de- 
scribed. Some  would  evade  the  force  of  this  reasoning  by  saying 
that  these  blessings  are  indeed  not  bestowed  on  all  men,  but  that 
they  are  sincerely  offered  to  them.  It  is  admitted  that  all  God's 
offers  and  proposals  to  men  are  sincere.  He  never  mocks  his 
creatures.  But  to  the  greater  part  of  mankind  the  Gospel  has 
never  been  preached,  nor  its  offers  made  known.  So  this  view 
does  not  relieve  the  difficulty.  Nor  is  this  the  only  difficulty. 
There  is  not  a  word  said  in  this  whole  passage  respecting  the  offer 
o{  grace,  or  oi  justification,  or  of  any  blessing.  All  that  is  spoken 
relates  to  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  these  benefits. 

19.  For  as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners,  so 
by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  righteous.  Perhaps  there 
never  was  a  better,  or  more  conclusive  summing  up  of  an  argu- 
ment than  we  have  in  this  verse.  Peshito :  For  as,  on  account  of 
the  disobedience  of  one  man,  many  became  sinners  ;  so  also,  on 
account  of  the  obedience  of  one,  many  become  righteous.  Wiclif : 
For  as  bi  inobedience  of  o  man  many  ben  made  synners  :  so  bi 
the  obedience  of  oon  many  shuln  be  just.  Stuart:  For  as  by  the 
disobedience  of  one  man  the  many  were  constituted  sinners,  so 
by  the  obedience  of  one  the  many  will  be  constituted  righteous. 
In  the  creed  of  Andover  Seminary  the  language  used  on  this 
point  is  borrowed  from  Beza  and  we  have  it  in  the  translation 
above  cited  from  the  Andover  Professor — many  were  constituted 
sinners.  No  one  holding  the  common  view  objects  to  such  a 
rendering.  The  word  rendered  were  made,  became,  or  were  con- 
stituted is  a  strong  word  and  is  rendered  ordained,  Heb.  5  :  i  ;  8  :  3  ; 
and  in  the  active  voice  make,  or  made.  Matt.  24  :  45,  47  ;  25  :  21,  23  ; 
appoint,  Acts  6:3.      They  were  made,  or  constituted  sinners,  so  as 


252  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  20. 

to  be  regarded  and  treated  as  sinners.  They  are  made  just,  or  con- 
stituted righteous  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  so  that  they  are  by  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  regarded  and  treated  as  just  persons.  The 
condemnation  is  here  spoken  of  in  the  past  tense,  because  Adam's 
work  of  ruin  was  actually  finished  and  in  operation  on  every  liv- 
ing man.  On  the  other  hand  the  benefit  of  justification  had  not 
yet  reached  every  man,  who  should  share  in  that  blessing,  and  so 
it  is  spoken  of  in  the  future. 

20.  Moreover  the  law  entered,  that  the  offence  might  abound.  But 
where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound.  Having  in  v.  19 
completed  his  illustration  of  the  manner  of  our  justification  in 
Christ  furnished  by  the  manner  of  our  condemnation  in  Adam, 
the  apostle  proceeds  to  state  that  the  effect  of  the  entrance  of  the 
law,  so  far  from  making  a  gratuitous  justification  by  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ  unnecessary  either  in  appearance  or  in  reality,  had 
just  the  contrary  effect  in  two  respects.  First  it  revealed  in  many 
ways  the  true  nature  of  sin,  and  shewed  how  greatly  men  had 
already  departed  from  the  rule  of  rectitude.  Thus  by  the  law 
was  the  knowledge  of  sin.  Secondly,  the  very  enjoining  of  many 
things  and  the  prohibition  of  others  in  the  law,  so  far  from  re- 
pressing sinful  inclinations,  did  in  many  cases  inflame  them,  and 
awaken  unholy  desires  in  a  fearful  manner.  So  Augustine  and 
many  others.  That  this  latter  effect  in  an  unregenerate  heart  is 
often  produced  by  the  existence  of  law  is  matter  of  common  ex- 
perience, and  is  clearly  stated  in  this  epistle.  Indeed  both  these 
ideas  are  by  Paul  explicitly  declared  in  Rom.  7  :  7,  8.  The  effect 
of  the  law  in  awakening  opposition  is  no  fault  of  the  law  itself,  for 
it  is  holy,  just  and  good,  honorable  to  God  and  in  all  respects 
worthy  of  him.  But  because  men  are  wicked  and  their  hearts 
perverse,  they  abuse  this  great  revelation  of  his  will  to  the  race 
of  men,  and  thus  that  which  was  ordained  unto  life  is  found  to  be 
unto  death.  The  divine  procedure  in  this  matter  may  be  illus- 
trated by  the  conduct  of  a  wise  and  faithful  pastor,  who  often  and 
ably  expounds  and  enforces  the  law  of  God  with  the  express 
design  of  awakening  attention,  creating  alarm,  convincing  of  sin 
and  making  men  feel  the  need  of  deliverance,  by  the  grace  of  God 
in  Christ,  from  their  guilt  and  depravity.  So  that  there  should 
be  no  hesitancy  in  admitting  that  it  was  entirely  consistent 
with  the  divine  benevolence  to  give  the  law,  knowing  that  it 
would  be  the  innocent  occasion  of  stirring  up  the  enmity  of  the 
human  heart,  while  at  the  same  time  it  revealed  the  number,  ag- 
gravations, guilt  and  odiousness  of  sins  already  committed.  This 
view  is  correct  whether  we  interpret  the  word  law  as  meaning 
only  the  moral  law,  or  whether  we  make  it  to  embrace  the  whole 


Ch.V.,v.2i.]  THE  ROMANS.  253 

of  the  Mosaic  institute,  of  which  the  decalogue  was  the  heart  and 
centre.  The  latter  is  probably  the  better  explanation,  and  what 
is  thus  taught  is  certainly  true.  Entered,  very  well  rendered, 
though  some  prefer  the  word  supervened,  to  which  there  is  no 
serious  objection.  But  the  apostle  would  not  have  us  forget  that 
if  the  ministration  of  death  was  glorious,  much  more  doth  the 
ministration  of  righteousness  exceed  in  glory,  2  Cor.  3  :  7-9  ;  that 
if  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  so  honorable  to  God,  had  brought 
home  to  men  so  deep  convictions  of  their  sin  and  ruin,  much  more 
was  the  gospel  honorable  to  God  in  displaying  boundless  stores 
of  mercy  and  truth ;  and  that  whereas  sin  did  much  abound  and 
fill  men  with  great  and  just  alarm,  so  now  grace,  justifying  and 
saving  grace,  did  much  more  abound.  This  is  in  full  accordance 
with  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament,  Isa.  40  :  2  ;  55:7;  Zech. 
9:12.  God  does  not  barely  save  the  soul  that  hopes  in  hisinercy. 
He  abundantly  pardons.  He  renders  double  for  all  our  sins.  He 
ministers  an  entrance  abundantly  into  his  everlasting  kingdom.  If 
sin  and  death  reigned  as  tyrants,  truth  and  righteousness  shall 
much  more  reign  in  glory  by  Jesus  Christ.  So  illustrious  is  God's 
plan  of  bringing  men  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  himself,  and  so 
wondrous  the  salvation  he  thus  bestows,  that  there  is  no  mistake 
in  saying,  that  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more 
abound. 

21.  That  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign 
through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
How  sin  has  reigned  over  men  is  written  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  How  it  has  reigned  unto  death  is  written  in  every  grave- 
yard, in  every  hospital,  in  every  disease,  in  every  groan,  in  every 
tormenting  apprehension  awakened  by  a  guilty  conscience,  and  in 
Tophet  ordained  of  old — the  prison-house  of  despair.  The  world 
has  been  made  a  vast  charnel-house,  and  all  by  sin.  But  Jesus 
Christ  is  stronger  than  the  strong  man  armed.  Grace  is  more 
mighty  than  sin.  Nor  is  the  power  of  grace  displayed  in  deroga- 
tion of  the  claims  of  law  and  justice,  truth  and  purity,  but  reigns 
entirely  through  righteousjiess,  a  righteousness  every  way  commen- 
surate to  the  demands  of  omniscient  and  infinite  purity  ;  a  right- 
eousness that  satisfies  every  demand  of  God's  eternal  law,  both 
precept  and  penalty.  Nor  does  grace  merely  mitigate  the  horrors 
of  our  guilty  state,  nor  does  it  merely  save  us  from  all  the  evils 
of  the  fall.  It  reigns  unto  eternal  life.  In  this  verse  death  and  life 
are  in  antithesis.  If  one  is  eternal,  as  life  is  said  to  be,  so  is  the 
other.  There  is  no  good  reason  for  varying  from  the  usual  mean- 
ing of  the  word  righteousness  here  and  rendering  it  justification. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  righteousness,  which  secures  justification  to  all 


254  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  12. 

who  in  their  hearts  accept  it,  and  it  is  the  ground  of  their  pardon 
and  acceptance,  but  it  is  not  the  pardon  and  acceptance  them- 
selves. It  is  righteousness,  strictly  so  called,  as  explained  already 
at  length.  As  to  the  manner  in  which  grace  so  superabounds  see 
above  on  v.  15. 


DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  It  is  in  the  plan  of  God  to  subject  all  his  rational  creatures 
to  a  probation.  And  surely  he  has  a  right  to  do  what  he  will 
with  his  own.  What  the  probation  of  angels  was  we  know  not. 
In  it  some  stood  and  some  fell.  What  man's  probation  was  the 
scriptures  clearly  state.  One  difference  between  the  probation  of 
angels  and  that  of  men  was  that  in  the  former  case  each  one  seems 
to  have  stood  for  himself,  in  the  latter  one  man  stood  for  the  race. 
For  it  was  by  one  man  that  sin  entered  into  the  world,  v.  12. 

2.  The  probation  of  man  in  Adam  was  not  only  divinely  ap- 
pointed, but  was  very  fair.  Adam  was  in  the  full  vigor  of  his 
powers.  The  will  of  God  was  very  clearly  made  known  to  him. 
The  test  was  as  slight  as  we  can  well  conceive  a  test  to  be.  He 
doubtless  knew  that  his  conduct  would  affect  his  posterity.  Great 
liberty  was  granted  him,  the  fruit  of  one  tree  only  being  denied 
him.  His  communion  with  God  had  been  intimate  and  delight- 
ful. He  was  endowed  with  knowledge,  righteousness  and  true 
holiness.  In  short  the  probabilities  all  seemed  to  indicate  a  most 
favorable  result  of  the  probation,  yet  the  fact  was  that  sin  entered 
by  one  man,  and  death  by  sin.  There  is  no  comparison  between 
a  probation  thus  conducted,  and  that,  for  which  some  have 
pleaded,  that  each  member  of  the  human  family  in  his  infancy 
should  have  stood  for  himself  Nor  is  it  conceivable  that  in  any 
stage  of  man's  existence  on  earth  so  strong  inducements  to  right 
conduct  cquld  have  been  brought  to  bear  on  each  one  as  seem  to 
have  pressed  on  Adam  in  his  probation.  Cavil  as  men  may,  it  is 
a  great  fact  that  we  had  our  trial  in  Adam,  and  that  by  a  divine 
constitution  ordered  in  all  respects  in  wisdom,  holiness,  justice, 
goodness  and  truth,  and  yet  ruin  came  upon  us  like  a  desola- 
tion. 

3.  Great  debates  have  been  held,  and  are  still  going  on  re- 
specting the  origin  of  evil  in  the  world ;  but  they  have  not  been 
fruitful  of  good  results.  The  fact  is  that  the  history  of  the  apos- 
tasy of  man  as  given  in  the  Bible  is  clear  enough  for  all  practical 
purposes.  There  wisdom  would  dictate  that  we  pause.  But 
folly  never  had  any  modesty,  and  pushes  on  till  it  is  involved  in 
inextricable  difficulties  or  lost  in  wild  confusion.     Sin  entered  by 


Ch.  v.,  V.  12.]  THE  ROMANS.  255 

one  man  on  trial  as  described  in  Genesis.     We  know  no  more. 
We  can  know  no  more  in  this  world,  perhaps  never. 

4.  Let  us  not  despise  the  day  of  small  things  either  in  good  or 
evil.  "■  Man  knows  the  beginning  of  sin,"  said  Francis  Spira, 
"  but  who  can  tell  the  bounds  thereof?"  Every  groan  and  sigh 
from  men  on  earth  or  in  hell  may  be  traced  back  to  the  first  sin  in 
Eden,  as  in  some  way  its  cause.  In  this  life  we  seldom  have  any 
adequate  apprehension  of  the  fruit  of  our  doings,  good  or  bad. 
Human  conduct  reaches  much  farther,  and  has  consequences  much 
more  remote  and  much  more  potential  for  good  or  ill  than  we  ever 
conceive.  Thee  beginning  of  sin  is  as  when  one  letteth  out  water. 
Behold  what  a  great  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth.  Whatsoever  a 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.  Nor  is  it  evil  only  that  has  a 
long  course  to  run.  The  same  is  true  of  good  also,  "■  Good 
deeds  never  die."  A  class  of  men  make  light  of  the  trial  and  fall 
of  Adam.  They  say  he  sinned  but  once  and  then  he  merely  ate 
an  apple.  What  was  the  particular  fruit  that  he  ate,  we  know 
not.  Nor  is  it  of  any  importance  that  we  should.  It  was  forbid- 
den by  God.  Nor  is  it  a  mark  of  either  piety  or  wisdom  to 
speak  with  levity  respecting  any  act  or  word  which  has  moral 
bearings.  One  sin  may  ruin  a  family.  Nor  is  the  length  of  time 
employed  in  doing  an  act  the  gauge  by  which  to  learn  its  dimen- 
sions for  good  or  for  evil.  The  work  of  a  moment  may  bring 
forth  fruit  to  all  eternity. 

5.  It  is  plain  to  all  serious  students  of  God's  word  that  the 
death,  threatened  against  disobedience  and  incurred  by  trans- 
gression, was  something  very  momentous,  v.  12.  Even  temporal 
death  is  styled  by  Aristotle  "the  terrible  of  terribles,"  and  by  Bil- 
dad  "  the  king  of  terrors."  If  the  death  of  the  body  were  all  that 
were  brought  on  us  by  sin,  it  would  be  something  dreadful.  But 
much  more  is  included,  as  has  been  shewn.  Guyse  :  "  The  Death, 
which,  the  apostle  s<iys, passed  upon  all  men,  by  one  mans  sin,  is 
manifestly  the  same  with  that,  which  the  one  man  himself  was  ex- 
posed to  by  his  sin,  according  to  God's  threatening,  that  in  the  day 
he  should  eat  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  he  should  surely  die,  Gen.  2  :  17. 
And  what  was  the  death  therein  threatened,  but  a  deprivation  of 
the  holy  and  happy  life  of  soul  and  body,  in  the  image  and  favor 
of  God,  and  in  communion  with  him,  which  he  enjoyed,  and 
should  otherwise  have  been  confirmed  in  with  rich  advantages 
for  ever  ?  Accordingly  upon  Adam's  sin  he  was  liable,  not  only 
to  diseases  and  death  of  the  body,  but  also  to  inward  dread  and 
horror  of  the  soul,  under  a  sense  of  divine  wrath,  as  appeared  in 
his  being  afraid,  and  seeking  to  hide  himself  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord  .  .  .     And  as  the  death  of  the  body  by  no  means  infers 


256  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  13,  14. 

an  extinction  of  the  soul,  and  divine  revelation  assures  us,  that  the 
soul  survives  the  body ;  it  seems  necessarily  to  follow  from  hence 
that  this  death  extends,  not  merely  to  a  separation  of  soul  and 
body,  but  likewise  to  all  the  uneasiness  and  distress,  that  flow 
from  the  disorderly,  ungovernable,  and  unsatisfied  principles,  in- 
clinations and  appetites,  that  were  introduced  by  sin ;  from  the 
loss  of  the  image  and  favor  of  God,  and  communion  with  him ; 
and  from  a  sense  of  guilt,  and  of  divine  displeasure  on  that  ac- 
count, with  dismal  despair  of  being  ever  recovered  to  a  state  of 
happiness  again  :  nor  could  such  recovery  have  been  expected,  to 
prevent  this  death's  being  eternal,  unless  God  -himself,  in  the 
abundance  of  his  own  mercy,  were  to  find  out  a  way  of  relief; 
which,  blessed  be  his  name,  he  has  done  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  By  death  no  doubt  all  penal  evil  is  pointed  out.  In  the 
case  of  men  living  and  dying  without  salvation  these  penal  evils 
include  death  temporal,  spiritual  and  eternal.  The  fact  that  to 
such  this  death  is  spiritual  results  from  the  nature  of  the  soul,  and 
its  dependence  on  God ;  and  the  fact  that  it  is  eternal  results 
from  the  fact  that  a  lost  soul  cannot  recover  itself;  can  never  pay 
the  debt  it  owes,  and  will  be  eternally  responsible  for  all  its  emo- 
tions and  acts.  Diodati :  "  Death  is  not  an  accident  natural  to 
man,  as  to  plants  and  beasts,  but  is  the  reward  of  sin,"  Rom. 
6  :  23. 

6.  Any  solution  of  the  questions  arising  respecting  the  pains 
and  death  of  men,  that  does  not  include  the  case  of  every  human 
being,  is  of  course  unsatisfactory,  because  it  is  unsound.  The  true 
solution  will  embrace  all,  who  have  sinned  after  the  similitude  of 
Adam's  transgression,  and  all  who  have  not  sinned  after  the 
similitude  of  Adam's  transgression,  those  who  sinned  and  died 
before  Moses  as  well  as  those  who  sinned  and  died  after  Moses, 
vs.  13,  14.  If  in  reasoning  any  thing  is  clear,  the  principle  here 
asserted  is  so.  And  it  cuts  off  at  once  many  shallow  interpreta- 
tions of  Rom.  5  :  12-19. 

7.  The  most  wonderful  personage  in  all  history,  sacred  and 
profane,  is  Jesus  Christ.  Not  only  is  his  very  name  called  wonder- 
ful, Isa.  9:6;  not  only  were  his  sermons  and  his  works  full  of 
amazing  wonders ;  but  there  is  hardly  a  great  character  men- 
tioned in  the  Old  Testament,  who  was  not  in  some  respects  a  type 
of  Christ,  beginning  with  Adam  and  coming  down  to  Joshua  the 
high-priest,  v.  14.  Sometimes  there  is  a  single  point  of  similitude, 
and  sometimes  there  are  several.  Chrysostom  :  "  How  was  Adam 
a  type  of  Christ  ?  Why  in  that,  as  the  former  became  to  those  who 
were  sprung  from  him,  although  they  had  not  eaten  of  the  tree, 
the  cause  of  that  death  which  by  his  eating  was  introduced  ;  so 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-21.]  THE  ROMANS.  257 

also  did  Christ  become  to  those  sprung  from  him,  even  though 
they  had  not  wrought  righteousness,  the  provider  of  that  right- 
eousness which  through  his  cross  he  graciously  bestowed  on  us 
all."  Then  the  sacrifices,  the  brazen  serpent,  the  manna  and  in  fact 
almost  every  thing  had  a  typical  reference  to  Messiah.  "  The  law 
had  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come."  And  in  and  by  Jesus 
Christ  the  good  things  came,  and  we  now  have  them.  Glorious 
is  our  Redeemer. 

8.  If  men  are  ever  saved  it  must  be  by  grace,  rich  unmerited 
grace,  unbought  favor,  vs.  15-21.  How  can  he,  who  deserves 
death,  have  life  but  by  a  free  gift  ?  Chrysostom  :  "  The  case  is  as 
if  any  one  were  to  cast  into  prison  a  person,  who  owed  ten  mites, 
and  not  cast  in  the  man  only,  but  his  wife  and  children  and  servants 
for  his  sake  ;  and  another  were  to  come  and  not  pay  down  the  ten 
mites  only,  but  give  also  ten  thousand  talents  of  gold,  and  to  lead 
the  prisoner  into  the  king's  courts,  and  to  the  throne  of  the  highest 
power,  and  were  to  make  him  partaker  of  the  highest  honor  and 
every  kind  of  magnificence,  the  creditor  would  not  be  able  to  re- 
member the  ten  mites  ;  so  has  our  case  been.  For  Christ  has  paid 
down  far  more  than  we  owe,  yea,  as  much  more  as  the  illimitable 
ocean  is  much  more  than  a  little  drop."  Brown  :  ''  Whatever 
blessing  or  privilege  we  enjoy  in  and  through  Christ,  all  is  of 
free  and  undeserved  grace  ;  and  however  Christ  paid  dear  for  any 
thing  we  get,  yet  to  us  it  is  a  free  gift."  Nor  is  this  doctrine  to  a 
pious  mind  offensive,  but  dehghtful.  The  truly  humble  soul 
would  rather  ascribe  its  salvation  to  the  grace  of  God  than  to  its 
own  powers  or  merits,  not  merely  because  it  delights  in  the 
truth,  but  because  it  delights  to  honor  him  whom  the  virgins  love. 

9.  This  section  (particularly  verses  12-19)  brings  before  us 
fairly  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  which  "■  consists  in  the  guilt  of 
Adam's  first  sin,  the  want  of  original  righteousness,  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  our  whole  nature."  This  is  the  statement  of  this  doc- 
trine by  the  Westminster  Assembly,  and  it  is  correct.  On  the 
universal  spread  of  original  sin,  its  desert  of  God's  sore  dis- 
pleasure, its  depriving  us  of  all  native  holiness,  and  corrupting 
our  whole  nature,  there  has  long  been  a  very  general  agree- 
ment in  the  church  of  God.  She  has  spoken  more  clearly  and 
harmoniously  on  very  few  points.  The  Belgic  Confession  says : 
"  Original  sin  is  so  base  and  execrable,  that  it  suffices  to  the 
condemnation  of  the  whole  human  race.  .  .  God  saw  that  man 
had  so  cast  himself  into  the  condemnation  of  death,  both  cor- 
poreal and  spiritual,  and  was  made  altogether  miserable  and 
accursed."  Arts.  XV  and  XVII.  The  church  of  England  says : 
'*'  Original  sin  standeth  not  in  the  following  of  Adam   {in  ifnita- 

17 


258  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  12-21. 

tione  Adami)  as  the  Pelagians  do  vainly  talk  {fabu/antur) ;  but 
it  is  the  fault  and  corruption  of  the  nature  of  every  man,  that 
naturally  is  engendered,  of  the  offspring  of  Adam,  whereby  man 
is  very  far  gone  {quain  longisshne  distet)  from  original  righteousness, 
and  is,  of  his  own  nature,  inclined  to  evil ;  so  that  the  flesh  lusteth 
always,  contrary  to  the  Spirit;  and  therefore,  in  every  person 
born  into  this  world,  it  deserveth  God's  wrath  and  damnation." 
Art.  IX.  The  Moravian  Confession  says:  "  Since  Adam's  fall  all 
mankind  naturally  engendered  of  him,  are  conceived  and  born  in 
sin ;  that  is,  that  they  from  the  very  womb  are  full  of  evil  lusts 
and  inclinations :  and  have  by  nature  no  true  fear  of  God,  no  true 
faith  in  God,  nor  can  have.  Also  that  this  innate  disease  and 
original  sin,  is  truly  sin ;  and  condemns,  under  God's  eternal 
wrath,  all  those  who  are  not  born  again  through  water  and  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Art.  II.  The  Synod  of  Dort  "  rejects  the  errors  of 
those,  who  teach  that  '  It  cannot  properly  be  said,  that  original 
sin  {pcccatiun  originis)  suffices  of  itself  for  the  condemnation  of  the 
whole  human  race,  or'the  desert  of  temporal  and  eternal  punish- 
ments.' "  We  might  quote  from  many  other  formularies  to  the 
same  effect.  Eminent  teachers  in  the  church  of  Christ  have  long 
borne  a  like  testimony.  Thus  Calvin :  "  The  natural  depravity 
which  we  bring  from  our  mother's  womb,  though  it  brings  not 
forth  immediately  its  own  fruits,  is  yet  sin  before  God,  and  de- 
serves his  vengeance  :  and  this  is  that  sin  which  they  call  original." 
Diodati :  "  Sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  shewing  its  pestilent 
power  in  the  present  and  everlasting  death,  which  it  causeth  of  its 
own  natural  property  to  all  men."  John  Owen  of  Oxford  :  "  That 
the  doctrine  of  original  sin  is  one  of  the  fundamental  truths  of  our 
Christian  profession,  hath  been  always  owned  in  the  church  of 
God."  In  like  manner  we  might  quote  many  pages  of  testimony 
from  others,  shewing  how  the  church  of  God  has  maintained  the 
truth  on  this  great  doctrine.  The  passages  of  scripture  support- 
ing the  whole  doctrine  are  many,  such  as  Ps.  51:5;  John  i  :  13, 
29;  Rom.  5  :  12-19;  Eph.  2  :  3.  Some  falsely  assert  that  the  old 
doctrine  of  original  sin  involves  the  idea  of  physical  depravity,  or 
a  corruption  of  the  substance  of  the  soul.  A  flat  denial  ought  to 
be  a  sufficient  answer  to  so  groundless  a  charge.  What  sound 
divines  have  long  maintained  is  that  by  his  fall  Adam  brought  on 
us  penal  suffering,  the  loss  of  original  righteousness,  and  conse- 
quently the  corruption  of  our  moral  nature.  But  where  is  the 
respectable  defender  of  these  doctrines,  who  at  any  time  has  favor- 
ed the  doctrine  of  physical  depravity  ?  Adam  did  indeed  bring 
on  all  he  represented  the  curse  as  just  stated.  But  Christ  has 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us, 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19.]  THE  ROMANS.  259 

and  by  his  Spirit  he  renews  our  moral  (not  our  physical)  natures, 
and  so  fits  us  for  heaven. 

10.  This  passage  of  scripture  (Rom.  5  :  12-19)  certainly  illus- 
trates and  so  very  clearly  teaches  the  doctrine  of  imputation — im- 
putation as  a  principle  of  the  divine  government.  See  above 
comment  on  Rom.  5  :  3,  and  Doctrinal  and  Practical  Remark  No. 
9  on  Rom.  4  :  1-15.  Remarks  there  made  need  not  be  here  re- 
peated. The  doctrine  of  imputation  is  applied  to  three  matters  in 
theology, — i.  the  imputation  of  Adam's  first  sin  to  his  posterity; 
2.  the  imputation  of  the  sins  of  his  people  to  Christ ;  3.  the  impu- 
tation of  Christ's  righteousness  to  his  people.  It  is  the  first  and 
third  of  these  that  are  presented  in  Rom.  5  :  12-19;  ^^  ^^^t  for 
the  sake  of  illustrating  the  third.  For  we  should  not  forget 
(what  was  stated  at  the  beginning  of  the  exposition  of  these  verses) 
that  Paul's  object  in  referring  to  Adam  is  to  explain  the  work  of 
Christ.  We  have  on  the  one  hand  considered  the  various  phrases 
that  "  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,"  "  that  through  the 
offence  of  one  many  be  dead,"  "  that  the  judgment  was  by  one  to 
condemnation,"  "  that  by  one  man's  offence  death  reigned  by  one," 
and  "  that  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners  ;" 
and,  on  the  other  the  phrases,  "  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by 
grace,  which  is  by  one  man,  hath  abounded  unto  many,"  "  that  the 
free  gift  is  of  many  offences  unto  justification,"  "they  which  receive 
abundance  of  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness  shall  reign 
in  life  by  one,  Jesus  Christ,"  "  by  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free 
gift  came  upon  all  men  to  justification  of  life,"  and  that  "  by  the 
obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  righteous."  I  do  not  re- 
member ever  to  have  met  with  any  writing  that  denied  that  these 
clauses  respectively  were  antithetical,  and  that  a  parallel  (with  a 
contrast  in  several  verses)  was  run  between  Adam  and  Christ.  If 
any  man  should  so  deny,  it  could  not  possibly  do  any  good  to 
argue  with  him  on  these  matters.  Admitting  these  things  to  be 
so,  we  have  the  following  conceivable  methods  of  explaining  these 
verses.  One  is  the  Pelagian  theory,  that  Adam  brought  damage 
to  us  only  by  setting  us  a  bad  example  which  we  imitated.  It  is 
probably  not  necessary  at  length  to  refute  an  error,  which  is  not 
avowed  by  any  existing  church,  however  corrupt  in  other  respects 
it  may  have  become.  If  all  Adam  did  for  our  ruin  was  to  set  us  a 
^^dT  example,  then  we  must  in  fairness  say  that  all  Christ  did  for 
us  was  to  set  us  a  good  example.  No  one,  who  is  likely  to  be  pro- 
fited by  this  work,  will  avow  an  opinion  so  flatly  contradictory  of 
many  clear  statements  of  God's  word,  and  of  this  portion  of  scrip- 
ture in  particular.  Like  remarks  are  applicable  to  the  statement 
that  Adam  injured  us  and  Christ  benefited  us  only  by  instruction.  It 


26o  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  v.  12-19. 

is  true  that  the  lessons  we  learn  from  Jesus  of  Nazareth  are  of  the 
most  weighty  character,  but  we  have  no  account  whatever  of  any 
bad  instruction  communicated  by  Adam  to  his  posterity  beyond 
that  taught  by  his  example.  And  it  is  confounding  all  language 
and  denying  to  it  any  fixed  meaning  to  say  that  07ie  offence  and  one 
mans  disobedience  mean  some  bad  lessons  taught  us ;  or  that  the 
free  gift,  righteousness,  and  the  obedience  of  one  mean  the  sermons  and 
teachings  of  our  Lord.  Nor  will  it  be  seriously  contended  that 
our  death,  condemnation  or  judgment  was  by  Adam  infusing  sin  into 
us  by  one  offence,  or  that  Christ's  obedience  is  imparted  to  us,  or  in- 
fused into  us.  The  passage  is  not  speaking  of  purification  or  sanc- 
tification,  but  oi  judgment,  condemnation,  the  penal  evil,  death,  and 
oi  justification,  justification  of  life,  being  made  rig! it  eons.  Nor  is 
there  left  to  us  any  other  way  of  conceiving  how  the  guilt  of 
Adam's  sin  or  the  righteousness  of  Christ  can  be  made  ours  but 
by  imputation  alone.  A  class  of  modern  writers  refuse  this  and  all 
definite  terms,  and  insist  that  all  we  can  say  is  that  we  are  subject 
to  death  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin  and  are  saved  in  consequence 
of  Christ's  undertaking.  But  this  language  is  never  used  in  the 
word  of  God.  In  his  Works  Vol.  2,  p.  351,  Dr.  Leonard  Woods 
of  Andover  says :  "  As  to  those,  who  deny  the  doctrine  of  native 
depravity,  and  the  doctrine  of  imputation,  and  the  doctrine, of 
John  Taylor  and  the  Unitarians,  and  yet  profess  to  believe  that  we 
are  depraved  and  ruined  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  know  what  their  belief  amounts  to.  They  say,  Adam's  sin  had 
an  influence ;  but  they  deny  all  the  conceivable  ways  in  which  it 
could  have  an  influence,  and  particularly  the  ways  which  are  most 
clearly  brought  to  view  in  Rom.  5,  and  in  other  parts  of  scripture." 
And  when  such  are  asked  whether  they  mean  to  speak  of  a  legal 
consequence,  they  either  say  no,  and  thus  deny  the  substance  of 
scriptural  teaching,  or  they  say  yes,  and  then  we  ask  what  is  a 
legal  consequence  to  us,  but  imputation  ?  There  is  no  conceiva- 
ble way  in  which  Adam's  one  act  could  ruin  us,  or  Christ's  obe- 
dience save  us  but  by  imputation.  The  Bible  uses  this  term  often, 
as  we  have  seen  in  Rom.  4  :  3,  4,  5,  6,  8,  9,  10.  It  is  well  defined 
in  systems  of  theology,  and  has  been  accepted  by  nearly  all  the 
Christian  world  for  centuries. 

Some  indeed  say  that  this  view  of  things  involves  us  in  mys- 
tery and  is  unintelligible.  But  there  is  no  more  mystery  in  the 
simple  fact  of  Adam  representing  us  and  the  fruit  of  his  doings 
being  counted  to  us,  than  there  is  in  a  general  representing  his 
army,  or  an  ambassador  his  nation.  It  is  the  fact  of  representa- 
tion, and  not  the  greatness  of  the  results,  that  involves  the  diffi- 
culty, if  there  is  difficulty.      All,  by  whom  this  book  is  likely  to 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19.]         THE  ROMANS.  261 

be  read,  admit  that  the  fall  of  Adam  ruined  our  race.  Let  them 
tell  us  how  that  was  done,  if  they  can.  We  say  it  was  done  by 
his  being  by  divine  appointment  our  federal  head.  We  say  the 
guilt  of  his  sin  was  imputed  to  his  posterity,  and  so  they  became 
guilty.  Our  explanation  is  according  to  the  severest  rules  of  in- 
terpreting terms,  phrases  and  statements.  We  deny  that  there  is 
anything  unintelligible  in  the  simple  doctrine  of  imputed  sin,  or 
imputed  righteousness,  which  doctrines  must  stand  or  fall  together. 
For  as  Turrettin  well  expresses  it :  "  We  are  constituted  sinners 
in  Adam  in  the  same  way  in  which  we  are  constituted  righteous 
in  Christ." 

Others  seem  to  think  that  in  some  way  they  can  reject  the  old 
orthodox  view  without  being  in  any  danger  of  serious  error.  But 
is  this  so?  Olshausen  (p.  186)  correctly  says:  "  Antiquity  knew 
only  two  different  stations  from  which  to  consider  this  passage, 
and,  although  under  altered  names  and  forms  with  shades  of  dis- 
tinction and  modifications,  the  same  have  continued  to  the  present 
essentially  like  what  they  were,  since  the  time  they  were  first 
keenly  expressed  ;  the  Aiigustinian  and  the  Pelagian.  The  differ- 
ence between  these  two  carefully  considered  is  not  in  some,  but  in 
all  points,  and  they  deviate  specifically  upon  all  the  great  prob- 
lems ;  any  reconciliation,  therefore,  between  them  is  out  of  the 
question."  He  afterwards  says  that  Semi-Pelagianism  is  involved, 
in  as  many  difficulties  as  Pelagianism.  And  this  is  true  also.  If 
the  fall  of  Adam  made  us  in  the  eye  of  the  law  sinners,  we  ought  not 
to  say,  and  we  relieve  no  difficulty  by  saying  that  we  become  sin- 
ners without  cny  probation  at  all,  or  by  a  probation  in  the  dawn 
of  our  infancy,  when  we  have  so  little  understanding,  that  it  is 
mocking  us  to  say  that  each  one  undergoes  a  probation  for  himself. 
From  the  days  of  Chrysostom  down  to  our  time  the  best  writers, 
those,  who  have  stood  foremost  as  advocates  of  the  truth  have 
contended  that  to  be  made  sinners  "  means  to  be  made  liable  to 
death  and  condemned  to  death."     Chrys.  p.  154. 

If  men  say  that  the  ruin  of  the  race  by  one  act  of  one  man 
and  the  salvation  of  believers  by  the  obedience  of  another  are 
quite  contrary  to  the  natural  conceptions  of  most  men,  it  is  freely 
admitted  by  all  candid  writers.  Hodge  :  "  The  idea  of  men  being 
regarded  and  treated,  not  according  to  their  own  merits,  but  the 
merit  of  another  is  contrary  to  the  common  mode  of  thinking 
among  men."  But  shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? 
Is  man,  the  worm,  the  fool,  the  sinner,  capable  of  revising  the 
ways  of  Providence  ?  Is  it  not  wiser  with  Paul  to  say,  "  O  the 
depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  ! 
how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding 


262  EPISTLE    TO  Ch.  V.,  vs.  12-19. 

out !  "  than  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  ways  of  the  Almighty  ?  If 
God  says  a  thing,  we  know  it  is  true ;  if  God  does  a  thing  we 
know  it  is  right.  Wisdom  would  dictate  that  modesty  should  stop 
just  there.  Haldane  :  "  Our  duty  is  to  understand  the  import  of 
what  is  testified,  and  to  receive  it  on  that  authority — not  to  inquire 
into  the  justice  of  the  constitution  from  which  our  guilt  results. 
...  It  is  highly  dishonorable  to  God  to  refuse  to  submit  to  his 
decisions  till  we  can  demonstrate  their  justice."  Moses  :  "  The 
secret  things  belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God :  but  those  things 
which  are  revealed  belong  unto  us,  and  to  our  children  for  ever." 
Elihu  :  "  God  is  greater  than  man.  Why  dost  thou  strive  against 
him  ?  for  he  giveth  not  account  of  any  of  his  matters."  Deut. 
29:29;  Job  33:  12,  13. 

Of  no  more  force  is  the  objection  of  Macknight,  repeated  by 
several  of  his  American  imitators,  that  "  to  argue  with  Beza,  that 
to  entitle  believers  to  eternal  life,  Christ's  righteousness  must  be 
imputed  to  them,  is  to  contradict  the  scripture,  which  constantly 
represents  eternal  life,  not  as  a  debt  due  to  believers,  but  as  a  free 
gift  from  God."  But  what  lover  of  sound  doctrine  ever  held  that 
eternal  life  was  to  the  believer  anything  but  a  free  gift,  a  gift  by 
grace,  unmerited  kindness  ?  And  does  it  not  magnify  the  grace 
of  God  to  sinners  to  know  that  it  is  bestowed  at  a  great  cost,  even 
the  humiliation  and  sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  To  man  salva- 
tion from  first  to  last  is  all  gratuity,  but  not  a  whit  less  so,  because 
it  is  bestowed  in  a  manner  consistent  with  all  the  requirements  of 
the  eternal  law  of  God.  To  Christ,  who  obeyed  and  suffered,  the 
salvation  of  his  people  is  due,  because  he  has  paid  the  ransom  for 
them.  Those,  who  are  saved,  are  pardoned  and  accepted  through 
Christ,  in  a  way  perfectly  consistent  with  the  demands  of  justice, 
for  Christ  has  fully  satisfied  all  the  claims  of  God's  infinite  and 
unspotted  rectitude  for  his  people.  But  to  the  sinner  saved,  all  is 
grace,  all  is  mercy,  all  is  a  free  gift  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Perhaps  the  most  popular  and  wide-spread  objection  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity  is  one 
that  is  stated  with  various  degrees  of  coarseness  and  harshness, 
holding  up  the  friends  of  truth  as  maintaining  the  doctrine  that 
infants  dying  in  infancy  are  eternally  lost.  On  this  objection  the 
changes  are  rung  with  great  dexterity,  and  often  with  deep  malig- 
nity. I  may  say  with  boldness  that  in  the  reading  of  my  lifetime 
I  have  found  nothing  to  justify  such  a  charge,  but  a  great  deal  to 
the  contrary.  Hear  the  Synod  of  Dort :  "  Seeing  that  we  are  to 
judge  of  the  will  of  God  by  his  word,  which  testifies  that  the 
children  of  believers  are  holy,  not  indeed  by  nature,  but  by  the 
benefit  of  the  gracious  covenant,  in  which  they  are  comprehended 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19.]  THE  ROMANS.  263 

along  with  their  parents ;  pious  parents  ought  not  to  doubt  of  the 
election  and  salvation  of  their  children,  whom  God  hath  called  in 
infancy  out  of  this  life."  On  this  article  the  judicious  Thomas 
Scott  of  the  church  of  England,  in  a  note  to  his  translation  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  says  :  "  The  salvation  of  the  offspring 
of  believers,  dying  in  infancy,  is  here  scripturally  stated,  and  not 
limited  to  such  as  are  baptized.  Nothing  is  said  of  the  children 
of  unbelievers  dying  in  infancy  ;  and  the  scripture  says  nothing. 
But  why  might  not  these  Calvinists  have  as  favorable  a  hope  of 
all  infants  dying  before  actual  sin,  as  anti-calvinists  can  have  ?  " 
Surely  this  is  sound  speech  that  cannot  be  condemned.  Guyse  : 
"  How  far  the  righteousness  of  the  second  Adam  may  extend  to 
them  that  die  in  infancy,  to  prevent  an  execution  of  the  curse  in 
the  future  miseries  of  another  world,  is  not  for  us  to  determine ; 
we  may  quietly  leave  them  in  the  hands  of  a  merciful  God,  who 
we  are  sure  can  do  them  no  wrong.  And  believing  parents  may 
with  great  satisfaction  hope  well  concerning  the  eternal  happiness 
of  their  dying  infants ;  since  they  never  lived  to  cast  off  God's 
gracious  covenant,  into  which  he  has  taken  believers  and  their 
seed,  under  that  better  Head,  in  whom  all  nations  are  blessed.  But 
then  it  should  be  remembered,  that  infants  needing  Christ's  re- 
demption supposes  them  to  have  been  under  a  charge  of  guilt ; 
otherwise  there  would  have  been  no  occasion  for  any  redemption 
of  them  ;  and  if  they  have  not  the  benefit  of  redemption  in  the 
other  world,  they  have  none  at  all,  since  they  are  afflicted  and  die 
in  this."  Chalmers :  "  For  anything  we  know,  the  mediation  of 
Christ  may  have  affected,  in  a  most  essential  way,  the  general 
state  of  humanity  ;  and,  by  some  mode  unexplained  and  inexplica- 
ble, may  it  have  bettered  the  condition  of  those  who  die  in  infancy." 
Hodge  :  "  If  without  personal  participation  in  the  sin  of  Adam, 
all  men  are  subject  to  death,  may  we  not  hope  that,  without  per- 
sonal acceptance  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  all  who  die  in  in- 
fancy are  saved  ?  "  In  his  beautiful  poem  "  The  Work  and  Con- 
tention of  Heaven,"  the  pious  Ralph  Erskine,  to  the  joy  of  saints, 
thus  opens  the  scene : 

"  Babes  thither  caught  from  womb  and  breast 
Claim  right  to  sing  above  the  rest ; 
Because  they  found  the  happy  shore. 
They  never  knew  nor  sought  before." 

Wardlaw :  "  This  I  believe  and  delight  in  believing,  that  to  what- 
ever extent  the  curse  may  reach  them,  they  are  all  included  in  the 
efficacy  of  the  redemption,  amongst  the  objects  of  saving  mercy. 


264  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  12-19. 

Their  salvation  is  entirely  on  the  ground  of  Christ's  mediation." 
Vol.  2,  p.  269.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  uses  language  very 
strong  on  this  subject.  See  his  Life,  p.  455  :  "  It  can  do  harm  to 
hope  as  much  as  we  can  respecting  the  dead.  Let  us  be  as  rigid 
as  we  please  in  regard  to  the  living ;  but  it  is  no  dishonor  to  God, 
nor  disparagement  of  his  truth,  to  entertain  enlarged  views  of  his 
mercy."  A  reason,  why  God  may  in  mercy  have  said  no  more  on 
this  subject,  is  that  wicked  parents  may  be  restrained  from  infanti- 
cide. As  it  is,  many  a  child  is  murdered  by  the  parent,  to  put  it 
out  of  misery.  Wardlaw  goes  too  far — goes  beyond  what  is  re- 
vealed— when  he  says  :  "  I  believe  that  even  in  heathen  lands, 
Christ  makes  his  great  adversary  outwit  himself.  The  amount  of 
infanticides,  produced  by  ruthless  and  unnatural  superstition,  has 
been  fearfully  great.  But  the  Redeemer,  without  its  in  the  least 
mitigating  the  atrocious  guilt  of  the  perpetrators,  has  thus,  by 
means  of  idolatry  itself,  been  multiplying  the  number  of  his  sub- 
jects and  peopling  heaven."  We  must  not  be  wise  above  what  is 
written.  We  must  not  lay  before  ungodly  men  an  inducement  to 
murder  their  own  offspring  that  they  may  put  them  for  ever  be- 
yond the  reach  of  misery.  The  Lord  will  do  right.  Let  us  leave 
all  in  his  hands.  Let  us  trust  him  for  ever.  He  has  revealed  all 
that  faith  requires.  Thus  we  see  it  is  not  true  that  the  friends  of 
sound  doctrine  are  chargeable  with  holding  any  gloomy,  or  un- 
scriptural  views  on  the  subject  of  infant  salvation.  They  hold  not 
a  principle,  which  forbids  them  to  entertain  as  cheerful  and  enlarg- 
ed views  on  the  subject  as  any  other  persons  who  believe  the 
Bible.  But  they  do  contend,  and  justly  too,  that  whoever  of  our 
race  is  saved  at  all,  is  saved  entirely  by  Christ,  and  not  by  native 
innocence.  The  pious  parent,  whose  infant  offspring  has  preceded 
him,  exults  in  the  thought  that  he  and  they  shall  sing  the  same 
sono-  unto  him  that  loved  them,  and  washed  them  in  his  blood. 

It  might  well  be  remembered  that  all,  who  live  long  enough  to 
reject  the  gospel,  do  by  that  act  justify  Adam  in  his  trangressing 
the  covenant  of  works,  just  as  Jerusalem  justified  Sodom  and 
Samaria  by  sinning  worse  than  they,  Ezek.  16  :  51,  52.  Great  as 
was  Adam's  first  sin,  it  was  a  sin  against  goodness,  law  and  author- 
ity ;  but  he,  who  rejects  the  gospel,  sins  against  the  greatest  love 
and  mercy  and  wisdom,  and  against  the  most  awful  authority  too. 
"  This  is  the  condemnation  [the  worst  and  most  dreadful  condem- 
nation] that  light  is  come  into  the  word,  and  men  have  loved  dark- 
ness rather  than  light,"  John  3  :  19. 

Some  have  objected  to  the  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of 
Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity  that  it  teaches  that  everlasting  misery 
is  or  may  be  sent  on  those  whose  souls  and  lives  are  wholly  pure' 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19.]         THE  ROMANS.  265 

and  innocent.  But  who  has  at  any  time  taught  such  a  doctrine? 
Surely  no  approved  divine  of  this  or  any  other  age.  Thus  Calvin  : 
"  By  Adam's  sin  we  are  not  condemned  through  imputation  alone, 
as  though  we  were  punished  only  for  the  sin  of  another;  but  we 
suffer  his  punishment,  because  we  also  ourselves  are  guilty  ;  for  as 
our  nature  is  vitiated  in  him,  it  is  regarded  by  God  as  having  com- 
mitted sin."  Hodge  :  "  As  the  term  death  is  used  for  any  and 
every  evil  judicially  inflicted  as  the  punishment  of  sin,  the  amount 
and  nature  of  the  evil  not  being  expressed  by  the  word,  it  is  no 
part  of  the  apostle's  doctrine  that  eternal  misery  is  inflicted  on  any 
man  for  the  sin  of  Adam,  irrespective  of  inherent  depravity  or 
actual  transgression.  It  is  enough  for  all  the  purposes  of  his  argu- 
ment that  that  sin  was  the  ground  of  the  loss  of  the  divine  favor, 
the  withholding  of  divine  influence,  and  the  consequent  corrup- 
tion of  our  nature."  Haldane  is  no  less  clear  and  decided  on  the 
same  point.  The  same  view  was  maintained  by  David  Parens  and 
other  eminent  divines  of  the  XVI.  century,  as  well  as  by  the  best 
divines  of  the  XVII.  and  XVIII.  centuries.  So  far  did  the  old 
Hopkinsians  carry  this  matter  that  they  were  understood  to  insist 
that  newborn  infants  committed  actual  sin.  See  Dr.  Leonard 
Woods'  Works,  Vol.  2,  p.  352.  But  that  is  an  extreme  opinion, 
generally  rejected  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  shew  by  the  writings  of  many  seri- 
ous men,  who  oppose  the  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin, 
that  they  do  often  concede  all  that  any  calm  and  enlightened  friend 
of  the  old  and  sound  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  con- 
tends for.  Hodge  has  collected  a  number  of  such.  The  number 
of  proofs  might  be  almost  indefinitely  extended.  Locke :  "  Paul 
proves  that  all  men  became  mortal,  by  Adam's  eating  the  forbid- 
den fruit,  and  by  that  alone.  .  .  Men's  dying  before  the  law  of 
Moses,  was  purely  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  in  eating  the  for- 
bidden fruit.  .  .  By  one  offence,  Adam's  eating  the  forbidden 
fruit,  all  men  fell  under  the  condemnation  of  death."  So  also 
Macknight :  "  Death  hath  come  on  all  men  for  Adam's  sin.  .  . 
Through  the  disobedience  of  one  man,  all  were  made  liable  to 
sin  and  punishment,  notwithstanding  many  of  them  never  heard 
of  Adam,  or  of  his  disobedience."  Any  of  these  concedes  all  the 
principle  contended  for  in  imputation,  viz.  that  one  may  act  for 
another,  and  in  such  a  way  as  the  fruit  of  his  doings,  the  legal  con- 
sequences of  his  acts  may,  by  the  just  providence  of  God,  come  to 
that  other,  as  if  they  were  his  own. 

It  is  a  pleasing  thought  that  in  the  actual  administration  of 
human  affairs  by  the  headship  of  Adam  and  of  Christ,  there  is  so 
great  a  superiority  and  glory  in  the  headship  of  Christ.     Paul 


266  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  12-19. 

mentions  this  several  times  in  Rom.  5  :  12-19.  Chrysostom  takes 
up  the  same  note :  "  Sin  and  grace  are  not  equivalents,  death  and 
life  are  not  equivalents,  the  Devil  and  God  are  not  equivalents,  but 
there  is  a  boundless  space  between  them.  .  .  If  sin  had  so  exten- 
sive effects,  and  the  sin  of  one  man  too ;  how  can  grace,  and  that 
the  grace  of  God,  not  the  Father  only,  but  also  the  Son,  do  other- 
wise than  be  the  more  abundant  of  the  two  ?  For  the  latter  is  far 
the  more  reasonable  supposition.  For  that  one  man  should  be 
punished  on  account  of  another  does  not  seem  to  be  much  in  accord- 
ance with  reason.  But  for  one  to  be  saved  on  account  of  another 
is  at  once  more  suitable  and  reasonable.  If  then  the  former  took 
place,  much  more  the  latter."  Hodge :  "  The  benefits  of  the  one 
dispensation  far  exceed  the  evils  of  the  other.  For  the  condemna- 
tion was  for  one  offence  ;  the  justification  is  of  many.  Christ  saves 
us  from  much  more  than  the  guilt  of  Adam's  sin.  .  .  It  is  far  more 
consistent  with  our  views  of  the  character  of  God,  that  many 
should  be  benefitted  by  the  merit  of  one  man,  than  that  they 
should  suffer  for  the  sin  of  one.  If  the  latter  has  happened,  MUCH 
MORE  may  we  expect  the  former  to  occur."  The  point  of  the 
thought  from  the  much  more  of  the  apostle  is  this  :  The  principle  of 
representation  in  the  government  of  God  has  by  the  fall  of  Adam 
brought  great  evil,  but  by  the  obedience  of  Christ  it  has  wrought 
out  results  the  most  glorious  to  God,  and  the  most  beneficial  to 
man — results  as  far  excelling  those  of  the  fall  as  Christ  is  superior 
to  Adam.  How  much  that  is  the  scriptures  clearly  state:  "  The 
first  man  Adam  was  made  a  living  soul,  the  last  Adam  was  made 
a  quickening  Spirit.  .  .  The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy  :  the 
second  man  is  the  Lord  from  heaven.  As  is  the  earthy,  such  are 
they  also  that  are  earthy  :  and  as  is  the  heavenly,  such  are  they 
also  that  are  heavenly.  And  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the 
earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly,"  i  Cor. 
15  :  45,  47-49.  It  evinces  amazing  wisdom,  power  and  goodness 
to  bring  any  good  out  of  any  evil ;  but  to  bring  infinite  and  ever- 
lasting, yea  the  greatest  good  out  of  the  apostasy  of  man  manifests 
such  infinite  perfections  as  must  for  ever  fill  the  soul  of  the  devout 
and  humble  with  unceasing  wonder,  admiration  and  thanksgiv- 
ing- 

II.  Sin  is  as  bad,  as  mischievous,  as  ruinous  to  man,  as  dishon- 
oring to  God,  as  it  has  ever  been  represented  to  be.  "  Death 
entered  by  sin  ;"  "  through  the  offence  of  one  many  are  dead  ;"  by 
it  "death  reigned  by  one;"  by  it  "judgment  came  upon  all  men 
to  condemnation ;"  "  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made 
sinners."  Sin  is  carnal,  sensual,  devilish.  It  is  the  sting  of  death  ; 
it  is  the  venom  of  perdition.     It  digs  every  grave  ;  it  builds  every 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  1 8-2 1.]         THE  ROMANS.  267 

prison  ;  it  forges  every  chain  ;  it  erects  every  gibbet ;  it  made 
strong  the  bars  of  hell ;  it  is  horrible.  Not  a  sigh,  or  groan,  or 
wail  is  heard  on  earth  or  in  hell,  but  that  sin  is  the  cause  of  it.  In 
the  wretchedness  of  man  on  earth,  in  the  screams  of  the  damned 
in  hell,  above  all  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  let  men  learn  the  evil  of 
sin.  Look  at  that  mysterious  sufferer  in  Gethsemane  !  Why  is  he 
in  such  agony  ?  He  is  bearing  sin  for  others.  What  must  sin  not 
be,  when  it  required  so  amazing  humiliation  and  suffering  in  the 
holy  Jesus  to  redeem  us  from  it? 

12.  The  law  of  God  is  of  excellent  use  in  many  ways.  Nor  is 
its  value  in  shewing  us  how  wicked  and  guilty  we  are  one  of  the 
lest  important  of  its  uses,  v.  20.  Calvin  :  "  Without  the  law  re- 
proving us,  we  in  a  manner  sleep  in  our  sins  ;  and  though  we  are 
not  ignorant  that  we  do  evil,  we  yet  suppress  as  much  as  we  can 
the  knowledge  of  evil  offered  to  us,  at  least  we  obliterate  it  by 
quickly  forgetting  it."  T.  Adam :  "  Keep  your  thoughts  close  to 
this  idea  of  the  divine  law  ;  establish  it  with  the  apostle,  as  the 
sacred,  invariable  rule  by  which  you  are  to  be  tried ;  and  then  ask 
yourself,  what  part  of  your  life  has  been  answerable  to  it."  The 
law  is  still  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  men  to  Christ.  Those  converts 
to  Christ,  who  have  but  a  slight  law-work  on  their  hearts,  are  apt 
to  take  but  a  feeble  hold  on  the  Redeemer ;  while  those,  who  are 
soundly  troubled  in  their  consciences,  at  least  see  the  need  of  just 
such  a  salvation  as  is  provided  in  the  gospel. 

13.  If  poor  sinners,  saved  by  grace,  can,  after  long  study  and 
prayer,  get  a  comparatively  good  insight  into  the  doctrines  of 
gratuitous  justification,  such  as  is  revealed  in  this  epistle,  and  in 
this  chapter,  what  a  glorious  doctrine  must  it  be  in  the  eyes  of 
angels,  who  never  sinned,  and  especially  in  the  esteem  of  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  in  heaven,  vs.  18,  19,  21.  See 
Doctrinal  and  Practical  Remarks  on  Rom.  5  :  i-ii.  Diodati : 
"  Christ's  righteousness  consisteth  in  his  full  and  perfect  obe- 
dience unto  God  his  Father  in  fulfilling  the  law.  Now  Saint  Paul 
saith  here,  that  all  this  righteousness  is  imputed  unto  us,  and  we 
thereby  are  perfectly  righteous  before  God,  as  if  we  ourselves  had 
wholly  fulfilled  the  law."  T.  Adam :  "  Paul  takes  occasion  to 
plead  for  such  a  remedy  as  is  suited  to  the  urgency  of  our  case  ; 
declares  the  nature  of  it  as  plainly  as  words  can  do,  and  tells  us 
precisely  both  what  it  is,  and  what  it  is  not ;  that  it  is  only  and  al- 
together the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by  grace,  the  abundance  of 
grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  by  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  glory 
of  God,  from  the  bowels  of  his  mercy,  and  to  the  utter  exclusion 
of  all  other  pretensions,  human  merit  or  qualification."  If  a  per- 
fectly gratuitous  justification  is  not  taught  in  this  epistle,  there  are 


268  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  V.,  vs.  18-21. 

no  words  left  whereby  such  a  doctrine  may  be  taught.  There  is 
but  one  sense,  in  which  the  righteousness,  by  which  we  are  justi- 
fied before  God,  is  our  own  ;  and  that  is,  it  is  imputed  to  us,  or  set 
down  to  our  account,  to  all  the  ends  and  purposes  of  perfect  par- 
don and  complete  acceptance  with  God.  Otherwise  it  is  wholly 
and  entirely  the  righteousness  of  God,  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
Rom.  3  :  21,  22 ;  10  :  3  ;  2  Cor.  5:21;  2'  Pet.  i  :  1 1.  Chalmers : 
"  God  now  is  not  only  merciful  to  forgive — he  is  faithful  and  just 
to  forgive.  He  will  not  draw  upon  the  surety,  and  upon  the  debtor 
both.  He  will  have  a  full  reckoning  with  guilt ;  but  he  will  not  have 
more  than  a  full  reckoning  by  exacting  both  a  penalty  and  a  propi- 
tiation :  and  the  man  who  trusts  to  the  propitiation,  may  be  very 
sure  that  the  penalty  will  never  reach  him.  The  destroying  angel, 
on  finding  him  marked  with  the  blood  of  Christ,  will  pass  him  by." 
Glory  be  to  God  for  such  heavenly  doctrine.  As  the  scarlet  thread 
made  Rahab  safe  in  the  midst  of  the  convulsions  of  Jericho,  so  the 
precious  blood  of  Christ  and  his  infinite  righteousness  will  give 
boldness  to  the  redeemed  when  all  nature  shall  be  dissolving. 

14.  Every  right  view  of  scripture  doctrine,  of  God's  glory,  or 
man's  feebleness,  of  human  wickedness  or  of  man's  recovery  by 
Christ  Jesus,  teaches  us  a  lesson  of  humility.  Nor  is  it  possible  for 
us  to  be  too  lowly  before  God.  If  we  ever  rise,  it  must  be  by 
sinking.  If  we  are  ever  exalted,  it  must  be  by  humbling  our- 
selves. Our  place  is  in  the  dust.  Our  great  error  is  in  our  lofti- 
ness. Oh  for  self-emptiness.  The  best  man  on  earth  is  the  hum- 
blest man  on  earth.  The  most  exalted  creature  before  the 
blazing  throne  above  is  the  one  that  makes  the  most  profound 
obeisance  of  all  his  nature  in  the  presence  of  his  Maker.  Come 
down,  ye  mountains  of  pride.  Be  abased  all  ye  lofty  thoughts 
that  exalt  yourselves  against  God.  Scott :  "  Let  us  learn  habitu- 
ally to  look  upon  ourselves  and  the  whole  human  race  as  lying  in 
the  ruins  of  the  fall ;  sinners  by  nature  and  practice,  exposed  to 
condemnation,  and  no  more  able  to  save  our  own  souls  from  hell, 
than  to  rescue  our  bodies  from  the  grave.  Instead  of  perplexing 
ourselves  about  the  awfully  deep  and  incomprehensible,  but  most 
righteous  dispensation  of  God,  in  permitting  the  entrance  of  sin 
and  death ;  let  us  learn  to  adore  his  grace  for  providing  so  ade- 
quate a  remedy  for  that  awful  catastrophe,  which  we  are  sure  was 
consistent  with  all  his  glorious  perfections."  Such  a  course  as 
this  would  prove  that  we  were  already  taught  of  God,  and  had 
found  the  way  of  life.  God's  judgments  are  indeed  terrible ; 
but  his  mercies  endure  for  ever.  True,  clouds  and  darkness 
are  round  about  him,  but  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the 
habitation  of  his  throne.     If  we  were  but  as  humble  as  our  state 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-19.]         THE  ROMANS.  269 

and  character  require,  we  should  avoid  all  the  serious  mistakes  of 
men,  and  make  delightful  progress  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and 
in  conformity  to  the  will  of  God.  If  any  man  would  be  wise,  let 
him  become  a  fool  that  he  may  be  wise. 

15.  If  such  is  the  sad  and  fallen  condition  of  our  whole  race,  as 
we  have  seen  it  to  be,  vs.  12-19,  how  zealous  should  be  our  endeav- 
ors, how  faithful  our  instructions,  and  how  fervent  our  prayers  in 
behalf  of  our  sinful  offspring.  Monica  said  she  travailed  in  birth 
more  for  the  soul  than  for  the  body  of  her  son,  Augustine.  It  is  sad 
to  see  our  loved  ones  in  the  snare  of  the  devil.  But  it  is  glorious 
to  see  Christ  rescuing  the  captives,  and  opening  the  prison  to 
them  that  are  bound.  He  is  able  to  bind  the  strong  man  and 
spoil  his  goods.  Scott :  "  As  our  children  have  evidently,  through 
us,  received  a  sinful,  suffering  and  dying  nature  from  the  first 
Adam  ;  we  should  be  stirred  up,  even  by  their  pains  and  sorrows 
in  helpless  infancy,  to  seek  for  them  the  blessings  of  the  second 
Adam's  righteousness  and  salvation."  And  our  prayers  should 
be  full  of  ardor.  "  Elijah's  prayer  brought  down  fire  from  heaven, 
because  being  fervent  it  carried  fire  up  to  heaven."  In  nothing  is 
there  a  greater  deficiency  in  our  day  than  in  the  matter  of  prayer. 

16.  The  way  of  salvation  is  by  the  Redeemer's  blood  and  right- 
eousness, and  by  them  alone,  Out  of  Christ  God  is  a  consuming 
fire.  We  cannot  be  saved  by  any  finite  power  or  merit.  Bi-own  : 
"  There  is  no  inheriting  eternal  life  until  first  we  be  covered  with 
a  righteousness,  seeing  we  are  altogether  unclean  and  unholy  of 
ourselves  ;  and  as  grace  certainly  carries  us  to  heaven,  so  grace 
certainly  provides  the  means,  and  the  way  how  to  win  it,  and  finds 
out  a  way  how  poor  sinners  shall  become  righteous  saints."  That 
is  just  what  we  need,  just  what  we  should  accept.  It  is  offered  to 
us  by  the  Lord — offered  without  money  and  without  price.  The 
air  we  breathe  is  not  more  free  than  the  grace  of  the  gospel.  O 
sinful  man  !  does  not  that  quite  suit  your  case  ?  And  will  you  not 
at  once  close  in  with  the  overtures  of  mercy  ?  Chalmers  :  "  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  by  his  death  bore  the  punishment  that  you  should 
have  borne.  He  by  his  obedience  won  a  righteousness,  the  reck- 
oning and  the  reward  of  which  are  transferred  unto  you  ;  and  you, 
by  giving  credit  to  the  good  news,  are  deemed  by  God  as  having 
accepted  all  these  benefits,  and  will  be  dealt  with  accordingly. 
You  cannot  trust  too  simply  to  the  Saviour.  You  cannot  place 
too  strong  a  reliance  on  his  death  as  your  discharge."  Oh  come 
to  Jesus  Christ  and  be  saved. 

17.  There  is  great  danger  that  many  will  lose  their  souls  by  idle 
questions,  and  false  reasonings,  and  deceitful  hopes  respecting 
their  case.     In  our  day  men  have  learned  fearfully  to  sin  by  cavil- 


270  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  v.,  vs.  12-21. 

ling  at  almost  every  thing  declared  even  in  the  gospel.  Some  say, 
How  can  these  things  be  ?  And  while  men  are  disputing,  life 
passes  away,  and  they  find  themselves  in  the  fixedness  of  an  eter- 
nal state,  but  without  the  needful  preparation.  Wardlaw :  "  What- 
ever may  be  the  amount  of  curse  arising  directly  from  your  rela- 
tion to  the  first  sinner,  O  do  not  allow  any  speculations  on  a  sub- 
ject so  full  of  mystery,  to  draw  away  your  thoughts  from  the  con- 
sideration of  your  actual  guilt.  Do  not  think  hardly  of  God  on 
account  of  his  dealings  towards  you,  and  towards  the  race.  Be 
assured  he  is  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  ;  and  has  done  and  can  do 
only  that  which  is  right.  While  he  visits  transgressions  with 
punitive  vengeance,  think  how  he  has  visited  sinners  in  tender 
mercy.  '  He  delighteth  in  mercy.'  If  his  dealings  by  the  first 
Adam  manifest  his  righteousness,  his  dealings  by  the  second  Adam 
reveal  the  everlasting  riches  of  his  love.  I  must  do  as  my 
Bible  does.  There  I  find  all  men  spoken  of,  and  spoken  to,  as 
children  of  wrath  till  they  turn  unto  God  by  Jesus  Christ.  Even 
those  who  have  experienced  the  renewing  power  of  grace  are 
spoken  of  as  having  been  so  previously.  The  way  of  escape  is  set 
before  men.  Ample  and  immediate  encouragement  is  held  out 
to  them  to  come  to  God  for  pardon  and  full  salvation,  through 
the  overflowing  abundance  of  his  grace  in  Christ  Jesus.  The 
righteousness  of  Christ  is  infinitely  more  than  a  counterbalance  to 
Adam's  sin  and  to  their  own.  Grace  reigns  through  this  right- 
eousness." Will  you,  O  will  you  be  saved  ?  When  shall  it 
once  be  ? 


CHAPTER  VI. 

VERSES   1-11. 

THE  SCRIPTURAL  DOCTRINE  OF  GRATUITOUS  JUS- 
TIFICATION DOES  NOT  LEAD  TO  LICENTIOUS- 
NESS, BUT  TO  HOLINESS. 

What  shall  we  say  then  ?    Shall  we  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may  abound  r 

2  God  forbid.      How  shall  we,  that  are  dead  to  sin,  live  any  longer  therein  ? 

3  Know  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  were 
baptized  into  his  death  ? 

4  Therefore  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death  :  that  like  as  Christ 
was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk 
in  newness  of  life. 

5  For  if  we  have  been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall  be 
also  in  (he  likeness  of  his  resurrection  : 

6  Knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  him,  that  the  body  of  sin 
might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve  sin. 

7  For  he  that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin. 

8  Now  if  we  be  dead  with  Christ,  we  believe  that  we  shall  also  live  with  him  : 

9  Knowing  that  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead  dieth  no  more ;  death  hath 
no  more  dominion  over  him. 

10  For  in  that  he  died,  he  died  unto  sin  once  ;  but  in  that  he  liveth,  he  liveth 
uato  God. 

1 1  Likewise  reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto 
God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

IWHA  T  shall  we  say  then  ?  Shall  we  continue  in  sin  that  grace 
,  may  abound?  The  apostle,  having  established  the  necessity 
of  a  gratuitous  salvation,  having  shown  how  we  obtain  it  by  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  having  evinced  that  Abraham  himself 
was  thus  saved,  having  illustrated  the  method  of  our  recovery 
by  the  method  of  our  ruin,  and  having  declared  how  grace  is 
glorious  in  proportion  to  the  dreadfulness  of  the  apostasy,  from 
which  Jesus  Christ  saves  us,  he  informally,  not  dramatically,  refers 
to  a  specious  objection,  lik;ely  to  be  made  by  the  opposers,  or  by 
the  ill-informed,  who  might  say.  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  as  it 
one  should  say  :  Your  doctrine  is  new  to  me.    I  am  startled  by  it. 

(271) 


272  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VL,  v.  2. 

It  is  very  different  from  my  long  cherished  opinions.  I  had  looked 
to  the  law  of  Moses  for  salvation.  But  your  doctrine  is  that  by 
the  deeds  of  the  law  no  flesh  shall  be  justified,  and  that  where  sin 
abounds,  grace  does  much  more  abound.  Does  it  not  follow  from 
your  doctrine  that  we  may  continue  in  the  love  and  practice  of 
sin  that  grace  may  abound  yet  more  ? 

2.  God  forbid.  How  shall  we,  that  are  dead  to  sin,  live  any  longer 
therein  ?  God  forbid,  literally.  Let  it  not  be,  let  it  never  be  so,  q.  d. 
to  argue  that  way  would  be  perverseness  indeed.  See  above  on 
Rom.  3  :  4.  He  expresses  abhorrence  of  the  thought.  How  shall  we, 
who  are  dead  to  sin,  live  any  longer  therein  ?  Peshito  :  For  if  we  are 
persons,  who  have  died  to  sin,  how  can  we  again  live  in  it  ? 
Hodge :  "  It  is  no  fair  inference  from  the  fact  that  God  has 
brought  so  much  good  out  of  the  fall  and  sinfulness  of  men,  that 
they  may  continue  in  sin."  Calvin  :  "  He  who  sins  certainly 
lives  to  sin  ;  we  have  died  to  sin  through  the  grace  of  Christ ; 
then  it  is  false,  that  what  abolishes  sin  gives  vigor ^to  it."  In  the 
preceding  chapter  he  had  shewed  how  death  had  justly  come  on 
the  whole  race  for  one  sin  of  one  man.  It  could  not  then  be  that 
under  the  government  of  a  God,  who  so  hates  sin,  provision  should 
be  made  whereby  God's  chosen  people  in  their  march  to  glory 
should  allowedly  indulge  in  conduct  offensive  to  the  Most  High. 
The  chief  difficulty  in  explaining  this  scripture  satisfactorily  is 
found  in  the  question,  What  is  it  to  be  dead  to  sin  ?  If  light  can  be 
had  from  the  use  of  the  same  or  like  phrases,  we  may  find  it  in 
Rom.  6  :  6,  7,  8  ;  7:4;  8:13;  Gal.  2:19;  5  :  24  ;  6  :  14 ;  Col.  2  :  20 ; 
3:3,5;  I  Pet.  2 :  24.  One,  who  looks  at  these  passages  is  very 
apt  to  think  that  he  understands  precisely  what  is  intended  to  be 
taught.  But  when  he  comes  to  express  himself  definitely,  he  is 
often  at  a  loss.  The  fact  is  that  death  used  figuratively  has  so 
many  and  wide  reaching  applications,  all  resulting  from  the  nature 
of  death  itself,  that  we  are  apt  to  become  confused.  Where  the 
scriptures  speak  of  mortifying  [putting  to  death]  the  deeds  of  the 
body  and  our  members  which  are  upon  the  earth,  the  meaning  is  clear. 
We  are  called  to  spare  no  sin,  to  kill  it,  knowing  that  our  contest 
with  it  must  prove  fatal  to  it  or  to  us.  If  we  put  not  it  to  death, 
it  will  put  us  to  death.  So  when  the  scripture  speaks  of  our  cruci- 
fying the  flesh,  with  the  affections  and  lusts,  it  is  clear  that  the  work 
done  is  that  of  warring  against  our  carnal  nature  with  a  determi- 
nation to  destroy  all  its  power  over  us ;  even  though  it  lingers  and 
struggles  for  the  ascendancy.  So  when  Paul  says.  The  world  is 
crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world,  clearly  the  meaning  is 
that  to  the  world  Paul  was  an  object  as  little  regarded  as  the 
crucified  malefactor ;  and  that  the  world  was  to  him  as  one  cruci- 


Ch.  VI.,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  273 

fied.      He  sought  not  its  smiles,  its  favors,  its  portion,  its  wealth, 
honors  or  pleasures.    So  when  Paul  says  he  is  dead  to  the  lazv,  the 
meaning  is  that  he  looked  no  longer  to  the  law  for  life  and  justifi- 
cation.    He  had  no  desire  to  be  saved  by  his  own  works.     Then 
we  have  the  phrase  dead  witJi  Christ,  which  in  its  connection  shows 
that  by  and  through  Christ  his  people  have  wholly  ceased  to  trust 
to  rites  and  ceremonies,  Jewish  or  Pagan  ;  they  rely  not  on  them 
at  all.    Then  again  Paul  says.  Ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God,  where  he  teaches  that  they  were  dead  to  their  old 
hopes,  plans  and  objects  of  desire,  and  that  their  present  reliance 
was  on  Christ  Jesus,  by  the  secret  communications  of  his  grace, 
unseen  by  the  world.     In  i  Pet.  2 :  24  we  have  the  phrase  we  being 
dead  to  sins,  sins  of  all  sorts.     The  question  still  recurs  what  is  it  to 
be  dead  to  sin  ?    Is  it  not  explained  by  such  phrases  as  not  serve  sin, 
dead  with    Christ,  living  with    Christ,  etc.   found  in  vs.  6,  8,  etc? 
Still  is  it  the  guilt  or  the  power  of  sin  that  is  spoken  of  in  this 
place  ?     Venema,  Haldane  and   Chalmers  think  that  it  means  we 
^  are  dead  to  the  guilt  of  sin.  It  looks  as  if  i  Pet.  2  :  24  referred  also 
to  be  being  freed  from  the  guilt  of  sin.     And  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  such  a  sense  agrees  with  the  argument  of  former  chapters. 
Nor  are    these   writers   without   support    from    the    subsequent 
context.      For  instance  in  v.  10  Christ  is  said  to  have  died  unto  sin 
once,   where  we   must   understand   that   he   died   for   sin,    or  on 
account  of  sin  ;  that  is,  he  bore  and  so  put  away  the  guilt  of  sin. 
Others,  and  there  are  not  a  few  of  them,  regard  the  apostle  as 
speaking  only  of  the  power  of  sin,  as  a  reigning  principle.     They 
rely  much  on  the  context  to  sustain  this  view.    Paul's  language  in 
this  chapter  is  very  bold  and  highly  figurative.     Yet  I  believe  na 
commentator  has  attempted  to  unite  these  two  interpretations,  and, 
present  sin  as  a  tyrant  and  task  master,  tormenting  his  servants 
with  the  horrors  of  guilt,  and  wielding  his  vile  power  to  seduce 
them  into  deeper  pollution.     Certainly  some  of  the  phrases  seem 
inapplicable   to  an  interpretation  that  would  include  both  these 
ideas,  but  others  do  not.     Owen  of  Thrussington  says,  "  The  ques- 
tion, '  Shall  we  continue  in  sin  ?  '  surely  does  not  mean  shall  we 
continue  in  or  under  the  guilt  of  sin  ?  but  in  its  service,  and  in  the 
practice  of  it."     It  was  the  charge  of  practical  licentiousness  that 
the  apostle  rebuts  ;  and  he  employs  an  argument  suitable  to  the 
purpose,  "  If  we  are  dead  to  sin,  freed  from  it  as  our  master,  how 
absurd   it  is  to   suppose  that   we  can  live   any  longer   therein." 
Then  being  dead  to  sin,  it  is  contended,  is  just  the  opposite  of 
living  in  sin.     Evans  :  "  We  must  not  be  as  we  have  been,  nor  do 
as  we  have  done.      The  time  past  of  our  life  must  suffice  to  have 
wrought  the  will  of  the  flesh.     Though  there  are  none  that  live 
i8 


274  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  vs.  3, 4. 

without  sin,  yet,  blessed  be  God,  there  are  those  that  do  not  live 
in  sin ;  do  not  live  in  it  as  their  element,  do  not  make  a  trade  of 
it."  This  is  the  substance  of  what  is  contended  for  by  the  great 
body  of  expositors. 

3.  Kno7v  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus 
Christ,  vuere  baptized  into  his  death?  Baptized  into  Jesus  Christ ; 
in  I  Cor.  i  :  13  we  have  baptized  in  the  name  of  Paul;  in  i  Cor. 
10:  2,  baptized  unto  Moses  ;  in  Matt.  3:11  we  have  baptize  you 
with  water  unto  repentance  ;  in  Mark  i  :  4,  the  baptism  of  repent- 
ance unto  the  remission  of  sins ;  in  i  Cor.  12  :  13,  baptized  into  one 
body.  In  each  of  these  cases  we  have  the  same  Greek  word  ren- 
dered, in,  into,  or  unto.  To  be  baptized  unto  or  into  Moses  expresses 
the  relation  of  the  baptized  to  that  great  prophet.  So  when  Paul 
denies  that  the  Corinthians  were  baptized  in  or  into  his  name,  he 
denies  that  by  their  baptism  he  became  their  leader,  denies  that 
in  their  baptism  they  professed  any  subjection  to  him.  To  be 
baptized  unto  repentance,  or  unto  the  remission  of  sins  expresses 
the  relations  of  the  baptized  to  the  doctrines  and  dispensations  of  * 
repentance  and  of  remission  of  sins.  By  baptism  then  our  union 
with  Christ  is  professed  and  declared.  But  those,  who  cordially 
receive  Christ  and  with  true  faith  profess  their  subjection  to  him, 
are  baptized  into  his  death,  that  is,  have  a  union  with  him  in  his 
death,  not  only  partaking  of  the  benefits  thereof,  but  as  his  death 
separated  him  from  the  world  and  terminated  his  work  as  a  sin- 
bearer,  so  our  baptism  declares  that  we  have  done  with  the  world 
as  a  portion,  and  with  sin  as  a  practice.  We  have  died  unto  sin, 
and  in  baptism  we  so  profess.  Thus  the  first  formal  argument 
against  the  loose  living,  to  which  some  allege  the  doctrines  of 
free  grace  lead,  is  that  a  sinful  life  is  contrary  to  our  sacra- 
mental engagements.  If  baptism  teaches  anything,  it  teaches 
our  cleansing  from  sin.  He,  who  is  baptized  and  lives  in  sin, 
is  a  hypocrite,  a  mere  pretender.  He  has  not  put  on  Christ. 
He  is  not  like  Christ.  He  is  not  subject  to  Christ.  If  Christ 
does  not  save  us  from  sin,  he  does  not  save  us  from  wrath. 
His  name  was  "  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their 
sins,"  Matt.  1:21.     Compare  Tit.  2:14, 

4.  Therefore  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death  :  that 
like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
even  so  we  also  should  tvalk  in  nczvness  of  life.  Death  is  followed 
by  burial.  Death  cuts  us  off  from  the  world.  Burial  quite 
secludes  us  from  it,  puts  us  entirely  out  of  it.  So  we  are  dead 
to  sin  ;  we  are  by  baptism,  if  rightly  received,  separated  from 
wickedness,  and  devoted  unto  Christ.  But  this  death  and  burial 
must  not  be  misunderstood.     They  are  not  without  a  resurrec- 


Ch.  VI.,  V.  4-]  THE  ROMANS,  275 

tion.  No !  They  are  followed  by  a  new  life.  Calvin  :  "  He 
rightly  makes  a  transition  from  a  fellowship  in  death  to  a  fellow- 
ship in  life ;  for  these  things  are  connected  together  by  an  in- 
dissoluble knot — that  the  old  man  is  destroyed  by  the  death  of 
Christ,  and  that  his  resurrection  brings  righteousness,  and  renders 
us  new  creatures.  And  surely,  since  Christ  has  been  given  to  us 
for  life,  to  what  purpose  is  it  that  we  die  with  him  except  that  we 
may  rise  to  a  better  life  ? "  By  the  death  of  Christ  on  the  cross, 
the  power  of  sin  was  broken.  By  our  death  unto  sin,  its  domin- 
ion over  us  is  destroyed,  and  this  is  signified  in  baptism.  That  it 
is  not  the  mere  rite  of  baptism,  but  the  thing  signified  thereby,  that 
he  speaks  of,  is  clear.  Saving  effects  are  said  to  follow.  Many 
from  the  days  of  Simon  Magus  have  been  baptized  but  the  power 
of  their  sins  has  continued  unbroken.  So  in  Col.  2  :  11,  12,  where 
Paul  teaches  that  circumcision  and  baptism  have  the  same  signifi- 
cancy,  viz.  putting  off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh,  and  rising 
with  Christ  through  faith,  we  learn  the  same  lesson,  the  necessity 
of  holiness,  as  inculcated  by  every  ordinance  of  God,  especially 
the  sacraments.  By  the  glory  of  the  Father;  Peshito :  Into  the 
glory  of  his  Father ;  Arabic :  In  the  glory  of  the  Father ;  Gene- 
van :  Unto  the  glory  of  the  Father ;  Beza :  To  the  glory  of  the 
Father.  Were  the  word  glory  in  the  accusative,  there  would  be 
no  difficulty  in  adopting  the  rendering  of  the  Genevan  translation. 
But  the  preposition  here  used  when  it  governs  the  genitive  never 
signifies  unto,  or  for  the  sake  of.  We  know  nothing  to  justify  the 
rendering  of  the  Peshito  or  Arabic,  though  each  gives  a  good 
sense.  By  the  glory  of  the  Father  must  be  taken  as  the  fair  render- 
ing of  the  clause ;  and  the  meaning  may  be  by  the  power  of  the 
Father,  or  by  the  divine  nature,  all  of  which  is  glorious.  Bucer 
regards  glory  as  denoting  "  the  extraordinary  presence  of  the  God- 
head." Tholuck:  "  Glory  denotes  the  sum  of  the  divine  perfec- 
tions." Power  and  glory  are  often  united  in  the  New  Testament, 
as  in  Matt.  24:30;  Mark  13:26;  Luke  21:27;  Rev.  5:12,  13. 
Compare  Col.  i  :  11.  Scholars  point  us  to  Ps.  68  :  34;  Isa.  12  :  2  ; 
45  :  25  as  instances,  in  which  the  Septuagint  employs  the  term 
here  rendered  glory  to  express  the  power  or  strength  of  Jehovah. 
In  fact  the  word  may  be  so  understood  in  John  2  :  1 1  ;  1 1  :  40.  We 
cannot  conceive  of  a  resurrection  but  by*  God's  power,  i  Cor.  6:14; 
2  Cor.  13  :  4;  Eph.  i  :  19,  20.  By  newness  of  life  we  understand 
the  nezv  life,  which  we  lead  after  becoming  new  creatures  and  re- 
ceiving a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit,  as  the  scriptures  speak.  Gal. 
6:15;  Ezek.  18:31. 

Some  are  fond  of  making  this  passage  designate  the  mode  of 
baptism  by  immersion.     But  evidently  it  has  no  bearing  on  that 


276  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  V.  5. 

matter.  Christ's  burial  consisted  in  laying  his  body  in  a  new  tomb, 
hewn  out  of  a  rock,  and  in  rolling  a  great  stone  to  the  door  of 
the  sepulchre,  Matt.  27  :  60 ;  Mark  1 5  :  46 ;  Luke  23  :  53.  His  body 
was  not  covered  up  in  the  ground.  Whatever  is  meant  by  the 
language  here  used  is  in  v.  5  expressed  by  being  planted.  Scott : 
"  Great  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  expression,  '  buried  with  him 
by  baptism  into  death,'  as  proving  that  baptism  ought  to  be  per- 
formed by  immersion,  to  which  the  apostle  is  supposed  to  allude. 
But  we  are  said  also  to  be  '  crucified  with  Christ,'  and  '  circum- 
cised with  him,'  without  any  allusion  to  the  outward  manner  in 
which  crucifixion  and  circumcision  were  performed :  and,  as  bap- 
tism is  far  more  frequently  mentioned,  with  reference  to  the  'pour- 
ing out'  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Notes  Acts  1:4-8;  2:  14-21  ;  Tit. 
3  : 4-7),  and  as  the  apostle  is  evidently  treating  on  the  inward 
meaning,  not  the  outward  form,  of  that  ordinance ;  no  conclusive 
argument  is  deducible  from  the  expression,  shewing  that  immer- 
sion is  necessary  to  baptism,  or  even,  apart  from  other  proof,  that 
baptism  was  generally  thus  administered." 

5.  For  if  we  have  been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death, 
we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his  resurrection.  For  planted, 
Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan,  Calvin,  Parens,  Bp. 
Hall,  Locke,  Hammond,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  and  others  have 
graft,  grafted,  or  ingrafted.  This  would  involve  a  figure  of  which 
Paul  elsewhere  makes  use,  Rom.  11  :  17-24,  though  for  a  different 
purpose.  But  later  writers  altogether  reject  the  idea  of  grafting, 
Stuart  renders  the  verse  thus :  For  if  we  have  become  kindred 
with  him  by  a  death  like  his,  then. we  shall  be  also  by  a  resurrec- 
tion. Doddridge  leads  the  way  in  an  explanation  followed  by 
many :  "  If  we  are  thus  made  to  grow  together  in  the  likeness  of 
his  death."  Robinson  renders  it,  "  If  we  are  grown  together  with 
the  likeness  of  his  death."  Without  dwelling  on  the  mere  word 
used,  it  will  probably  be  agreed  that  the  planting  together,  graft- 
ing together,  or  growing  together  implies  what  Hodge  calls  "  an 
intimate  and  vital  union  with  Christ,  such  as  exists  between  a  vine 
and  its  branches."  But  it  may  be  observed  that  in  nature  this 
vital  union  between  different  trees  can  be  effected  in  no  way  but 
by  some  kind  of  ingrafting  or  inarching.  If  sap  and  nourishment 
are  to  be  derived  such  a  union  must  be  formed.  Owen  of 
Thrussington  :  "  Evidently  the  truth  intended  to  be  conveyed 
is,  that  as  the  Christian's  death  to  sin  bears  likeness  to  Christ's 
death,  so  his  rising  to  a  spiritual  life  is  certain  to  bear  a  similar 
likeness  to  Christ's  resurrection."  Chrysostom  explains  the  latter 
clause  of  the  verse  without  supplying  any  words  as  our  trans- 
lators do,  as  declaring  we  shall  be  of  the  resurrection,  or  "  we 


Ch.  v.,  vs.  6,  7.]  -THE  R  OMA  NS.  277 

shall  belong  to  the  resurrection,"  making  it  of  like  import  with 
that  phrase  in  Luke  20 :  36,  ye  shall  be  "  the  children  of  the 
resurrection."  The  meaning  usually  drawn  from  the  passage  is 
thus  obtained  without  supplying  anything.  But  the  blessed  resur- 
rection of  the  last  day  pre-supposes,  in  ordinary  cases,  a  spiritual 
resurrection,  a  renewal  of  our  moral  nature  followed  by  newness 
of  life. 

6.  Knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  him,  that  the 
body  of  sin  migJit  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve  sin. 
Knowing  agrees  with  we.  Old  man,  we  find  quite  the  same  in  Eph. 
4:  22  ;  Col.  3:9:  "  That  ye  put  off  concerning  the  former  conver- 
sation the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful 
lusts."  "  Lie  not  one  to  another,  seeing  that  ye  have  put  off  the 
old  man  with  his  deeds."  These  passages  taken  together  clearly 
point  to  the  sinful  nature  within  us,  which  we  bring  into  this 
world,  and  which  we  act  out,  until  divine  grace  makes  us  new 
creatures  in  Christ  Jesus.  Crucified ;  some  think  it  refers  to  the 
painful,  lingering  and  ignominious  death  to  which  the  believer 
subjects  his  old  carnal  nature,  and  in  this  respect  the  similitude  is 
indeed  striking.  But  two  other  ideas  were  probably  foremost  in 
the  apostle's  mind.  The  first  is  that  it  was  by  the  cross  of  Christ 
that  the  old  man  was  subdued,  that  from  the  death  of  Christ  for 
sin  it  was  made  manifest  that  sin  must  die,  and  that  by  Christ's 
death  sin  was  slain.  The  other  is  that  to  the  new  man,  or  regen- 
erate nature,  the  old  man  is  an  object  of  aversion  and  abhorrence, 
as  the  crucified  were  to  men  generally.  The  body  of  sin  may  mean 
the  mass  of  corruption  in  us,  substantially  the  same  as  the  old  man. 
This  form  of  expression  is  probably  taken  from  the  fact  that  noth- 
ing was  crucified  but  living  men,  who  of  course  had  bodies.  The 
body  of  sin  is  therefore  but  a  continuance  of  the  figure  introduced 
by  crucifying  the  old  man.  In  Col.  2:11  we  have  the  body  of  the 
sins  of  the  flesh.  Chrj^sostom  :  "  He  does  not  give  that  name  to 
this  body  of  curs,  but  to  all  iniquity."  Oecumenius  :  "  The  body 
of  sin  is  a  circumlocution  for  sin  itself."  This  body  of  sin  must  be 
destroyed,  made  of  none  effect,  brought  to  naught,  done  away,  put 
down,  abolished,  as  the  same  word  is  elsewhere  rendered.  It  is 
destroyed  at  and  by  the  cross  of  Christ.  It  can  be  put  to  death  in 
no  other  way.  But  in  this  way  it  can  be  so  destroyed,  Peshito : 
abolished,  that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve  sin,  or  be  the  slaves  of 
sin,  as  the  verb  means  ;  Doddridge  :  "  That  we  might  no  longer  be 
in  bondage  to  sin."  The  Canaanites  did  indeed  tempt,  annoy  and 
seduce  the  Israelites  after  Joshua  took  possession  of  the  promised 
land,  but  they  were  its  masters  and  rulers  no  longer. 

7.  For  he  that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin.     There  is  considerable 


278  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  v.  7. 

diversity  in  rendering  and  interpreting  this  verse,  and  this  diver- 
sity is  rather  increased  by  the  fact  that  most  of  these  interpreta- 
tions give  a  good  sense.  Peshito :  He  that  is  dead  [to  it]  is  eman- 
cipated from  sin.  The  Arabic,  Vulgate,  Wiclif,  Tyndale,  Cranmer, 
Rheims,  Doway,  Calvin  and  Conybeare  and  Howson  render  it : 
He  that  is  dead  is  justified  from  sin  ;  Coverdale  :  "  He  that  is  dead 
is  righteous  from  sin."  The  word  rendered  freed  is  everywhere 
else  rendered  justified,  except  in  Rev.  22  :  11  where  it  is  righteous. 
Nor  is  there  more  than  one  other  place  where  it  is  claimed  that 
the  word  means  freed  (Acts  13  :  39),  and  there  the  rendering  of 
the  authorized  version  is  justified,  and  the  sense  thus  obtained  is 
good.  The  rendering  of  the  common  version  is  sustained  by 
Chrysostom,  Ferme,  Bp.  Hall,  Rosenmuller,  Macknight,  Scott, 
Stuart  and  others.  As  to  the  meaning  of  being  dead  to  sin,  see 
above  on  v.  2.  The  various  views  taken  of  the  passage  may  be 
thus  classified:  i.  Conybeare  and  Howson  say  the  meaning  is 
"  that  if  a  criminal  charge  is  brought  against  a  man  who  died  be- 
fore the  perpetration  of  the  crime,  he  must  be  acquitted,  since  he 
could  not  have  committe;d  the  act  charged  against  him."  The 
objection  to  this  explanation  is  that  it  is  recondite,  not  obvious, 
and  not  very  pertinent  to  Paul's  argument.  2.  The  second  ex- 
planation is  suggested  by  Ferme,  viz.  that  Christ  who  died  for  sin 
did  by  his  passion  eifect  the  complete  liberation,  both  of  himself 
as  our  surety  and  of  his  believing  people,  from  sin  and  guilt.  This 
is  true,  and  it  is  pertinent  to  the  leading  doctrine  of  the  epistle ; 
but  seems  hardly  to  belong  to  this  portion  of  it.  Yet  Ferme 
regards  the  very  next  verse  as  probably  a  logical  inference 
from  it.  If  it  is  so,  he  is  right.  Some  regard  i  Pet  4  :  i  as  lend- 
ing support  to  this  exposition.  No  doubt  Christ  and  his  people 
are  one  in  law,  so  that  his  death  for  sin  secured  their  death  to  sin, 
and  his  life  in  heaven  secures  their  justification,  sanctification,  adop- 
tion and  glorification.  But  is  this  what  Paul  would  here  teach 
us  ?  3.  Another  explanation  is  that  he,  who  is  dead  to  sin,  is 
freed  from  its  dominion.  Some,  who  thus  expound  the  place,  find 
support,  as  they  think,  from  the  idea  of  servitude  to  sin  spoken  of 
in  V.  6  and  in  subsequent  parts  of  the  epistle.  Locke's  paraphrase 
is  :  "  He  that  is  dead  is  set  free  from  the  vassalage  of  sin,  as  a  slave 
is  from  the  vassalage  of  his  master."  Macknight :  "  Sin  has  no 
title  to  rule  you ;  for  as  the  slave,  who  is  dead,  is  freed  from  his 
master,  he,  who  hath  been  put  to  death  by  sin,  is  freed  from  sin." 
In  illustration  of  this  thought  Diodati  and  Evans  refer  to  that 
beautiful  description  given  by  the  man  of  Uz  of  the  effect  of  death, 
in  which  he  says,  "  the  servant  is  free  from  his  master,"  Job  3 :  19. 
4.  The  other  opinion  is  that  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  this  verse  is 


Ch.  VL,  V.  8.]  THE  ROMANS.  279 

this :  "  He  that  is  dead  to  sin,  and  has  renounced  it,  and  abhors 
it,  is  a  justified  man,  being  absolved  from  the  guilt  of  all  his  sins. 
His  hatred  of  sin  proves  his  justification  before  God."  Doddridge 
says  that  the  sense  indicated  by  the  English  version  is  so  uncom- 
mon, that  he  is  in  much  doubt  whether  it  ought  not  to  be  render- 
ed y7/.f/z)f^^  here.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  term  has  a 
very  decided  forensic  import.  Indeed  it  is  not  certain  that  it  can 
ever  be  taken  in  a  sense  different.  This  view  is  strengthened  if  we 
understand  after  dead,  the  words  with  Christ,  as  seems  very  reason- 
able we  should.  In  v.  3  it  is  said  we  are  baptized  into  his  death; 
in  V.  4  that  we  are  buried  with  hint ;  in  v.  5  that  we  are  planted  in 
the  likeness  of  his  death  ;  in  v.  6  that  we  are  crucified  with  him,  and 
in  V.  8  that  we  are  dead  with  him,  and  shall  live  with  him. 

8.  Now  if  we  be  dead  with  Christ,  we  believe  that  we  shall  also  live 
with  him.  Now  indicates  a  connection,  in  the  way  of  argument, 
between  this  and  the  preceding  verse.  The  first  clause  clearly  ex- 
presses communion  with  Christ  in  his  death  and  sufferings ;  the 
latter,  in  his  endless  and  glorious  life  and  joy.  The  scripture 
often  speaks  of  our  communion  with  Christ  in  his  sufferings  and 
glory :  "  For  as  the  sufferings  of  Christ  abound  in  us,  so  our 
consolation  also  aboundeth  by  Christ :"  "  That  I  may  know  him, 
and  the  power  of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  his  suffer- 
ings, being  made  conformable  unto  his  death  ;  if  by  any  means  I 
might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ;"  ''  Rejoice,  inas- 
much as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings ;  that,  when  his 
glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye  may  be  glad  also  with  exceeding  joy," 
2  Cor.  1:5;  Phil.  3:  10;  I  Pet.  4:  13.  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to 
call  his  sufferings  "  the  afflictions  of  Christ,"  Col.  i  :  24.  In  the 
last  day  Christ  will  say  to  each  of  his  saints  :  "  Enter  thou  into 
the  joy  of  thy  lord,"  Matt.  25  :2i,  not  merely  the  joy  which  he 
has  prepared  and  will  bestow,  but  the  joy  of  which  he  is  a  par- 
taker. The  same  is  taught  by  our  Lord  in  his  intercessory  prayer : 
"  I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in 
one,"  John  17  :  23.  Indeed  the  church  is  a  mystical  body,  of  which 
Christ  is  the  Head,  and  believers  are  the  members.  If  one  mem- 
ber suffers,  all  suffer.  When  Saul  waged  war  on  Christians,  Jesus 
did  not  say.  Why  persecutest  thou  these  good  people  ?  but, 
"  Why  persecutest  thou  me  ?"  Now  as  Christ's  resurrection  and 
glory  inevitably  followed  his  humiliation  and  death,  so  the  be- 
liever's death  to  sin  by  the  cross  of  Christ  shall  certainly  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  life  and  glory  which  will,  in  its  measure,  be  like  the  life 
and  glory  won  by  Christ.  Only  he  possesses  his  by  his  own 
merits.  His  people  hold  entirely  under  him  and  by  his  righteous- 
ness.    The  pledge  of  this  future  glory  is  given  in  three  ways,  one 


280  EPIS  TLE   TO  [Ch.  VI.,  vs.  9,  10. 

of  which  is  mentioned  in  the  context,  viz.,  death  to  sin.  Another 
is  the  sure  promise  of  God  variously  given,  and  the  third  is  the 
new  life  which  is  in  all  believers,  which  they  live  by  the  faith  of 
the  Son  of  God,  and  which  is  in  God's  word  sometimes  called 
eternal  life,  because  it  shall  never  become  extinct,  John  6:  54;  10  : 
28;   17;  3;   I  John  5  :i3. 

9.  Knowing  that  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead  dieth  no  more; 
death  hath  no  more  dominion  over  him.  The  scripture  informs  us 
that  Christ  suffered  and  died,  and  it  as  carefully  informs  us  that  he 
suffered  and  died  but  once,  Rom.  6:10;  Heb.  7  ;  27  :  9 :  25-28  ;  10 : 
2,  11-14;  I  Pet.  3  :  18.  This  point  is  made  so  clear  that  there  is 
no  doubt  left  on  the  mind  of  any  of  God's  people  respecting  it. 
Not  one  believes  that  Christ  died  twice  or  oftener,  or  that  he  ever 
will  die  again.  This  is  for  a  perpetual  joy  to  the  saints  in  many 
w^ays.  A  second  humiliation  and  death  would  argue  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  the  first.  Besides,  how  could  believers  have  any  confi- 
dence in  their  own  salvation  and  the  permanency  of  their  spiritual 
or  heavenly  state,  if  their  Lord  must  leave  his  throne  and  again 
become  a  man  of  sorrows?  It  is  essential  to  the  stability  of 
Christian  hopes,  that  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead  dieth  no 
more  ;  yea,  that  he  can  die  no  more  ;  for  death  hath  no  more  dominion; 
Wiclif :  lordschip  ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan  :  power  over  him. 
It  has  no  commission  against  him,  no  claim  upon  him.  He  has 
satisfied  the  law ;  he  has  made  an  end  of  transgression  ;  he  has 
borne  the  whole  curse  ;  he  has  exhausted  the  penalty.  His  resur- 
rection was  the  public  and  glorious  acknowledgment  before  all 
worlds  that  the  ransom  price  was  all  paid.  Death  once  had  a  just 
claim  on  Christ,  because  he  stood  in  the  place  of  sinners  and  bore 
their  guilt.  But  the  shedding  of  his  blood  fully  satisfied  all  the 
claims  of  the  law,  and  now  there  is  no  cause  for  his  suffering 
more. 

10.  For  in  that  he  died,  he  died  unto  sin  ojice :  but  in  that  he  liveth, 
he  liveth  unto  God.  Once,  in  Heb.  10 :  10  the  same  word  is  rendered  once 
for  all.  There  can  be  but  one  sense  in  which  Christ  literally  died 
to  sin,  and  that  is,  he  died  on  account  of  sin.  See  above  on  v.  2. 
But  if  we  look  on  him  as  the  Head  of  the  mystical  body  and  as 
having  his  people  in  union  with  him,  in  him  they  died  unto  sin, 
for  he  died  "  to  redeem  them  from  all  iniquity  and  purify  unto 
himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works,"  Tit.  2  :  14. 
Christ's  work  and  sufferings  were  unto  all  the  ends  of  a  full  and 
perfect  deliverance  of  all  his  people  from  the  guilt  and  power  of 
sin,  and  from  death  as  the  curse,  the  penal  consequence  of  sin. 
His  release  from  suffering  and  humiliation  is  the  token  that  his 
work  was  all  done,  and  in  that  he  liveth,  he  liveth  unto  God,  that  is 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  i-ii.]  THE  ROMANS.  281 

he  lives  to  the  perpetual  honor,  the  highest  and  everlasting  glory 
of  God,  he  has  an  eternal  life  in  the  most  blessed  enjoyment  of 
God.  And  in  this  his  people  are  and  ever  shall  be,  in  their 
measure,  conformed  to  him.  Because  he  lives,  they  shall  live  also, 
John  14:  19.  Their  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  Col.  3:3.  As 
he  lives  and  shall  ever  live  unto  God,  so  shall  they. 

1 1 .  Likewise  reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin, 
but  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  The  meaning  is. 
Understand  aright  the  true  nature  of  your  relations  to  Christ. 
Look  upon  yourselves  as  having  died  and  been  crucified  with 
Christ,  that  both  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin  might  be  for  ever 
taken  away,  and  that  you  may  always  live  or  be  alive  unto  God. 
You  are  dead  and  buried  with  Christ,  you  are  planted  and  crucified 
with  him,  that  as  he  arose  and  became  the  most  famous  and  the  most 
exalted  of  all  creation,  and  ever  lives  in  glory  and  renown,  so  you 
also  may  arise  in  newness  of  life,  glorifying  God  here,  and  in  due 
season,  in  your  order,  ascend  and  dwell  with  him  in  glory,  par- 
taking of  his  endless  life  and  entering  for  ever  into  his  joy.  The 
life  of  a  Christian  on  earth  ought  to  be,  and  in  some  degree,  is 
like  the  life  of  Christ  in  glory.  It  is  unto  God.  Even  here  the 
life  we  live  is  so  entirely  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  Paul 
is  very  bold  and  says:  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me," 
Gal.  2  :  19;  yea,  he  says  that  Christ  is  formed  in  believers  the  hope 
of  glory.  Gal.  4  :  19;  Col.  i  :  27.  Nor  is  such  an  attainment  in 
holiness  or  happiness  impossible.  Nothing  is  more  confidently  to 
be  looked  for,  because  it  is  all  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  If 
God  gave  us  his  Son,  why  should  we  be  surprised  at  his  giving  us 
all  things  through  him,  or  in  him,  as  some  prefer  to  read  it,  and 
as  the  Greek  allows  us  to  read  it?  Men  do  rightly  construe  the 
doctrine  of  the  union  of  believers  with  Christ  when  they  "  love, 
serve,  and  glorify  God,  in  thought,  word  and  deed,  as  being 
quickened  with  a  new  principle  of  supernatural  life,  which  is 
communicated  from  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who  lives,  as  well  as 
died  for  us." 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  If  we  would  be  able  and  faithful  ministers,  we  must  state  the 
doctrines  of  scripture  clearly,  and  guard  them  well  against  abuse 
and  perversion,  vs.  i-ii.  Then  if  any  wrest  them,  it  will  be  their 
fault  and  not  ours.  It  is  no  sign  of  fidelity  or  of  Christian  intre- 
pidity to  state  any  doctrine  either  harshly  or  unguardedly,  and 
leave  it  exposed  to  all  manner  of  cavil  and  objection.  For  such  a 
course  we  cannot  plead  inspired  example. 


282  •  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  vs.  i-ii. 

2.  Every  doctrine  in  religion,  whether  true  or  false,  has  logical 
consequences,  v.  i.  This  is  delightfully  true  of  great  evangelical 
doctrines.  We  cannot  state  one  of  them,  that  may  not  fairly  be 
followed  by  the  interrogatory.  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  What  is 
the  fair  consequence  of  such  teaching  ?  Truth  is  one,  is  harmo- 
nious. God  is  of  one  mind.  He  never  contradicts  himself  If  we 
teach  any  principle  or  embrace  any  aspect  of  doctrine,  which 
fairly  contradicts  any  settled  principle  of  truth  or  morals,  we  may 
know  it  is  false. 

3.  All  scripture  doctrine  may  be  abused,  has  been  abused, 
even  when  stated  in  the  most  fitting  manner.  Let  not  the  friends 
of  sound  doctrine  think  that  any  strange  thing  has  happened  to 
theni,  because  from  age  to  age  they  find  their  words  wrested,  and 
their  meaning  perverted.  It  has  always  been  so.  Brown  :  "  Men 
of  corrupt  minds,  who  are  filled  with  prejudice  against  any  truth, 
cannot  be  soon  satisfied  with  any  answer  that  is  made  to  any  of 
the  grounds  of  their  stumbling,  and  gained  to  the  truth  ;  but  the 
more  that  is  said  to  satisfy  them,  they  will  have  the  more  still  to 
reply."  Hawker:  "  Dear  P<s:«/.^  hadst  thou  lived  in  the  present 
day  of  the  church,  and  seen,  as  we  see,  thy  sweet  truths  taught 
thee  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  wire-drawn  by  many  of  the  various 
professors ;  divinely  inspired  as  thou  wert  when  writing  this  epis- 
tle, thou  wouldest  hardly  have  esca:ped  the  odium  which  is  thrown 
upon  those  who  subscribe  with  full  consent  of  soul,  and  from  the 
same  teaching,  to  the  doctrine  of  free  grace  !  " 

4.  The  fact  that  the  truth  is  opposed  and  its  friends  maligned 
is  no  reason  why  we  should  waver  in  our  profession  and  preach- 
ing of  the  doctrines  of  God's  word,  vs.  i-i  i.  It  is  rathei*  a  reason 
why  we  should  be  steadfast  and  intrepid  in  making  known  with 
all  meekness  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  T.  Adam :  "  Observe, 
that  the  strength  of  the  objection  consists  altogether  in  the  suppo- 
sition, that  he  really  did  teach  and  establish  salvation  by  grace,  or 
the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ,  through  faith,  in  the  plain, 
simple  meaning  of  the  words,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  all  human 
righteousness,  works,  or  merit,  from  any  share  in  our  justifica- 
tion. For  if  he  had  intended  solely,  or  chiefly,  to  exclude  works 
done  before  faith,  or  works  of  the  ceremonial  law,  and  not  all 
works  whatever,  from  the  office  of  justification,  there  could  have 
been  no  room  for  the  objection  ;  and  now,  if  ever,  was  the  time  for 
him  to  have  had  recourse  to  such  distinctions,  and  strike  at  the 
root  of  this  prejudice,  by  denying  the  ground  of  it."  That  would 
not  have  been  faithfulness  but  faithlessness  to  Christ  and  his 
truth.  Guyse :  "  The  objection  that  carnal  minds  are  naturally 
apt   to   make  against  justification   by  God's  grace  through  the 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  i-ii.]  THE  ROMANS.  ■  283 

righteousness  of  Christ,  is  not  to  be  answered  by  allowing  that 
our  own  righteousness  is  to  be  joined  in  part  with  his  to  justify  us, 
for,  on  that  supposition,  there  would  be  no  room  for  the  objection  : 
but  it  is  to  be  answered  by  shewing,  as  the  apostle  doth,  the  in- 
dispensable necessity  of  personal  holiness,  on  other  accounts,  in 
them  that  are  justified,  and  the  inseparable  connection  that  is 
fixed,  by  the  ordination  of  God  in  the  gospel,  between  these 
things,  without  blending  them  together,  or  confounding  one  with 
the  other."  If  sanctification  were  our  sole  object,  we  cannot  at- 
tain to  it  but  by  cordiaHy  receiving  the  truth  respecting  justifica- 
tion. The  world  contains  no  record  of  any  sinner  being  per- 
suaded to  righteousness  and  piety  but  by  the  hearty  embracing 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Lord  our  righteousness.  All  scripture,  the 
gospel  in  particular,  says ;  "  This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your 
sanctification,"  i  Thess.  4  :  3.  Brown  :  "  Such  as  imagine  that 
justification  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of  another  is  a  doc- 
trine tending  to  open  a  door  for  licentiousness,  do  grossly  bewray 
their  ignorance  of  the  state  and  condition  of  such  as  are  justified 
by  faith,  and  know  not  how  they  have  changed  masters,  when 
once  they  have  fled  in  to  Christ,  and  have  now  a  new  nature,  and 
a  new  principle  of  life  in  them."  There  is  nothing  more  absurd 
than  for  one,  who  loves  iniquity,  to  claim  to  be  pardoned  and  ac- 
cepted through  Christ. 

5.  Of  all  the  forms  of  error  none  is  more  loathsome  to  a  pure 
mind  than  Antinomianism.  To  a  renewed  heart  it  is  most  sicken- 
ing to  see  the  friend  of  the  world  and  the  slave  of  sin  going  up  to 
the  cross  of  Christ,  and  saying.  There  in  the  death  of  my  Lord,  is 
my  full  license  for  drinking  in  iniquity.  Hodge  :  "  Antinomi- 
anism is  not  only  an  error  ;  but  it  is  a  falsehood  and  a  slander.  It 
pronounces  valid  the  very  objection  against  the  gospel  which  Paul 
pronounces  a  contradiction  and  absurdity,  and  which  he  evidently 
regards  as  a  fatal  objection,  were  it  well  founded,  vs.  2-4."  The 
man,  who  so  sins  as  to  bring  on  him  the  curse  of  the  law,  is  in  a 
sad  state  indeed ;  but  he,  who  so  perverts  the  gospel  as  to  make 
its  best  promises  and  richest  provisions  the  means  of  sinking  him 
lower  in  corruption,  has  a  marked  foulness  and  a  deep  damnation 
as  his  portion. 

6.  All  objections  to  truth  are  capable  of  a  fair  answer,  and 
should  be  fairly  answered.  We  are  not  bound  to  give  heed  to 
mere  cavils  or  frivolous  objections.  Mvich  less  may  we  waste  time 
in  foolish  wranglings,  or  in  a  war  of  words.  But  when  men  show 
difficulties  resulting  from  our  scriptural  teachings,  we  should  with 
meekness,  candor  and  ability  show  that  they  are  of  no  force,  or 
that  they  are  fully  met  by  a  statement  of  the  whole  truth  involved. 


284  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  vs.  i-ii. 

This  is  not  surrendering  the  truth.  It  is  following  the  example 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles  in  establishing  the  faith.  Calvin : 
"  Since  every  thing  that  is  announced  concerning  Christ  seems 
very  paradoxical  to  human  judgment,  it  ought  not  to  be  deemed  a 
new  thing,  that  the  flesh,  hearing  of  justification  by  faith,  should 
so  often  strike,  as  it  were,  against  so  many  stumbling  stones.  Let 
us,  however,  go  on  in  our  course  ;  nor  let  Christ  be  suppressed.  .  . 
We  ought  at  the  same  time,  ever  to  obviate  unreasonable  ques- 
tions, lest  the  Christian  faith  should  appear  to  contain  any  thing 
absurd."  • 

7.  While  we  make  the  freest  possible  proclamation  of  the  gos- 
pel, let  us  never  forget  or  fail  to  state  that  pardon  and  renewal, 
acceptance  and  holiness  alike  flow  from  the  grace  of  God,  and 
though  always  distinguishable,  are  yet  never  separable,  vs.  i-ii. 
Sanctification  and  justification  always  go  together.  The  necessity 
of  both  is  clearly  taught  in  scripture.  Calvin  :  "  It  would  be  a 
most  strange  inversion  of  the  work  of  God  were  sin  to  gather 
strength  on  account  of  the  grace  which  is  offered  to  us  in  Christ ; 
for  medicine  is  not  a  feeder  of  the  disease  which  it  destroys."  So 
surely  as  we  are  accepted  for  the  sake  of  the  blood  and  righteous- 
ness of  the  Redeemer,  so  surely  are  we  made  partakers  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  author  of  the  restored  image  of  God  on  the  heart 
of  man.  Paul  does  indeed  preach  the  death  of  legal  hope,  but  he 
no  less  clearly  proclaims  the  death  of  the  body  of  sin.  Justifica- 
tion of  the  sinner  by  grace  is  with  him  a  welcome  theme  ;  but  the 
condemnation  of  the  sin,  which  made  such  gratuity  necessary,  is 
no  less  welcome.  He  never  takes  part  with  the  sinner  against 
God  or  his  law.  But  he  never  takes  sides  with  the  Pharisee  in  favor 
of  salvation  by  our  own  deservings.     In  all  this  he  is  consistent. 

8.  Wickedness  in  any  is  vile,  in  one  acquainted  with  the  gospel 
is  very  ungrateful,  but  in  one  professing  subjection  to  Christ  is 
monstrous,  v.  2.  If  it  were  possible  for  any  to  receive  Christ's 
righteousness  and  yet  really  to  cherish  sin,  the  long  mooted  ques- 
tion. Whether  there  are  any  moral  monsters  ?  would  be  answered. 
Calvin  :  "  Throughout  this  chapter  the  apostle  proves,  that  they 
who  imagine  that  gratuitous  righteousness  is  given  us  by  him, 
apart  from  newness  of  life,  shamefully  rend  Christ  asunder." 
Chrysostom  :  "  When  the  fornicator  becomes  chaste,  the  covetous 
man  merciful,  the  harsh  mild,  a  resurrection  takes  place  ;  an 
earnest  of  the  resurrection  of  life."  Diodati:  "  Christ  is  dead  not 
only  to  expiate  the  guilt  of  sin,  but  also  to  take  away  all  its  strength 
and  power  over  us  ;  and  to  gain  us  wholly  to  God,  and  frame  and 
consecrate  us  to  his  service."  A  hearty  embracing  of  the  gospel 
is  of  necessity  fatal  to  corruption. 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  2-4.]  THE  ROMANS.  285 

9.  It  is  cruel  to  teach  men  that  they  can  find  the  way  of  life 
and  savingly  embrace  it  without  the  aid  and  teaching  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  road  to  heaven  is  like  the  way  that  Jonathan  and  his 
armor-bearer  went ;  there  is  a  sharp  rock  on  one  side  and  a  sharp 
rock  on  the  other  side.  If  unaided  nature  comes  to  the  cross,  it 
stumbles  at  every  thing.  Were  it  possible  to  impart  to  the 
unenlightened  soul  a  confidence  of  full  acceptance,  it  would  sin  the 
more.  Call  on  the  carnal  to  be  holy,  and,  if  they  make  any  serious 
effort  at  purity,  they  at  once  present  their  good  deeds  as  some 
ground  of  acceptance  before  God.  Thus  "  self-righteous  pride 
and  antinomian  licentiousness  are  two  fatal  rocks,  on  which 
immense  multitudes  are  continually  wrecked,  and  between  which 
none  but  the  Holy  Spirit  can  pilot  us."  Compare  i  Cor.  2:14. 
The  true  gospel  plan  is  understood  aright  by  none  but  those,  to 
whom  it  is  revealed. 

10.  Yet  the  love  of  Christ  in  bestowing  his  grace  and  right- 
eousness is  a  powerful  constraining  motive  to  hearty  and  entire 
obedience  to  the  known  will  of  God.  No  man  ever  works  right- 
eousness with  all  his  heart,  until  with  all  his  heart  he  accepts  the 
righteousness  wrought  out  by  the  Son  of  God.  Hodge  :  "■  Instead 
of  holiness  being  in  order  to  pardon,  pardon  is  in  order  to  holiness. 
This  is  the  mystery  of  evangelical  morals,  v.  4."  This  has  been 
evinced  by  a  thousand  practical  demonstrations.  Chalmers  proved 
it  in  his  early  ministry,  as  he  informs  us.  Brainerd  proved  it 
among  the  savages,  to  whom  his  ministry  was  blessed  as  he  tells  us 
at  length.  When  the  love  of  Christ  enters  the  soul,  we  see  marvel- 
lously illustrated  "  the  expulsive  power  of  a  new  affection." 

11.  Baptism  is  a  most  solemn  and  significant  rite,  as  much  so 
as  circumcision  that  preceded  it,  as  much  so  as  the  Lord's  Supper 
that  accompanies  it,  vs.  3,  4.  We  have  no  prescribed  worship 
more  binding  in  its  nature  than  baptism,  and  none  that  teaches 
more  important  lessons.  It  is  both  a  sign  and  a  seal  of  our  union 
with  Christ.  To  those,  who  rightly  receive  it,  it  confirms  all  the 
blessings  of  Christ's  mediatorial  work.  It  seals  to  them  all  the 
blessings  promised  in  the  covenant  of  grace.  Some,  indeed,  who 
boast  of  their  baptism,  live  as  if  '  the  use  and  purpose  of  baptism 
had  been  altered,  so  as  to  allow  a  covenant  with  sin,  and  an  agree- 
ment with  hell.'  But  their  perversion  of  this  sacred  rite  can  take 
nothing  from  its  excellence  to  those,  who  receive  it  aright.  True, 
it  has  been  sadly  perverted.  Some  have  maintained  and  some 
still  maintain  that  it  is  by  opus  operatnm  and  by  the  inherent 
efficacy  of  the  rite  itself,  that  we  are  profited.  Others  contend 
that  its  efficacy  is  confined  to  the  time  of  administration,  and  that 
sins  after  baptism    are    irremissible.     But  let  us  not  despise  the 


286  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VI,  vs.  3-8. 

ordinance  because  it  has  been  abused.  Baptism  does  certainly 
teach  our  death  to  sin,  our  separation  from  it,  our  mortification  to 
it,  and  all  by  our  blessed  union  with  Christ.  Voluntarily  to  live 
in  sin  after  baptism  is  to  follow  the  sow  that  was  washed  to  her 
wallowing  in  the  mire.  If,  after  we  have  by  baptism  given  in  our 
adhesion  to  Christ,  we  turn  away  from  the  holy  commandment, 
we  do  declare,  as  Simon  Magus  did,  that  we  have  no  part  nor  lot 
in  this  matter,  but  are  in  the  bond  of  iniquity  and  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness.  How  can  he  who  is  baptized  into  the  death  of  Christ, 
and  claims  the  benefits  of  that  death,  by  allowed  sin  renounce  all 
good  and  give  sentence  against  his  own  soul?  How  can  he  thus 
act,  unless  by  unbelief  his  baptism  was  a  mockery  of  sacred 
things  ? 

12.  It  is  and  shall  be  for  a  lamentation  that  so  many  wrong 
notions  have  been  attached  to  baptism  and  that  great  stress  has 
been  laid  on  things  of  no  importance  whatever  in  regard  to  this 
ordinance.  Some  contend  that  the  whole  body  must  be  immersed 
at  once,  else  there  is  no  baptism.  Others  have  practiced  trine 
immersion,  and  contended  that  is  was  obligatory.  Others  insist 
on  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  at  the  time  to  make  the  rite  com- 
plete. But  all  these  and  many  other  things  are  mere  human 
inventions.     The  less  stress  we  lay  upon  them,  the  better. 

13.  God's  people  are  conformable  to  Christ,  vs.  3-8.  All  the 
terms  and  images  used  to  express  their  relations  to  Christ  either 
imply  or  declare  it.  Is  the  church  a  glorious  temple  unto  the 
Lord  ?  Christ  is  the  chief  corner  stone,  and  believers  are  lively 
stones  built  up  a  spiritual  house.  Is  Christ  a  husband  ?  His 
church  is  his  spouse,  and  is  subject  to  him  as  her  Beloved.  Is  he 
a  vine  ?  Believers  are  the  branches.  Is  he  a  Shepherd  ?  Saints 
are  his  flock,  and  feeble  saints  his  lambs,  carried  in  his  bosom.  Did 
Christ  die  ?  They  are  baptized  into  his  death.  Was  he  crucified  ? 
They  are  crucified  with  him.  Is  he  risen  from  the  dead?  They 
are  already  risen  from  their  death  in  sin,  and  shall,  in  their  order, 
rise  from  their  graves,  and  ascend  up  where  the  Son  of  man  is,  and 
sit  down  with  him  in  his  throne.  True,  any  of  these  figures  of 
speech,  or  methods  of  conveying  precious  truth,  may  be  over- 
strained, and  so  perverted.  Men  may  try  to  find  resemblances 
where  there  are  none.  Calvin  notices  one  of  the  many  of  these 
overstrained  figures :  "  Between  the  grafting  of  trees,  and  this 
which  is  spiritual,  a  disparity  soon  meets  us.  In  the  former  the 
graft  draws  its  aliment  from  the  root,  but  retains  its  own  nature  in 
the  fruit ;  but  in  the  latter  not  only  do  we  derive  the  vigor  and 
nourishment  of  life  from  Christ,  but  we  also  pass  from  our  own  to 
his  nature."     This  illustration  is  itself  sufficient  to  show  us  the 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  5, 6.]  THE  ROMANS.  287 

folly  of  carrying  any  metaphorical  language  beyond  the  bounds  of 
sobriety — beyond  the  simple  point  or  points  intended  to  be  there- 
by illustrated. 

14.  All  true  piety  begins  with  right  views  of  the  person,  work 
and  death  of  Christ,  v.  5. 

15.  As  the  death  of  believers  to  sin  is  not  a  sinking  down  into 
abiding  inertness  and  sloth,  but  is  early  followed  by  a  resurrection 
from  death  in  sin  to  a  hfe  of  holiness ;  so  the  temporal  death  of 
believers  is  not  an  eternal  sleep  but  shall,  at  the  right  time,  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  blessed  resurrection  of  the  body,  it  being  made  like 
unto  the  glorious  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  v.  5.  Seeing 
that  these  things  are  so,  '  let  us  set  ourselves  as  in  the  presence  of 
the  God  of  our  renewed  lives,  and  account  that  time  lost  in  which 
we  are  not  acting  for  him,'  living  unto  him,  drawing  our  motives 
from  him,  and  hasting  to  his  coming.  Brown  :  "  This  life,  which 
believers  in  Christ  have  gotten  through  quickening  influence  from 
him,  is  not  an  idle,  fruitless  life,  without  fruits  of  holiness,  but  an 
active  stirring  principle,  setting  folk  on  work  constantly,  and  in 
this'  life  'believers  can  never  win  to  perfection,  but  are  still  advanc- 
ing and  growing  in  grace." 

16.  If  the  gospel  fails  to  destroy  the  body  of  sin  it  fails  wholly 
of  accomplishing  its  great  work,  vs.  5,  6.  Luther:  "  The  old  man 
is  not  to  be  gradually  sanctified,  but  must  die  as  a  sinner.  .  .  We 
must  scourge  the  old  man,  and  strike  him  on  the  face,  pain  him 
with  thorns,  and  pierce  him  through  with  nails,  until  he  bow  his 
head  and  give  up  the  ghost."  Tholuck :  "  Crucifixion  first  pain- 
fully robs  a  man  of  all  power  of  action.  He  still  lives,  but  lives 
under  constraint  and  torture.  By  slow  degrees  does  he  sink  away, 
until  the  breaking  of  his  limbs  puts  an  end  to  him  at  last.  In  like 
manner  might  it  be  said,  is  the  love  of  sin  pierced  through  by  the 
impressions  which  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  upon  the  heart.  It  can 
no  more  do  what  it  would,  but  still  it  does  not  expire.  As  the 
opposite  thirst  for  holiness,  however,  which  flows  from  and  keeps 
pace  with  the  believer's  growing  passion  for  his  soul's  invisible 
friend,  augments  in  fervor,  the  love  of  sin  feels  itself  miserable  and 
tormented,  and  declines  apace  until  death  inflicts  upon  it  the 
finishing  stroke,  and  conducts  the  Christian,  purified  by  the 
contest,  into  the  peaceful  bosom  of  his  Saviour."  Glory  be  to 
God. 

17.  We  must  not  so  construe,  as  some  have  done,  the  phrases 
old  man  and  body  of  sin,  as  to  teach  that  our  animal  nature  is  the 
cause  of  our  sinfulness,  or  that  sin  is  a  substance,  so  that  if  we  were 
disembodied,  we  should  be  sinless,  or  that  our  corruption  controls 
us  in  some  way  rather  than  as  moral  agents,  justly  accountable  to 


288  EPISTLE    TO  [Cb.  VL,  vs.  6-11. 

God  for  all  our  sinful  emotions,  thoughts,  words  and  deeds,  vs.  6, 
7.  It  is  a  spiritual  disease  that  infects  our  nature.  It  is  a  spiritual 
death  to  sin  that  we  must  undergo,  in  order  to  salvation.  It  is 
not  our  bodies,  nor  our  mental  constitutions,  but  our  fall  in  Adam, 
the  want  of  rectitude  in  our  moral  nature  and  the  consequent  cor- 
ruption, which  have  made  us  what  v/e  are.  Here  is  the  source  of 
all  those  evils,  which  sink  and  debase  us,  and  make  it  necessary 
that  we  should  die,  yea,  that  we  should  be  crucified  with 
Christ. 

18.  If  death  unto  sin  proves  men  to  be  justified,  the  perfection 
of  holiness  finally  secured  by  that  death  will  be  a  great  element  in 
their  glorification,  vs.  8,  9.  As  Christ  dieth  no  more,  his  people 
cannot  perish.  Himself  thus  reasons  and  teaches  us  to  reason, 
John  14  :  19.  Glorious  truth  !  Let  us  hold  it  fast  for  ever.  What 
will  not  be  the  joy  of  the  redeemed  when  they  awake  in  the  like- 
ness of  God,  without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing. 

19.  Even  in  this  world  sin  has  lost  its  dominion  over  the  justi- 
fied, vs.  6-8.  It  has  not  power  to  condemn  them.  It  has  not 
power  to  control  them.  They  are  not  the  servants  of  sin.  They 
are  tempted,  they  are  sometimes  ensnared,  they  sometimes  lose  a 
battle,  but  in  the  war  they  always  come  off"  conquerors. 

20.  Let  not  the  godly  complain  that  they  are  not  made  at  once 
partakers  of  all  the  benefits  of  Christ's  redemption.  If  now  they 
are  justified  and  regenerated,  in  due  time  they  shall  be  perfected 
and  glorified.  If  they  are  dead  with  Christ,  they  shall  live  with 
him,  V.  8.  Christ  is  never  to  any  one  a  Prophet  that  he  is  not  to 
him  also  a  Priest  and  a  King.  He  never  begins  a  good  work  that 
he  does  not  carry  on  to  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  no  sense  is 
Christ  divided.  To  each  believer  he  is  as  complete  and  glorious 
a  Saviour  as  if  he  had  but  one  soul  to  save. 

21.  The  prospects  of  the  Christian  are  very  bright,  vs.  8-1 1.  A 
noble  life  has  he  here  in  and  by  Christ.  That  noble  life  shall  itself 
be  ennobled  in  the  perfection  and  glory  of  heaven. 

22.  Saints  on  earth  should  learn  to  put  a  more  just  estimate 
upon  their  state  and  prospects.  They  greatly  need  more  faith,  and 
hope,  and  courage,  not  fewer  trials,  crosses  and  difficulties. 

23.  All  that  the  righteous  possess,  or  enjoy,  or  have  in  rever- 
sion, or  hope  for  is  in,  by  and  through  Jesus  Christ.  Oh  that  all 
Christ's  friends  made  more  of  him  in  their  plans,  their  prayers, 
their  conflicts  with  the  adversary.  Clarke  :  "  Die  as  truly  unto  sin, 
as  Jesus  Christ  died  for  sin.  Live  as  truly  unto  God  as  he  lives 
with  God."  Let  us  fervently  pray  that  such  may  be  our  aim  and 
endeavor.  Hawker :  "  Do  thou,  dearest  Lord,  cause  me  to  have 
my  redemption  by  thee  always  in  remembrance.     May  my  soul  be 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  8-1 1.]         THE  ROMANS.  289 

more  and  more  humbled  to  the  dust  before  thee  that  my  God  and 
Saviour  may  be  more  and  more  exalted.  Through  life,  in  death, 
and  for  ever  more,  be  it  my  joy  to  acknowledge  that  there  can  be 
no  wages  mine,  but  the  wages  of  sin,  which  is  death ;  and  all  the 
Lord  bestows,  even  eternal  life,  with  all  its  preliminaries,  can  only 
be  the  free,  the  sovereign,  the  unmerited  gift  of  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 


»9 


CHAPTER  VL 

VERSES    12-23. 

AN  EXHORTATION  TO  HOLINESS.  THE  TRUE  DOC- 
TRINE OF  GRACE  LEADS  TO  SANCTIFICATION. 
ALL  ENDS  WELL. 


1 2  Let  not  sin  therefore  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  that  ye  should  obey  it  in  the 
lusts  thereof. 

13  Neither  yield  ye  your  members  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness  unto  sin: 
but  yield  yourselves  unto  God,  as  those  that  are  alive  from  the  dead,  and  your 
members  as  instruments  of  righteousness  unto  God. 

14  For  sin  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you  :  for  ye  are  not  under  the  law,  but 
under  grace. 

1 5  What  then  ?  shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace  ? 
God  forbid. 

16  Know  ye  not,  that  to  whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey,  his  servants 
ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey ;  whether  of  sin  unto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto  right- 
eousness ? 

17  But  God  be  thanked,  that  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  but  ye  have  obeyed 
from  the  heart  that  form  of  doctrine  which  was  delivered  you. 

18  Being  then  made  free  from  sin,  ye  became  the  servants  of  righteousness. 

19  1  speak  after  the  manner  of  men  because  of  the  infirmity  of  your  flesh  :  for 
as  ye  have  yielded  your  members  servants  to  uncleanness  and  to  iniquity  unto  ini- 
quity ;  even  so  now  yield  your  members  servants  to  righteousness  unto  holiness, 

20  For  when  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  ye  were  free  from  righteousness. 

21  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  ye  are  now  ashamed  ?  for  the 
end  of  those  things  is  death. 

22  But  now  being  made  free  from  sin,  and  become  servants  to  God,  ye  have  your 
fruit  unto  holiness,  and  the  end  everlasting  life. 

23  For  the  wages  of  sin  is  death;  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

-|  ^  LET  not  sin  therefore  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  that  ye  should 
_1_^,  obey  it  in  the  lusts  thereof.  There  is  not  an  agreement 
respecting  the  latter  part  of  the  text.  Griesbach  has  nothing  after 
obey ;  the  Hexapla,  nothing  after  obey  it ;  Flatt  and  Goschen  omit 
//,  and  read  obey  the  lusts  thereof  Knapp  and  many  others 
(290) 


Ch.  VI.,  V.  13-]  THE  ROMANS.  291 

admit  the  whole  as  we  have  it  in  the  common  Greek  text  and 
in  the  authorized  version,  in  the  old  English  versions,  Peshito, 
Arabic  and  Vulgate.  Several  of  these,  however,  drop  it  out  of 
the  verse.  The  apostle  is  still  using  bold  figures  of  speech.  In 
this  verse  sin  is  presented  as  a  tyrant,  lording  it  over  men,  reign- 
ing, wielding  a  sceptre  of  dominion,  subjecting  them  to  his  vile 
wishes.  Mortal  body,  variously  understood.  Locke  :  "  Permit 
not,  therefore,  sin  to  reign  over  you  by  your  mortal  bodies,  which 
you  will  do  if  you  obey  your  carnal  lusts."  In  a  note  he  defends 
this  paraphrase,  contending  that  the  apostle  '  places  the  root  of 
sin  in  the  body.'  But  we  have  seen  this  is  not  so.  By  your  mor- 
tal body  Rosenmuller  and  others  understand  yourselves.  Diodati 
paraphrases  it,  "  Whilst  you  live  this  corporeal  life,  which  being 
also  subject  to  death,  it  appears  thereby  that  there  are  still  some 
relics  of  sin  against  which  we  must  fight,  to  mortify  and  suppress 
them."  Olshausen  thinks  the  words  here  used  signify  that  sin 
"  commonly  makes  itself  known  in  the  body  by  the  excited  sensu- 
ality." Chalmers  thinks  it  "  denotes  all  that  may  be  designated 
by  the  single  word  carnality!'  Others  think  it  means  the  physi- 
cal body  which  is  mortal.  So  Chrysostom,  Doddridge,  Mac- 
knight,  Tholuck,  Stuart,  Conybeare  and  Howson.  Bengel :  "The 
lusts  of  the  body  are  the  fuel ;  sin  is  the  fire."  Some  have  referred 
the  mortal  body  to  the  body  of  sin  in  v.  6.  Several  of  these  views 
give  a  good  sense.  By  the  body  in  Rom.  i  :  24 ;  12  :  i  we  may 
understand  the  whole  person  ;  and  why  not  here  ?  It  is  said  to  be 
mortal,  for  we  are  dying  creatures,  and  the  sentence  of  death  is 
upon  us.  The  apostle  designed  to  exhort  us  not  to  let  sin  reign  in 
our  persons,  mind,  will,  affections,  or  corporeal  nature.  Calvin  : 
"  The  word  body  is  not  to  be  taken  for  flesh,  and  skin,  and  bones, 
but,  so  to  speak,  for  the  whole  of  what  man  is."  Speaking  of  our 
mortality  was  not  intended  to  give  us  gloomy  thoughts,  but  to 
remind  us  that  the  conflict  would  be  short.  //  refers  to  sin,  and 
thereof  to  the  body.  Obey,  it  occurs  again  in  vs.  16,  17.  It  is 
always  rendered  as  here  except  once,  where  it  is  hearken.  Acts  12 : 
13.  The  sense  is  obvious.  To  obey  sin  in  the  lusts  of  the  body  is 
to  suffer  sin  to  sway  us  in  our  whole  nature. 

13.  Neither  yield  ye  your  members  as  instruments  of  unrighteous- 
ness unto  sin :  but  yield  yourselves  unto  God,  as  those  that  are  alive 
from  the  dead,  and  your  members  as  instriim.ents  of  righteousness  unto 
God.  Members,  the  same  word  tAvice  in  this  verse  and  twice  in  v. 
19.  As  the  body  is  composed  of  members,  so  the  whole  person 
consists  of  various  powers  or  faculties,  some  mental  and  some  cor- 
poreal, any  and  all  of  which  may  become  aids  to  vice  or  virtue,  to 
sin   or   holiness    according  as  they  are  directed.     To  yield  our 


292  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch  VI.,  v.  14. 

powers  to  sin  is  to  decline  the  great  spiritual  warfare,  is  to  let  sin 
reign  in  us.  To  yield  ourselves  to  God  is  to  subject  our  whole 
nature  to  God,  so  that  our  powers  and  faculties  of  every  kind 
shall  be  used  for  his  honor.  It  seems  impossible  by  body  and  mem- 
bers to  understand  less  than  our  whole  nature.  Indeed  in  this 
verse  the  apostle  has  yourselves  and  in  the  next  verse  you  as  expres- 
sive of  the  same  idea.  If  this  is  so,  this  verse  is  a  repetition  in 
other  words  of  the  exhortation  of  v.  12 — this  being  more  minute 
and  particular  than  that.  Yield,  in  Rom.  12  :  i  and  elsewhere /r^*- 
sent ;  it  occurs  again  twice  in  v.  19.  Stuart  renders  it  proffer; 
several  old  versions,  give,  or  give  up. 

14.  For  sin  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you  :  for  ye  are  not  under 
the  lazu,  but  under  grace.  Instead  of  for  at  the  beginning  of  the 
verse  Peshito  has  and ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan,  let  not,  &c. 
But  the  authorized  version  follows  the  original.  For  points  to  a 
reason.  That  reason  is  found  in  the  foregoing  argument.  It  is 
/this :  God  has  made  provision  for  the  death  of  sin — for  destro)'^- 
ing  its  power  over  his  people ;  so  that  they  are  inexcusable  for 
living  in  its  service.  By  the  whole  work  of  Christ  they  are  de- 
livered from  its  condemning  power  and  from  its  sovereign  sway, 
and  therefore  it  is  reasonable  that  they  should  yield  themselves, 
soul  and  body,  unto  God,  to  work  righteousness.  For  ye  are  not 
under  the  law.  In  the  Greek  is  no  article  :  ye  are  not  under  law. 
God  is  not  exacting  of  you  in  your  own  persons  an  impossible 
satisfaction  to  law,  which  you  have  broken,  nor  has  he  placed  you 
under  a  covenant,  where  you  must  work  out  your  own  righteous- 
ness, and  in  your  own  strength  perfect  holiness.     Christ  has  re- 

!  deemed  them  that  were  under  the  law.  Gal.  4:  5.  The  strength 
of  sin  is  the  law,  but  sin  has  no  power  over  any  except  those  under 
law.  It  is  a  shallow  attempt  to  fritter  away  the  meaning  of  scrip- 
ture to  say  that  by  law  here  Paul  means  only  the  ceremonial  law. 
Stuart  well  says  that  such  an  explanation  would  "  give  the  pas- 
sage  a  sense  frigid  and   inept."      Hodge  :    "  Freedom  from  the 

j  Mosaic  institutions  is  no  security  that  sin  shall  not  have  dominion 

I  over  us."  Being  thus  free  from  the  curse  of  broken  law,  from  law 
as  a  covenant  of  works,  from  law  to  which  without  help  from  God 

\jou  must  be  morally  conformed  or  perish,  the  dominant  power, 
Wiclif  the  lordship  of  sin  is  broken,  can  be,  and  ought  to  be  cast 
off.  Ye  are  under  grace,  under  a  plan  of  unmerited  favor,  where  the 
condemnation  of  sin  is  removed,  where  a  glorious  righteousness 
is  provided  and  freely  bestowed,  where  the  feeble  are  by  God's 
Spirit  made  strong,  and  the  timid  courageous,  and  the  vile  cleansed 
and  sanctified.  On  grace  see  above  on  Rom.  1:5;  3 :  24.  Such 
being  the  system,  under  which  believers  are  placed,  their  spirit 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  15,  16.]         THE  ROMANS.  293 

corresponds  thereto.  They  are  not  slaves  but  children.  They 
feel  that  they  are  under  grace.  They  are  under  restraint,  but  it 
is  the  restraint  of  filial  fear.  They  are  under  constraint,  but  it  is 
the  love  of  Christ  that  constrains  them. 

15.  What  then?  shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not  under  the  law, 
but  under  grace  ?  God  forbid.  This  is  the  third  time  that  Paul  has 
virtually  presented  this  objection,  first  in  Rom.  3:19;  then  in 
Rom.  6:1;  and  now  again.  He  blinked  no  fair  or  important  point 
in  his  argument.  He  had  established  in  the  early  part  of  the  } 
epistle  that  justification  by  law,  by  any  law,  was  impossible,  that 
God's  plan  of  justifying  sinners  was  by  righteousness  wrought 
out  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  gratuitously  bestowed,  the  sinner  simply 
receiving  it  by  faith.  He  now  proves  at  length,  his  argument  be 
ginning  in  this  chapter  and  running  into  the  VI H.,  that  our  sancti 
fication  is  effected,  not  by  the  precepts  and  penalties  of  the  law, 
restraining  and  terrifying  us,  but  by  the  same  blessed  scheme  of 
gratuitous  salvation  —  a  Scheme  that  brings  in  all-conquering 
love  and  infinite  kindness  as  motives  and  methods  of  recovery. 
Stuart :  "  The  legalist  would  ask,  '  Is  not  the  law  holy  ?  Does  it 
not  forbid  all  sins  ?  And  does  not  grace  forgive  sin  ?  How 
then  can  grace  restrain  sin?'  That  is.  Why  may  we  not  sin,  if  we 
are  under  grace  merely,  and  not  under  law  ? "  In  his  usual 
indignant  style  expressive  of  his  abhorrence  he  says,  Let  it  neve 
be.  On  God  forbid  see  above  on  Rom.  3:4.  '  Freedom  from 
the  law  is  not  freedom  from  moral  obligation.'  Who  ever  so 
charges  slanders  the  gospel  and  petVerts  the  grace  of  God. 

1 6.  Know  ye  not,  that  to  whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey, 
his  servants  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey  ;  ivhether  of  sin  unto  death,  or  of 
obedience  unto  righteousness.  In  his  sermon  on  the  mount  our 
Lord  gave  us  the  principle,  which  settles  this  matter :  "  No  man 
can  serve  two  masters  :  for  either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the 
other;  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other," 
Matt.  6 :  24.  It  is  both  a  natural  and  a  moral  impossibility  for 
one  man  to  serve  two  masters.  Sin  and  holiness,  obedience  and 
disobedience,  righteousness  and  unrighteousness  are  utterly  op- 
posita  A  state  of  grace  and  a  state  of  nature  are  wholly  irre- 
concileable.  A  man  cannot  go  North  and  South  at  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  sense.  Scott :  ''  The  apostle  demanded 
whether  it  might  not  be  proved  what  master  any  one  served, 
by  observing  the  constant  tenor  of  any  one's  conduct.  A  per- 
son may  do  an  occasional  service  for  one,  to  whom  he  is  not 
servant :  but  no  doubt  he  is  the  servant  of  that  man,  to  whom 
he  habitually  yields  and  addicts  himself,  and  in  whose  work  he 
spends  his  time  and   strength,  and  skill,  and  abilities,  day  after 


294  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI,  v.  17. 

day,  and  year  after  year."  The  principle  is  of  easy  application 
to  any  case.  If  one  obeys  sin,  allowedly  and  habitually  yielding 
his  faculties  or  any  of  them  to  wickedness,  he  is  not  the  servant 
of  obedience  or  of  righteousness.  The  forms  of  speech,  sin  unto 
death  and  obedience  unto  righteotiS7tcss,  are  not  only  intensive,  but 
show  the  results  reached  in  each  case  by  the  natural  tendency 
of  both  good  and  evil  to  growth.  The  apostle  often  employs 
this  or  like  manner  of  speech.  See  Rom.  i  :  17;  2  :  5-10;  6:  19. 
Paul  is  still  using  highly  figurative  but  very  appropriate  language 
to  express  his  conceptions. 

1 7.  But  God  be  thanked,  that  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  but  ye 
have  obeyed  from  the  heart  that  form  of  doctrine  which  was  delivered 
you.  No  pious  reader  of  the  scripture  supposes  that  the  apostle 
intends  to  express  gratitude  that  his  Roman  brethren  had  at  any 
time  lived  in  sin.  His  thanks  to  God  are  that  their  vile  servitude 
to  sin  was  past,  and  that  now  there  was  a  great  change.  Owen  of 
Thrussington  renders  it :  "  Thanks  be  to  God ;  for  ye  have  been 
the  servants  of  sin,  but  have  obeyed  the  form  of  doctrine,  in  which 
ye  have  been  taught."  Paul  had  previously  used  the  words  obey 
and  obedience.  In  carrying  out  his  personification  he  retains  the 
same  conception.  But  here  the  idea  is  all  pleasant.  They  have 
obeyed,  that  is,  they  have  given  good  heed,  considered  and  yielded 
to  the  truth.  The  form,  literally  the  type  of  doctrine,  meaning  the 
pattern  or  rule  of  doctrine.  It  is  a  just  and  beautiful  figure  to 
represent  the  soul  as  receiving  the  exact  impress  of  the  system  of 
revealed  truth,  as  the  wax  receives  that  of  the  stamp,  or  the  melted 
metal,  that  of  the  mould  into  which  it  is  cast.  Only  this  is  no 
mechanical  or  material  process,  for  it  is  effected  through  God's 
Spirit,  by  the  soul  yielding  a  hearty  obedience  to  the  truth.  This 
obedience  was  not  the  result  of  a  hasty  or  inconsiderate  purpose, 
nor  of  a  reluctant  or  irksome  action  of  the  mind.  It  was  a  cheer- 
full,  sincere,  universal  acceptance  of  the  truth  and  submission  to 
it  as  far  as  known.  It  excepted  to  no  commandment — cavilled  at 
no  precept  as  being  too  strict — rejected  no  scripture  doctrine  as 
being  too  humbling.  What  the  form  of  doctrine  delivered  to  the 
Romans  was,  may  be  learned  from  all  the  New  Testament.  It 
was  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  delivered  by  Christ  and  his  apostles. 
From  the  heart  indicates  the  cordiality  with  which  the  message 
of  mercy  and  of  obedience  had  been  received.  The  attempt  of 
some  to  prove  thereby  the  ability  of  the  soul  without  divine  grace 
to  turn  to  God  has  of  course  been  a  failure.  Whenever  the  gos- 
pel is  received  so  as  to  secure  salvation,  it  is  received  with  the 
whole  heart.  But  grace  to  do  this  is  from  God.  "  Thy  people 
shall  be  willing  [willingnesses,  free-will  offerings]  in  the  day  of  thy 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  18,19.]       THE  ROMANS.  295 

« 

power,"  Ps.  110:  3,  is  the  secret  of  any  hearty  consent  to  being 
saved  on  gospel  terms.  How  then  can  one,  who  has  had  his  mind, 
will  and  affections  cast  into  the  mould  of  gospel  doctrine,  live  Hke 
a  heathen  or  a  sinner  ? 

18.  Being  then  made  free  from  sin,  ye  became  the  servants  of 
righteousness.  There  is  no  better  rendering  of  the  verse.  The 
thought  is  the  same  already  presented.  No  man  can  serve  two 
masters.  Ye  were  once  the  slaves  of  wickedness.  The  Son  of 
God  has  made  you  free  from  that  hard  bondage,  and  then  and  thus 
were  ye  made  the  servants  of  righteousness,  leading  a  Hfe  conformed 
to  law.  Chrysostom  :  "  God  has  done  the  same  as  if  one  were  to 
take  an  orphan,  who  had  been  carried  away  by  savages  into  their 
own  country,  and  were  not  only  to  free  him  from  captivity,  but 
were  to  set  himself  as  a  kind  father  over  him,  and  bring  him  to 
very  great  dignity.     This  has  been  done  in  our  case." 

19.  I. speak  after  the  manner  of  men  because  of  the  infirmity  of 
your  flesh :  for  as  ye  have  yielded  your  members  servants  to  unclean- 
ness  cind  to  iniquity  unto  iniquity ;  even  so  now  yield  your  members 
servants  to  righteousness  unto  holiness.     The  first  clause  is  no  doubt 
parenthetical.     /  speak  after  the  manner  of  men.  i.  e.  I  borrow  an 
illustration  from  common  life,  which  you  will  all  understand,  as  in 
Rome  you  are  specially  familiar  wifh  servitude,  with  the  fact  of 
servants  changing  masters,  and  with  their  being  freed.      Other 
explanations  have  been  given  but  this  is  the  best.     He  says  he 
used  this  homely  metaphor  because  of  the  infirmity  of  their  flesh. 
Locke  :  "  because  you  are  weak  in  these  matters,  being  more  ac- 
customed  to   fleshly  than   spiritual    things;"    Macknight:     "on 
account  of  the  weakness  of  your  understanding  in  spiritual  mat- 1 
ters;"  Bp.  Hall:    "I  use  this  familiar  similitude  of  service  and! 
freedom,  because  I  would  descend  to  your  weak  capacity ;  that,/ 
by  these  secular  and  civil  things,  ye  might  understand  the  spirit-l 
ual."     He  repeats  in  words  somewhat  varied  what   he  had  said 
before,  but  retains  the  leading  idea :  for  as  ye  have  yielded  your 
tnembers  servants  to  uncleanness  and  to  iniquity  unto  iniquity.      That 
is,  Formerly  ye  were  the  willing  slaves  of  low  vices  and  degrad-l 
ing  practices  ;  ye  waxed  worse  and  worse  ;  your  course  was  only 
downward,  from   bad  to  worse,  from   worse   to  worst ;  Locke 
"  wholly  employed  in  all  manner  of  iniquity  ;"  Conybeare  and 
Howson  :  "  slaves  of  uncleanness  and  licentiousness,  to  work  the 
deeds  of  license  ;"  Theophylact :  "  when  you  committed  a  sin,  you  I 
did  not  stop  at  that ;  it  but  proved  an  incentive  to  further  trans-j 
gression."     This  is  a  better  explanation  than  that  which  makes  / 
the  clause  merely  mean  that  their  course  of  uncleanness  and  ini-    ) 
quity  terminated  in  iniquity.     How  could  it  terminate  in  anything 


S^ 


296  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  V.  20,  21. 

else  ?  It  began  in  iniquity.  It  was  all  iniquity.  See  above  on  v. 
16.  This  mode  of  explanation  is  applicable  to  the  next  clause  : 
even  so  nozv  yield  your  members  servattts  to  righteousness  unto  holiness. 
Personal  righteousness  is  holiness.  But  righteousness  tmto  holiness 
is  growing  conformity  to  God,  embracing  all  acts  of  sobriety, 
equity  and  piety.  As  they  had  sinned  with  a  will,  so  now  he  ex- 
horts them  to  yield  their  whole  natures  to  the  service  of  God. 
The  idea  suggested  by  service  is  not  unsuitable  to  the  matter  in 
hand,  for  God  is  the  absolute  proprietor  and  owner  of  the  soul 
and  body,  and  has  a  sovereign  and  exclusive  right  to  the  highest 
worship  and  best  services  we  can  possibly  render.  The  queen  of 
Sheba  thought  it  a  great  honor  and  privilege  for  one  to  be  a  ser- 
vant of  Solomon.  Angels  regard  it  as  their  glory  to  be  the  ser- 
vants of  God  and  implicitly  to  obey  his  will.  All  the  redeemed 
are  of  the  same  mind.  David  never  thought  himself  more 
honored  than  when  for  cause  he  esteemed  himself  the  servant 
of  the  Lord. 

20.  For  ivJien  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  ye  were  free  from  right- 
eousness. Ye  never  did  serve  both  God  and  Satan,  both  sin  and  right- 
eousness.    In  the  days  of  your  unregeneracy,  righteousness  had 

[not  the  mastery  over  you.  It  is  as  if  he  had  said.  When  ye 
did  serve  sin,  you  served  it  without  hesitancy  or  double  minded- 
ness.  You  were  wholly  free  from  the  restraints  of  righteous- 
ness; you  had  but  one  purpose.  Let  it  be  so  now.  Serve  the 
Lord  with  all  your  might.  Indeed  if  it  were  possible  you  ought 
to  serve  righteousness  far  more  zealously  than  ye  did  sin,  for  in 
God's  service  ye  shall  have  a  rich  blessing  ;  whereas  in  evil  courses 
you  found  no  advantage  whatever.  I  challenge  you  to  tell  me  a 
single  thing  in  which  you  were  real  gainers. 

21.  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  tilings  whereof  ye  are  now 
ashamed?  for  the  end  of  those  things  is  death.  Fruit  means  good 
fruit,  real  profit,  solid  advantage.  They  had  reaped  a  great  har- 
vest of  disappointment,  remorse,  sorrow  and  often  disease  from 
their  wicked  courses.  Destruction  and  misery  had  been  in  their 
ways  of  wickedness.  They  had  indeed  now  repented  of  them,  the 
proof  of  which  was  found  in  the  fact  that  they  were  heartily 
ashamed  of  them,  Ezek.  16:63;  36:32.  But  they  ought  not  to 
forget  the  unprofitableness  of  their  former  courses,  lest  they  be 
tempted  to  return  to  any  of  them  ;  and  especially  lest  they  should 
slight  the  distinguished  privileges  they  enjoyed  under  the  gospel. 
Calvin :  "  The  godly,  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  be  illuminated  by 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  do  freely  ac- 
knowledge their  past  life,  which  they  have  lived  without  Christ, 
to  have  been  worthy  of  condemnation ;  and  so  far  are  they  from 


Ch.  VI,  vs.  22,  23.]         THE  ROMANS.  297 

endeavoring  to  excuse  it,  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  feel  ashamed 
of  themselves."  The  end  of  those  things  [which  ye  once  unblush- 
ingly  practised]  is  death.  They  are  all  followed  by  dire  penal  con- 
sequences— consequences,  many  of  which  are  natural  but  not  a 
whit  the  less  penal  because  by  the  constitution  of  things  God  has 
made  them -natural.     On  death  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  32  ;  5  :  12. 

22.  But  now  being  made  free  from  sin,  and  become  servants  to  God, 
ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness,  and  the  end  everlasting  life.  Among 
the  Romans  were  the  liberi  or  free  men,  the  liberati  or  freedmen, 
and  the  servi  or  slaves.  Paul  here  takes  his  forms  of  speech  from 
the  latter  two.  A  freed  man  was  no  longer  under  the  control  of 
his  former  master.  He  was  the  friend  of  him,  who  redeemed  him 
with  silver  or  gold  from  his  bondage,  and  he  clung  to  him  for  life. 
Sometimes  the  service  he  rendered  was  more  important  as  well  as 
^ery  way  more  agreeable  than  that  which  he  had  rendered  in 
servitude.  Cicero  had  such  a  freed  man,  who  was  his  friend  and 
correspondent.  God's  servants  were  once  the  slaves  of  corrup- 
tion. Jesus  freed  them  from  the  penalty  and  power  of  sin.  Then 
with  joyful  and  hearty  willingness  they  became  the  servants  of 
God,  who  had  by  his  Son  redeemed  them.  To  him  they  held 
themselves  firmly  and  for  ever  bound  by  ties  which  death  could 
not  dissolve,  to  devote  all  their  powers  of  mind  and  body,  their 

'time,  their  property,  their  all.  Fruit,  the  same  word  as  in  v.  21, 
but  used  in  a  different  though  legitimate  sense.  Before  it  meant 
the  retribution  of  conduct.  Here  it  means  conduct  consequent 
upon  a  reception  of  the  gospel — holy  living.  Conybeare  and 
Howson  have  another  view :  "  The  fruit  which  you  gain  tends  to 
produce  holiness."  It  is  unto  holiness.  The  same  form  of  sentence 
is  found  in  several  parts  of  this  section.  See  above  on  vs.  16,  19. 
"  Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,  that  ye  bear  much  fruit ;  so  shall 
ye  be  my  disciples,"  John  15:8.  Holiness  in  his  creatures  greatly 
honors  God.  Nor  is  the  e7id  any  thing  but  good  to  the  creature. 
The  end  is  not  )^et.  It  will  come  in  due  season,  accompanied 
with  great  results — here  expressed  by  everlasting  life.  On  this 
phrase  see  above  on  Rom.  2:7;  5  :  12. 

23.  For  the  xvages  of  sin  is  death  ;  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.      Wages,  a  word  found  four  times \ 
in  the  New  Testament ;  Luke  3 :  14  John  says  to  the  soldiers,  "  Be 
content  with    your  wages/'  i  Cor.  9:7  "No  man  goeth  a  war- 
faie  at  his  own  charges  /'  2  Cor.  11:8"  Taking  wages  of  them  to  do  I  g,, 
you  service."  It  denotes  primarily  the  rations,  raiment  and  hire  of  j 
soldiers.     The   Greek  word  is  transferred  into  the  Latin  without 
any  change  of  sound.     Yet  the  Latin  word  more  commonly  used] 
was  stipendium.     See  Augustine.     Its  meaning  was  well  under- 


u 


298  EPISTLE    TO  Ch.  VI.,  vs.  12-23. 

stood  in  Rome.  The  idea  of  desert  and  perhaps  that  of  stipulated 
reward  is  involved  in  the  word  here.  Nothing  is  more  justly  de- 
served than  the  rewards  of  unrighteousness.  On  no  matter  has 
God  more  faithfully  forewarned  men.  Tholuck  :  "  At  the  time  a 
man  surrenders  himself  to  the  sway  of  sin,  it  promises,  indeed, 
something  very  different,  but  while  he  seeks  what  is  durable,  sin 
deceives  him  with  apparent  blessings,  which  prove  afterwards  to 
be  destruction,  his  true  nature  being  altogether  overlooked  in  the 
enjoyment  they  impart."  Death,  see  above  on  v.  21,  and  places  there 
referred  to.  The  gift  of  God,  Chrysostom :  "  He  does  not  say,  the 
wages  of  your  good  deeds,  but  the  gift  of  God;  to  shew,  that  it  was 
not  of  themselves  that  they^were  freed,  nor  was  it  a  due  they  re- 
ceived, neither  a  return,  nor  a  recompense  of  labors,  but  by  grace 
all  these  things  came  about."  The  same  substantially  is  said  by 
every  respectable  commentator.  Gift,  the  same  as  in  Rom.  5:15? 
16  rendered  _^r£^_^z//._  It  is  a  gift  wholly  gratuitous.  And  it  is  all 
in,  by  and  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  In  him  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom,  and  knowledge,  and  love,  and  mercy,  and 
grace. 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  Let  good  doctrine  be  followed  by  good  exhortation,  vs.  12-23. 
We  have  had  much  sound  instruction  in  all  the  former  part  of  this 
epistle.  It  is  fitting  we  should  now  have  a  lively  application  of  it 
to  our  own  hearts  and  consciences.  Many  a  modern  discussion  is 
powerless  for  good  because  it  is  not  pointed.  No  practical  use  is 
made  of  it. 

2.  Let  us  never  be  found  with  the  formalist  and  the  enemies  of 
righteousness,  objecting  to  the  doctrines  of  free  grace,  or  abusing 
them  to  vile  purposes.  If  sinners  cannot  be  freely  justified,  they 
cannot  be  saved.  Hawker :  "  No  child  of  God,  with  grace  in  his 
heart,  can  act  but  from  that  grace  in  all  his  deliberate  purposes. 
The  Lord  hath  put  his  fear  in  his  heart  that  he  "shall  not  depart 
from  him,  Jer.  32  :  40.  And  this  childlike  fear  becomes  the  most 
persuasive  of  all  motives  to  love  and  obedience."  //  It  is  a  fact  in  the 
history  of  theological  doctrine  that  no  class  of  men  have  held  so 

^jj-         high  a  standard  of  pious  living,  as  those  who  have  been  stanch 
.-^■^        advocates  of  the  doctrine  of  gratuitous  justification.  /  / 

3.  Let  us  dread  sin,  and  teach  others  to  dread  it.  It  is  easy  to 
have  an  excessive  fear  of  pain,  of  reproach,  or  of  poverty ;  but  it 
is  not  possible  for  any  one  excessively  to  abhor  iniquity,  v.  12.  The 
reasons  are  many  and  obvious  to  any  devout  student  of  God's 
word.     The  motives  to  purity  are  drawn  from  heaven,  earth  and 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  12,  13.]       THE  ROMANS.  299 

hell,  from  ourselves,  our  neighbor  and  our  God,  from  Mount  Sinai, 
from  Gethsemane  and  from  Calvary.  Of  all  these  the  most  potent 
are  those  drawn  from  the  goodness  and  love  of  God.  Where  there 
is  the  least  ingenuousness  of  moral  character,  it  will  and  must  argue 
from  the  cross  of  Christ  to  the  death  of  sin  ;  from  the  love  of  God 
towards  us  to  our  infinite  and  pleasing  obligations  to  seek  his 
glory,  and  delight  in  his  service. 

4.  And  if  we  wftuld  avoid  sin,  we  should  avoid  all  needless 
trial  of  our  principles.  Indeed,  if  we  would  avoid  sin,  we  must 
avoid  occasions  naturally  leading  thereto.  We  all  ought  daily  to 
pray :  "  Lead  us  not  into  temptation."  And  when  we  sincerely 
thus  pray,  we  shall  be  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  all  the  day  long. 
And  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  a  fountain  of  life  to  depart  from  the 
snares  of  death. 

5.  We  must  also  from  love  to  Christ  and  with  gratitude  for 
mercies  already  received  guard  all  our  powers  and  faculties,  that 
we  sin  not  against  God,  vs.  12,  13.  We  must  make  a  covenant 
with  our  eyes,  not  to  look  upon  evil ;  for  the  eye  affects  the  heart. 
Job  31:1;  Lam.  3:51.  When  Eve  gave  her  ear  to  the  tempter, 
she  began  to  fall.  When  the  memory  is  stored  with  vanity  and 
folly,  the  greater  its  retentiveness,  the  more  it  is  a  snare.  When 
the  imagination  is  under  the  control  of  the  wicked  one,  the  more 
vigorous  it  is,  the  more  it  runs  riot.  A  mild  disposition  sometimes 
leads  to  sinful  compliances.  A  rough  temper  sometimes  causes 
men  to  say  bitter  things  to  those  whom  the  Lord  greatly  loves.  A 
hasty  spirit  leads  to  many  a  false  step,  which  is  followed  by  tears. 
A  sad  soul  is  in  danger  of  yielding  to  the  lessons  of  unbelief.  A 
gay  spirit  is  specially  in  danger  of  falling  into  sinful  levity.  Thus 
every  power  and  faculty  of  soul  and  body  may  become  an  instru- 
ment of  wickedness.  Chrysostom  :  "  If  the  eye  be  curious  after 
the  beauty  of  another,  it  becomes  an  instrument  of  iniquity, 
through  the  fault  of  the  thought  which  commands  it.  But  if  you 
bridle  it,  it  becomes  an  instrument  of  righteousness.  Thus  with 
the  tongue,  thus  with  the  hands,  thus  with  all  the  other  members." 
Calvin  :  "  As  the  soldier  has  ever  his  arms  ready,  that  he  may  use 
them  whenever  he  is  ordered  by  his  commander,  and  as  he  never 
uses  them  but  at  his  command ;  so  Christians  ought  to  regard  all 
their  faculties  to  be  weapons  of  the  spiritual  warfare :  if  then  they 
employ  any  of  their  members  in  the  indulgence  of  depravity,  they 
are  in  the  service  of  sin.  But  they  have  made  the  oath  of  soldiers 
to  God  and  to  Christ,  and  by  this  they  are  held  bound :  it  hence 
behoves  them  to  be  far  away  from  any  intercourse  with  the  camps 
of  sin." 

6.  Sin  has  dominion  over  the  wicked.     They  are  under  law, 


300  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  v.  14. 

not  under  grace,  v.  14.  The  condemning  power  of  sin  over  them 
is  perfect.  Fallen  angels  are  not  under  a  more  righteous  sentence. 
He  that  believeth  not  is  condemned  already.  Then  sin  itself  has 
the  mastery  over  them.  They  are  the  willing  slaves  of  corruption , , 
not  all  in  the  same  way  or  to  the  same  extent.  Some  commit 
beastly  sins ;  others,  the  sins  of  devils.  Some  glory  in  their  shame  ; 
some  cover  up  their  iniquity.  Some  cast  off  all  restraint ;  others 
hug  one  darling  vice.  But  every  one,  who  has  not  fled  to  Jesus, 
is  the  bond-slave  of  depravity.  "  His  own  iniquities  shall  take  the 
wicked  himself,  and  he  shall  be  holden  with  the  cords  of  his  sins. 
He  shall  die  without  instruction  ;  and  in  the  greatness  of  his  folly 
he  shall  go  astray,"  Pr.  5  :  22,  23. 

7.  Sin  has  not  dominion  over  the  righteous ;  they  are  not  under 
law,  but  under  grace,  v.  14.  The  law  condemns  not  one  of  them. 
They  are  free  from  its  curse.  They  are  free  from  it  as  a  covenant 
of  works.  They  are  free  to  do  the  will  of  God.  The  highest  class 
of  motive  actuates  them  to  serve  God,  and  that  joyfully.  They  are 
redeemed  and  set  at  liberty.  Their  eternal  life  depends  not  on 
their  own  works  or  deservings.  They  believe  in  Christ  as  though 
they  had  no  works  ;  and  yet  they  work  far  more  than  if  they  believed 
not,  and  all  from  love.  Chrysostom :  "  The  law  promised  them 
crown  after  toils,  but  grace  crowned  them  first,  and  then  led  them 
to  the  contest."  Evans :  "  God's  promises  to  us  are  more  power- 
ful and  effectual  for  the  mortifying  of  sin  than  our  promises  to 
God.  Sin  may  struggle  in  a  believer,  and  may  create  him  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  ;  but  it  shall  not  have  dominion  ;  may  vex  him,  but 
it  shall  not  rule  over  him.  Hagar  troubled  Sarah  not  a  little, 
but  Sarah  was  Hagar's  mistress  all  the  time." 

i^y^-  8.  God's  children  are  not  lawless,  nor  without  law  to  God,  but 
under  law  to  Christ.  Compare  i  Cor.  9:21.  Their  freedom  from 
a  legal  spirit  and  from  legal  hopes  mightily  inclines  them  to  walk 
in  the  way  of  holiness — to  keep  the  commandments.  This  is 
effected  by  grace  alone.  Such  is  its  power  over  the  believer  that 
he  is  dead  unto  sin,  is  risen  with  Christ,  is  one  with  Christ,  is  a 
new  creature,  is  alive  unto  God  by  Jesus  Christ.  No  man  more 
heartily  approves  the  preceptive  will  of  God  than  he,  who  owns 
that  he  is  saved  by  grace  alone.  Nay,  no  other  man  has  any  prin- 
ciple that  works  by  love,  that  makes  him  desire  holiness  as  in  itself 
a  good  thin^.  If  Paul  has  made  anything  clear,  it  is  that  all  be- 
lievers are  dead  to  the  law  as  a  covenant,  are  dead  to  sin  as  a  mas- 
ter, are  alive  unto  God  in  a  way  pleasing  to  God,  and  are  pleased 
to  do  and  to  suffer  his  entire  known  will.  Such  people  cannot  but 
loathe  and  detest  sin. 

^^     9.  It  is  therefore  right,  safe  and  scriptural  to  proclaim,  as  Paul 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  I4-I6.]       THE  ROMANS.  301 

teaches,  that  saints  are  under  grace,  v.  14.  The  effect  of  grac6'  is 
amazing.  It  wholly  changes  our  relations  to  God,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  former  part  of  the  epistle.  It  no  less  entirely  changes 
our  dispositions  towards  God,  towards  duty,  and  everything  of  a 
moral  nature.  It  mortifies  sin.  It  restores  the  soul  to  a  heavenly 
life.  It  makes  one  long  to  be  like  Christ  and  to  be  with  Christ. 
It  admires  and  imitates  the  blessed  Saviour.  Sin  made  devils  out 
of  angels.  Grace  makes  saints  out  of  sinners,  heirs  of  glory  out  of 
the  heirs  of  perdition.  If  ever  the  world  is  to  be  made  better,  it 
will  be  by  mankind  embracing  the  true  doctrines  of  grace.  The 
history  of  the  world  furnishes  no  instance  of  a  sinner  being  brought 
to  love  holiness,  but  by  a  just  apprehension  of  the  mild  and  win- 
ning truths  of  religion.  Take  an  enemy  of  God  to  Mount  Sinai ; 
let  its  thunders  roll,  and  he  will  exceedingly  fear  and  quake,  but 
he  will  sin  on,  secretly,  if  not  openly.  But  let  any  man  have  a 
true  apprehension  of  the  mercy  of  God  as  displayed  in  the  cross 
of  Cavalry,  and  he  says  of  his  sins.  They  shall  die.  "  Behold  what 
manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  on  us  that  we  should  be 
called  the  sons  of  God !  "  Does  John  speak  thus  to  encourage 
loose  living  ?  Far  from  it :  "  Every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in 
him  purifieth  himself  as  he  is  pure,"  i  John  3  :  i,  3. 
<^^o.  But  the  adversary  is  very  subtle  and  very  untiring.  Wick- 
edness perverts  every  thing.  It  turns  even  the  grace  of  God  into 
lasciviousness.  It  specially  delights  in  a  show  of  reasoning.  It 
pleads  over  and  over  again,  that  this  humbling  method  of  saving 
m%n  after  all  leads  to  free  sinning :  at  least,  it  asks,  If  there  is  not 
danger  that  free  forgiveness  will  have  such  an  effect?  Paul  an- 
swers with  an  indignant  negative  for  the  third  time,  v.  15.  The 
renewed  heart  is  the  best  preservative  against  such  filthy  fallacies. 
It  abhors  them.  It  cannot  consent  to  the  systematic  dishonoring 
of  God,  who  has  lavished  his  kindness  upon  the  undeserving,  and 
shows  mercy  to  the  chief  of  sinners. 

u  II.  Nothing  is  clearer  than  that  one's  life  evinces  his  real  char- 
acter, V.  16.  A  good  tree  brings  forth  good  fruit ;  and  a  corrupt 
tree,  evil  fruit.  Even  a  child  is  known  by  his  doings.  There  is 
no  more  shallow  pretence  than  that  the  heart  is  right  when  the 
life  is  sinful  and  irregular.  "  His  servants  ye  are  to  whom  ye 
obey,"  is  the  infallible  rule.  Fairly  applied  it  always  brings  out 
the  truth.  Christ  himself  will  apply  it  in  the  last  day,  Matt. 
25  :  31-46.  If  this  rule  were  not  correct  in  all  cases,  moral  dis- 
tinctions would  be  obliterated,  and  wild  confusion  would  reign  ; 
the  humble  man  would  have  all  the  insolence  of  manner  pertain- 
ing to  the  proud  ;  the  meek  would  display  malignancy ;  the  gen- 
erous would  act  like  the  churl ;  the  hypocrite  would  be  as  consis- 


302  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  v.  17. 

tent  as-  the  good  man,  and  none  could  tell  whether  he  himself  were 
on  the  road  to  heaven  or  to  hell. 

."9  12.  Every  change  from  sin  to  holiness,  from  Satan  unto  God,  is 
to  all  right  minded  men  matter  of  thankfulness  to  God,  v.  17.  So 
great  is  such  an  event,  and  so  far-reaching  its  influence  that  it  is 
made  known  to  the  happy  inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  country, 
and  among  them  awakens  new  joys,  Luke  15^7,  10.  Nor  is  this 
strange.  A  soul  is  saved  from  death.  Immortal  honor  to  God 
and  immortal  happiness  to  a  soul  that  shall  never  die  are  thus  se- 
cured. On  this  matter  all  converted  men  are  agreed.  Brown  : 
"  A  gracious  soul  that  has  ever  tasted  of  the  sweetness  of  the  work 
of  God  in  his  own  soul  will  be  unfeignedly  glad  at  the  work  of 
God  in  others."  How  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  True  religion  makes 
men  glad  when  God  is  glorified  and  when  men  are  made  truly 
happy.  Both  these  things  are  done  when  a  soul  is  soundly  converted. 
13.  It  is  one  of  the  glories  of  the  gospel  that  it  seeks  and  suits 
great  sinners,  and  makes  them,  as  well  as  others  less  foul  and 
guilty,  the  monuments  of  its  justifying  and  sanctifying  power, 
V.  17.  Nor  do  any  on  earth  or  in  heaven  more  magnify  the  grace 
of  God  than  those,  who  once  were  the  vile  servants  of  sin,  sinning 
with  greediness,  and  wantoning  in  wickedness.  O  how  such  will 
shine  as  illustrious  patterns  of  what  sovereign  love  can  do.  Never 
will  all  its  wonders  be  told.  Never  will  the  song  of  redemption 
pall  on  the  tongues  of  the  redeemed. 

.0  14.  The  great  change  from  the  service  of  sin  to  the  service  of 
God  has  so  many,  and  so  pleasing  aspects,  that  to  the  pious  i!  is 
ever  a  welcome  theme.  Sometimes  we  are  instructed  in  its  neces- 
sity. Sometimes  we  are  told  of  its  divine  author,  God's  Spirit. 
Sometimes  we  hear  of  its  effects.  Sometimes  we  have  many 
points  all  brought  out  in  few  words  in  one  terse  sentence :  "  Ye 
have  purified  your  souls  in  obeying  the  truth  through  the  Spirit 
unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren,"  i  Pet.  i  :  22.  Here  we  have 
the  means  and  process  of  renovatioa  described.  "  Ye  have  obeyed 
from  the  heart  the  form  of  doctrine,"  v.  17.  The  soul  is  renewed 
when  it  is  moulded  into  conformity  to  thp  model  of  truth,  and 
when  it  heartily  loves  that  truth.  All  professed  conversions, 
which  are  not  by  the  truth  but  by  falsehood,  which  are  not  to  the 
truth,  but  to  a  sect  or  to  a  new  set  of  human  opinions,  are  utterly 
worthless. 

\^  15.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  know  when  we  have  obeyed  the  truth 
from  the  heart.  The  rule  of  safe  judgment  is  that  in  practice  we 
follow  it,  wherever  it  leads,  and  are  conformed  to  it  in  all  things, 
so  that  we  love  the  whole  law  as  a  rule  to  live  by,  and  the  whole 
gospel  as  a  method  of  salvation. 


Ch.  VI,  V.  i8.]  THE  ROMANS.  303 

16.  True  Christians  would  enjoy  their  spiritual  privileges  and 
advantages  more,  if  they  would  oftener  look  back  to  the  wretched 
bondage,  far  worse  than  that  of  Egypt,  in  which  they  so  foolishly 
served  divers  lusts,  and  treasured  up  wrath.  Israelites  were 
wisely  taught  to  say,  "  A  Syrian  ready  to  perish  was  my  father." 
Good  men  are  specially  called  upon  to  "  look  unto  the  rock 
whence  they  are  hewn,  and  to  the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  they  are 
digged,"  Deut.  26  :  5  ;  Isa.  51:1.  Brown  :  "  It  is  profitable  now 
and  then  to  be  calling  to  mind  the  black  and  doleful  state  of  na- 
ture which  we  were  sometimes  in,  and  out  of  which  we  are  now 
delivered  through  free  grace,  that  the  unspeakable  riches  of  his 
grace  may  never  grow  little  bulked  in  our  estimation."  Surely  if 
good  men  had  a  constant  and  more  adequate  estimate  of  what 
Christ  has  done  for  them,  they  would  do  more  for  Christ. 
I  "7  17.  There  is  a  form  of  doctrine  delivered  us.  To  it  we  ought 
to  be  conformed.  To  it  we  must  be  conformed.  We  are  not  left 
at  liberty  to  choose  out  of  the  mass  of  human  opinions  and  sys- 
tems what  pleases  our  fancy,  our  taste,  or  our  practice ;  but  we 
must  receive  and  hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words  taught  us  in 
the  Scriptures.  "  Thy  word  is  truth."  We  must  receive  it  as  the 
very  word  of  Jehovah,  who  cannot  lie.  We  are  to  read  and  hear 
God's  word,  not  as  critics  but  as  criminals,  not  as  judges  but  as 
perishing  sinners.  Brown  :  "  Wherever  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  kindly,  heartily  and  sincerely  welcomed  and  embraced, 
it  will  not  be  halved,  or  any  way  divided,  but  wholly  accepted  of, 
as  all  necessary,  useful,  and  desirable." 
\^  18.  Salvation  is  not  merely  a  negation  of  evil,  it  is  something 
positive.  It  sets  those  who  receive  it  free  from  sin  ;  it  also  makes 
them  the  servants  of  righteousness,  v.  1 8.  They  not  only  cease  to 
do  evil ;  they  learn  to  do  well.  Nor  is  a  good  man  afraid  of  being 
too  much  broken  off  from  corruption  and  unrighteousness;  nor  is 
he  cautious  lest  he  should  serve  God  too  devotedly.  Nothing  so 
works  on  the  renewed  nature  of  man  as  just  thoughts  of  the  grace 
manifested  in  the  scheme  of  mercy.  T.  Adam  :  "  There  is  great 
force  of  argument,  great  advantage  for  pure  obedience,  and  a  pow- 
erful inducement  to  it,  in  the  belief  and  acknowledgment  of  com- 
plete deliverance  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  restoration  to  eternal 
life,  by  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  holy  angels  have 
had  long  experience  of  the  excellence  of  God's  service,  and  of  his 
faithfulness  to  his  obedient  creatures.  But  it  has  sometimes 
seemed  to  me  that  one  just  born  into  the  kingdom  of  grace  has 
ties  to  bind  him  to  God,  which  ought  to  be  unspeakably  more 
potent  than  any  resting  on  those,  who  never  sinned,  and,  conse- 
quently, never  felt  the  power  of  redeeming  love. 


/? 


IS' 


304  EPIS  TLE   TO  [Ch.  VI.,  vs.  18-19. 

19.  Every  man  will  serve  something,  v.  18.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  state  of  moral  indifference.  Each  one  is  God's  friend, 
or  God's  foe  ;  serves  sin,  or  serves  righteousness  ;  willingly  obeys 
God  or  the  great  adversary.  The  world  over  an  affected  neu- 
trality is  a  declaration  of  hostility  to  God ;  because  he  not  only 
has  a  right  to  our  secret  but  also  to  our  open  and  avowed  friend- 
ship. 

20.  On  this  1 8th  verse  Chrysostom  has  a  long  and  eloquent 
appeal  and  exhortation,  warning  men  against  various  sins.  He  is 
specially  earnest  and  eloquent  on  the  sin  of  covetousness :  "  The 
love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evils.  Hence  come  fightings,  and 
enmities,  and  wars  ;  hence  emulations,  and  railings,  and  suspicions, 
and  insults;  hence  murders,  and  thefts,  and  violations  of  sepul- 
chres. Through  this,  not  cities  and  villages  only,  but  roads,  and 
habitable  and  inhabitable  parts,  and  mountains,  and  groves,  and 
hills,  and,  in  a  word,  all  places  are  filled  with  blood  and  murder. 
And  not  even  from  the  sea  has  this  evil  withdrawn,  but  even  there 
also  with  great  fury  hath  it  revelled,  since  pirates  beset  on  all  sides, 
thus  devising  a  new  mode  of  robbery.  Through  this  have  the 
laws  of  nature  been  subverted,  and  the  claims  of  relationship  set 
aside,  and  the  laws  of  our  very  being  broken  through."  Such  are 
some  of  the  fruits  of  being  under  the  mastery  of  one  sin.  But 
there  are  many  other  whelps  in  the  same  horrid  den.  Chrysostom 
dwells  at  length  and  with  great  eloquence  on  the  superfluities  and 

/vain  ostentation  of  his  times.  If  our  religion  does  not  conquer 
our  strongest  evil  inclinations,  it  is  worthless.  The  Philippian 
jailor  was  a  wretch,  accustomed  to  acts  of  cruelty ;  but  as  soon  as 
converted  he  was  as  tender  as  a  woman.  Saul  of  Tarsus  was 
exceeding  mad  against  Christ  and  his  people ;  but  when  his  heart 
was  changed,  he  preached  Christ,  and  was  as  tender  to  the  dis- 
ciples as  a  nurse  to  her  children.  A  sound  conversion  conquers 
the  strongest  sinful  inclinations,  and  gives  scope  to  the  noblest 
principles  and  motions. 

21.  Let  us  cheerfully  condescend  to  men's  weakness  of  under- 
C\      standing,  if  by  any  means  we  may  do  them  good,  v.  19.     Compare 

I  Cor.  9  :  18-23.  A  slovenly  dress  ill  befits  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel. But  a  plain,  homely  attire  is  by  no  means  unbecoming  the 
great  things  of  salvation.  If  men  insist  on  using  the  words,  which 
man's  wisdom  teaches,  they  must  not  be  surprised  if  they  labor 
very  much  in  vain.  When  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  all  wrapped 
up  in  wreaths  of  flowers,  its  keen  edge  is  often  hardly  felt.  Man- 
kind are  very  dull,  and  slow  to  believe,  or  even  to  apprehend  the 
truth.  Let  us  show  no  mercy  to  a  guilty  conscience.  Let  us  use 
great  plainness,  and  even  familiarity  of  speech. 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  20,  21.]       THE  ROMANS.  305 

,>  22.  Everything,  good  and  bad,  is  growing.     Wickedness  pro- 

ceeds from  iniquity  unto  iniquity.  Evil  men  and  seducers  are 
waxing  worse  and  worse.  Saints  are  growing  in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  Christ.  Babes  in  Christ»are  becoming  strong  young 
men.  The  redeemed  are  servants  of  righteousness  unto  holiness. 
Their  past  constancy  and  greediness  in  sinning  ought  to  make  the 
children  of  God  the  more  diligent  and  zealous  in  his  service. 
They  have  lost  much  time  in  sin ;  they  have  but  little  time  left  ; 
therefore  they  should  greatly  bestir  themselves  with  all  their 
might. 
^         23^  Some  think  it  a  great  thing  to  be  free  from  the  restraints 

^""^  and  self-denial  required  by  the  laws  of  righteousness ;  but  at  that 
very  time  they  are  in  a  slavery,  which  will  yet  fill  them  with  utter 
dismay,  v.  20.  No  Algerine  bondage  was  ever  so  cruel  as  that  of 
sin.  No  prison,  with  its  dungeons  and  victims,  ever  exhibited  to 
a  benevolent  mind  so  appalling  a  spectacle  as  that  of  a  soul,  deliv- 
ered over  to  iniquity,  its  noble  faculties  and  affections  subjected 
to  the  cruel  tyranny  of  the  devil.  The  burden  of  men's  guilt  is 
itself  sufficient  to  sink  them  into  the  deepest  sadness.  Sometimes 
it  does  this  very  thing,  even  in  the  midst  of  their  prosperity ;  and 
if  they  die  unpardoned,  it  is  a  millstone  around  their  necks  for 
ever,  and  sinks  them  into  the  lowest  hell. 

2-^  24.  Let  us  not  attempt  to  serve  two  masters,  v.  20.  It  cannot 
be  done.  The  friend  of  the  world,  is  the  enemy  of  God.  The 
friend  of  God  is  the  enemy  of  sin. 

^i  25.  How  sad  is  the  history  of  every  child  of  God  up  to  the 
time  of  his  new  birth !  v.  2 1 .  His  works  were  the  works  of  the 
devil ;  his  principles  and  habits  were  all  corrupt ;  he  was  tossed 
from  vanity  to  vanity  ;  his  life  was  full  of  vexation  and  disappoint- 
ment ;  his  hopes  were  illusory ;  his  fears  were  tormenting ;  his 
virtues  were  but  polished  vices.  Good  fruit  there  is  none  remain- 
ing. Clarke  :  "  Among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  under  a  bad  mas- 
ter, the  lot  of  the  slave  was  most  oppressive  and  dreadful ;  his  ease 
and  comfort  were  never  consulted ;  he  was  treated  worse  than  a 
beast ;  and  in  many  cases  his  life  hung  on  the  mere  caprice  of  the 
master.  This  state  is  the  state  of  every  poor  miserable  sinner  ;  he 
is  the  slave  of  Satan,  and  his  own  evil  lusts  and  appetites  are  his 
most  cruel  task-masters."  It  would  be  a  great  thing  if  it  were 
possible  for  us  to  induce  the  wicked  to  make  an  inventory  of  all 
they  have  gained  in  the  service  of  sin.  But  commonly  they  will 
not  think.  Satan  rushes  them  madly  on  from  one  thing  to  another 
till  their  doom  is  sealed.  A  rich  man  dying  said  :  "  What  have  I 
now  of  all  my  estates,  except  that  they  fearfully  swell  my  account 
at  the  tribunal  of  God  ?  "     Byron  said  that  in  his  life  he  could 


3o6  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VI.,  vs.  21,  22. 

remember  but  eleven  days  that  he  would  care  to  live  over.     Vol- 
taire exclaimed  :  "  I  wish  I  had  never  been  born  !  "     Solomon  tried 
everything  that  could  please  the  carnal  nature,  and   his  solemn 
judgment  was  that  it  was  ajl  vanity  of  vanities. 
(  26.  Well  may  all  men  blush  and  be  ashamed  of  a  course  of  sin, 

V.  21.  The  righteous  are  so  indeed.  The  wonder  is  that  all  are 
not  S(5.  The  brazen  face  exhibited  by  many  shows  how  desperate 
their  case  is.  God  himself  so  speaks  of  them,  Jer.  6  :  15  ;  8  :  12. 
Chrysostom  :  "  Ye  were  injured  in  two  ways,  in  doing  things  calling 
for  shame,  and  in  not  even  knowing  what  it  was  to  be  ashamed." 
If  sin  is  of  so  foul  and  dreadful  a  nature  as  to  make  all  good  men 
ashamed,  even  when  they  know  it  is  pardoned,  it  must  be  most 
malignant  and  dreadful.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  any  man  to  be  too 
much  afraid  of  it  or  excessively  to  detest  it.  In  temporal  affairs 
the  wicked  often  regret  what  they  have  done.  But  it  is  only  in 
moral  matters  that  men  pursue  a  course,  which  they  know  they 
will  be  sorry  for,  and  which  they  hope  they  will  be  deeply  sorry 
for  and  heartily  ashamed  of  before  they  leave  this  world,  knowing 
that  if  they  shall  not  weep  for  it  here,  they  will  howl  for  vexation 
of  spirit  for  ever. 

^   I  27.  The  penal  consequence  of  sinful  courses  is  death,  v.  21.     In 

many  cases  penal  consequences  seem  to  be  natural  and  inevitable. 
We  may  finally  discover  that  they  are  so  in  all  cases.  None  but 
the  omniscient  eye  can  trace  all  the  connections  of  things  ;  but  sin 
certainly  leads  to  hell,  apd  it  certainly  leads  nowhere  else.  It 
leads  to  the  gulf  of  wo  as  naturally  as  the  Mississippi  leads 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  in  vain  for  men  to  delude  them- 
selves with  the  hope  that  shame  and  everlasting  contempt  will  not 
follow  transgression,  or,  if  they  do,  that  it  will  be  only  by  some 
arbitrary  arrangement.  When  the  poor  drunkard  began  his  ca- 
reer, little  did  he  dream  that  it  would  end  in  rags,  and  poverty, 
and  beggary,  and  crime,  and  hell. 

.-/T/  28.  Great  is  the  grace  and  rich  are  its  provisions  for  effecting 
and  completing  the  work  of  salvation,  even  here  breaking  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  freeing  believers  from  its  dominion,  and 
from  all  its  roots  and  effects  before  they  stand  before  the  Lord  in 
judgment,  v.  22.  And  how  great  is  this  work  of  purification.  The 
converted  man  could  have  no  greater  work,  or  one  that  called  for 
greater  help  from  heaven  than  to  perfect  holiness.  Oh  that  all,  who 
name  the  name  of  Christ,  would  depart  from  iniquity. 

29.  It  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  necessity  of  a  godly  life,  in 
which  we  bear  fruit  unto  holiness,  bear  much  fruit  to  the  glory  of 
God,  V.  22.  To  such  a  course  not  only  all  that  is  awful  and  author- 
itative in  the  character  of  God,  but  all  that  is  mild  and  winning  in 


Ch.  VI.,  vs.  22,  23-]        THE  ROMANS.  307 

the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  urges  us.  T.  Adam  :  "  Gratitude 
runs  low  in  the  nature  of  man  ;  but  if  there  is  one  spark  of  it  in  the 
heart,  the  belief  of  deliverance  from  death,  and  eternal  life  merited 
for  us  by  the  Son  of  God,  will  kindle  it  into  a  flame."  Chalmers : 
"  Let  me  urge  that  you  proceed  on  the  inseparable  alliance,  which 
the  gospel  has  established,  between  your  deliverance  from  the 
penalty  of  sin  and  your  deliverance  from  its  power — that  you  evi- 
dence the  interest  you  have  in  the  first  of  these  privileges,  by  a 
life  graced  and  exalted  by  the  second  of  them."  Without  holiness 
no  man  shall  see  the  Lord. 

30.  To  those,  who  rely  on  the  righteousness  of  Christ  alone  for 
justification,  and  heartily  forsake  their  sins  and  serve  God  with  a 
willing  mind,  everlasting  life  is  certain.  It  is  the  end  to  which  their 
present  conduct  tends ;  the  endOo^  has  in  view  in  all  his  dealings 
with  them ;  the  end  they  have  before  their  minds  in  their  best 
frames,  v.  22.  They  are  as  sure  of  that  as  God's  word  can  make 
such  poor  doubting  souls. 

31.  All  the  penal  sufferings  of  the  wicked  are  deserved.  They 
receive  only  the  fruit  of  their  doings.  Death  is  their  wages,  v.  23. 
They  are  earning  all  the  wo  that  will  yet  come  upon  them.  The 
law  of  retribution  returns  into  their  own  bosom  all  their  evil  deeds. 
They  cannot  justly  complain  of  a  righteous  recompense. 

32.  But  heaven  is  a  gift — a  free  gift,  without  money  and  with- 
out price.  Eternal  life  is  deserved  by  no  mere  men.  It  is  wholly 
free,  v.  23.  Nor  is  this  a  painful  but  an  animating  thought  to  the 
renewed  soul.  He  is  willing  that  God  should  have  all  the  glory 
of  salvation.  The  crown  of  glory  cannot  be  purchased  with  such 
tin  and  dross  as  mingle  with  our  best  services.  Clarke  :  "  A  man 
may  merit  hell,  but  he  cannot  MERIT  heaven.  The  apostle  does 
not  say  that  the  wages  of  righteousness  is  eierjtal  life  :  no,  but  that 
this  eternal  life,  even  to  the  righteous,  is  the  gracious  gift  of  God ; 
and  even  this  gracious  gift  comes  tJirough  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
He  alone  has  procured  it ;  and  it  is  given  to  all  those  who  find  re- 
demption in  his  blood.  A  sinner  goes  to  hell  because  he  deserves 
it ;  a  righteous  man  goes  to  heaven,  because  Christ  has  died  for 
him  :  and  communicated  that  grace  by  which  his  sin  is  pardoned, 
and  his  soul  made  holy." 

33.  What  a  wonderful  person  is  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  By  him 
the  worlds  were  made.  By  him  all  things  consist.  All  the  angels 
worship  him.  All  the  virgins  love  him.  If  our  sins  are  washed 
away,  it  is  by  his  blood.  If  we  are  accepted,  it  is  in  the  Beloved. 
If  we  have  sore  conflicts  here,  and  yet  come  off"  conquerors,  it  is 
because  his  grace  is  sufficient  for  us.  He  is  all  and  in  all,  the  first 
and  the  last,  the  author  and  the  finisher  of  faith.     Who  would  not 


3o8  EPIS  TIE.  [Ch.  V.,  v.  23. 

join  with  Hawker  and  say  ?  "  Through  life,  in  death,  and  for  ever- 
more, be  it  'my  joy  to  acknowledge  that  there  can  be  no  wages 
mine,  but  the  wages  of  sin,  which  is  death ;  and  all  the  Lord  be- 
stows, even  eternal  life,  with  all  its  preliminaries,  can  only  be  the 
free,  the  sovereign,  the  unmerited  gift  of  GOD  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

VERSES  1-6. 

BELIEVERS  ARE  IN  NO  SENSE  UNDER  LAW  AS  A 
MOTIVE  TO  HOLINESS.  THEY  ARE  MOVED  BY 
A  MORE  EFFECTIVE  PRINCIPLE. 

1  Know  ye  not,  brethren,  (for  I  speak  to  them  that  know  the  law,)  how  that 
the  law  hath  dominion  over  a  man  as  long  as  he  liveth  ? 

2  For  the  woqian  which  hath  a  husband  is  bound  by  the  law  to  her  husband 
so  long  as  he  liveth ;  but  if  the  husband  be  dead,  she  is  loosed  from  the  law  of  her 
husband. 

3  So  then  if,  while  her  husband  liveth,  she  be  married  to  another  man,  she 
shall  be  called  an  adulteress :  but  if  her  husband  be  dead,  she  is  free  from  that  law; 
so  that  she  is  no  adulteress,  though  she  be  married  to  another  man. 

4  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  ye  also  are  become  dead  to  the  law  by  the  body 
of  Christ;  that  ye  should  be  married  to  another,  even  to  him  who  is  raised  from 
the  dead,  that  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God. 

5  For  when  we  were  in  the  flesh,  the"  motions  of  sins,  which  were  by  the 
law,  did  work  in  our  members  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death. 

6  But  now  we  are  delivered  from  the  law,  that  being  dead  wherein  we 
were  held;  that  we  should  serve  in  newness  of  spirit,  and  not  in  the  oldness  of 
the  letter. 

1KN0W  ye  not,  brethren,  {for  I  speak  to  them  that  know  the 
•  law^  how  that  the  law  hath  dominion  over  a  man  as  long  as  he 
liveth  ?  '  Most  will  agree  that  the  apostle,  having  answered  the 
objection  stated  in  Rom.  6:15,  and  having  completed  the  exhorta- 
tion fitly  growing  out  of  that  answer,  here  resumes  the  matter 
announced  in  Rom.  5  =  14  •  ^i^i  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you  : 
for  yc  are  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace.  He  proceeds  to  show 
how  we  are  not  under  law.  Many  for  he  read  it.  So  Wiclif,  Tyn- 
dale,  Cranmer,  Grotius,  Bp.  Hall  and  others.  The  Doway  in  the 
text  has  it  liveth;  but  in  a  note  admits  that  we  may  read,  he  liveth. 
The  Vulgate  does  not  decide  the  matter,  omitting  the  pronoun,  as 
does  also  the  Greek.  The  doctrine  is  the  same  which  way  soever 
one  decides.  The  death  of  either  party  in  a  marriage  contract 
releases  the  survivor.     And  whatever  the  apostle  intends  to  teach 

(309) 


310 


EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIL,  V.  I. 


in  V.  I,  it  is  something  consistent  with  this  idea,  for  he  expressly 
introduces  it  in  v.  2.     The  word  rendered  man  in  this  verse  is  tHe 
generic  word,  corresponding  to  the  Latin  homo,  meaning  one  of 
the  human  family,  a  man  or  woman,  a  human  being.     It  is  not  the 
word  corresponding  to  the  Latin  vir,  meaning  one  of  the  male 
sex.     Schleusner  even  thinks  that  the  word  here  denotes  a  woman. 
Wolf  and  Pool  interpret  it  indifferently  of  male  or  female,  suppos- 
ing, as  Olshausen  and  some  others  do,  that  the  law  even  in  this 
verse  means  the  law  of  marriage.     Thus  the  passage  would  teach 
that  the  death  of  either  party  releases  the  other  in   marriage. 
Clarke  thinks  it  all  the  same  whether  we  read  he  liveth  or  it  liveth. 
Speaking  of  these  two  renderings  Chalmers  says,   "  that  either 
supposition,  of  the  law  being  dead  or  of  the  subject  being  dead, 
stands  linked  with  very  important  and  unquestionable  truth  so 
that  by  admitting  both,  you  may  exhibit  this  passage  as  the  enve- 
lope of  two  meanings  or  lessons,  both  of  which  are  incontroverti- 
bly  sound  and  practically  of  very  great  consequence."     But  it  is 
better  to  confine  the  attention  to  one  rather  than  to  both  of  these 
conceptions.     Each  seems  to  have  some  claims  to  consideration. 
The  great  objection  to  reading  it  liveth  is  that  stated  by  Wolf— 
"  It  is  very  unusual  and  surely  unknown  to  scripture  to  say  that 
the  laiv  liveth,  or  the  law  is  dead:'     The  only  place  cited  to  prove 
such  language  admissible  is  v.  6  of  this  section,  and  there  a  differ- 
ent reading  is  accepted  by  many.     The  great  argument  in  favor 
of  the  sense  gathered  from  the  authorized  version  is  that  it  coin- 
cides well  with  Paul's  language  in  v.  4,  where  he  says  Christians 
themselves  are  dead  to  the  law,  not  the  law  dead  to  them.      But 
what  does  Paul  here  mean  by  the  lazv  ?     Some  say  he  points  to  the 
ceremonial  law.     But  why  should  we  thus  hold  ?     Men  were  sanc- 
tified while  obeying  the  ceremonial  law,  and  observing  (not  abus- 
ing) its  precepts.     It  was  indeed  burdensome,  and  those,  who  put 
it  in  the  place  of  the  grace  of  God,  sadly  perverted  it.     But  men 
mio-ht  be  dead  to  it  as  a  way  of  salvation,  and  yet  not  be  in  a  state 
of  salvation,  relying  on  the  moral  law  to  save  them.     With  the 
necessary  qualifications  the  same  things  may  be  said  of  the  Mosaic 
institute  as  a  whole.     But  why  may  we  not  apply  the  term  to  law 
generally — to  all  law  as  a  method  of  justification  or  of  sanctifica- 
tion  ?     This  covers  the  whole  ground,  well  agrees  with  what  Paul 
has  said  elsewhere,  and  leaves  no  room  for  evasion.     Some,  indeed, 
think  that  in  this  verse  the  apostle  by  law  means  the  law  of  mar- 
riao-e  only.     But  that  is  not  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  of 
the  verse.     The  law  of  marriage  is  an  illustration  of  the  princi- 
ple here  avowed,  and  a  very  good  one  too,  brought  forward  in 
vs.  2,  3.      Some  have  suggested  that  this  argument   is   specially 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  311 

addressed  to  Jewish  converts  to  Christianity ;  but  all  the  early 
Christians  were,  according  to  their  several  grades  of  intelligence, 
acquainted  with  the  moral  law,  even  as  contained  in  the  deca- 
logue, yes,  and  even  with  the  general  character  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation, And  nothing  could  hinder  even  the  Gentiles  from 
knowing  the  general  character  of  the  moral  law,  for  it  was  writ- 
ten on  their  hearts.  And  Jew  and  Gentile  are  alike  wedded  to 
law  as  a  scheme  of  commending  themselves  to  God  and  of  assimi- 
lating their  characters  to  his.  Now  God's  people  have  no  more 
to  do  with  moral  law  as  a  method  of  salvation,  nothing  more  to 
do  with  the  covenant  of  works  as  a  means  of  pardon,  acceptance 
or  sanctification,  than  a  dead  man  has  to  do  with  laws  of  any  kind 
enacted  for  the  government  of  the  living.  One's  death  releases 
him  from  any  and  every  law,  by  which  man  everheld  him  in  sub- 
jection or  had  dominion  over  him.  We  might  thus  express  the 
sense :  "  My  brethren,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles  in  origin,'  I  have 
fully  showed  you  that  justification  is  by  no  means  to  be  obtained 
by  any  conformity  sinful  men  can  acquire  to  the  precepts  of  law. 
I  have  in  the  last  chapter  shown  that  neither  can  holiness  be  ac- 
quired by  a  legal  spirit,  nor  by  motives  drawn  from  the  rigors  of 
law.  If  you  would  obtain  sanctification,  )^ou  must  seek  it  by  the 
grace  of  the  gospel.  I  wish  this  matter  to  be  understood  by  you, 
and  well  settled  in  your  minds.  So  I  ask  your  intelligent  atten- 
tion to  an  illustrated  argument  on  the  subject.  Will  you  not 
admit  thus  much  that  one's  death  releases  him  from  the  binding 
force  of  any  law,  under  which  he  may  have  lived?  Will  you  not 
concede  that  neither  good  nor  bad  governments  have  power  to 
pursue  a  man  beyond  the  grave  ?  Even  the  prisoner  and  the  slave 
are  free  among  the  dead.  Now,  my  argument  is  that  you  are 
dead  to  the  law ;  you  are  dead  with  Christ,  who  is  the  head  and 
surety  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  so  no  law,  as  a  means  of  sal- 
vation, can  bind  you.  I  have  proved  that  no  man  can  be  justified 
by  any  law.  I  am  now  proving  that  his  heart  cannot  be  purified 
by  any  law,  as  a  master  or  as  a  means,  supplying  adequate  motives 
or  helps  thereto." 

2.  For  the  ivoman  ivhich  hath  a  husband  is  bound  by  the  law 
to  her  husband  so  long  as  he  liveth ;  but  if  the  husband  be  dead, 
she  is  loosed  from  the  law  of  her  husband.  The  single  word  ren- 
dered, which  hath  a  husband,  is  found  nowhere  else  in  the  New 
Testament ;  but  we  have  it  in  the  Septuagint  in  Num.  5  :  29. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  correctly  rendered.  The  law  of  her 
husband  is  the  law  of  marriage  which  binds  her  to  her  husband. 
He  liveth,  in  this  verse  corresponds  to  the  same  words  in  v.  i, 
and  shows  that  the  rendering  there  is  probably  correct. 


312  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  3,  4. 

3.  So  then  if,  tvJiile  her  husband  liveth,  she  be  married  to  another 
man,  she  shall  be  called  an  adulteress  :  but  if  her  husbatid  be  dead,  she 
is  free  from  that  law  ;  so  that  she  is  no  adulteress,  though  she  be  mar- 
ried to  another  man.  The  terms  and  phrases  are  simple  and  easily 
understood.  The  principle  avowed  is  that  even  the  law  of  mar- 
riage, sacred  as  it  is,  binds  not  after  either  party  has  departed  this 
life,  '^or  adtdter ess  Tyndale  and  Cranmer  re?id  wedlocke  breaker  ; 
but  the  sense  is  the  same.  This  verse  and  the  preceding  contain 
the  illustration  plainly  stated.  Some  indeed  find  difficulty  from 
trying  to  make  the  illustration  in  all  things  parallel  to  the  matter 
illustrated.  But  this  can  seldom  be  done.  It  certainly  cannot  be 
done  here.     The  application  of  the  illustration  is  found  in  verse 

4.  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  ye  also  are  become  dead  to  the  law  by 
the  body  of  Christ  j  that  ye  should  be  married  to  another,  even  to  him 
who  is,  raised  from  the  dead,  that  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God. 
Believers  are  dead  in  two  senses,  i.  They  are  said  to  have  died 
with  Christ,  to  have  been  crucified  with  him.  See  above  on  Rom. 
6  :  2-13.  In  his  death  they  are  so  much  interested  and  their 
union  with  him  is  so  close,  that  his  death  is  spoken  of  as  if  it  were 
theirs.  This  is  probably  the  sense  here.  2.  Believers  are  as  to 
their  hopes  dead  to  the  law.  They  have  no  expectation  whatever 
of  salvation  from  that  quarter.  If  they  had  nothing  better  to  look 
to,  they  know  they  are  all  dead  men.  The  death  of  believers  to 
the  law  is  by  the  body  of  Christ.  This  phrase  in  its  connection 
receives  various  explanations.  i.  By  far  the  most  common  is 
that  which  refers  it  to  the  death  of  Christ  on  Calvary.  Chry- 
sostom  explains  it  as  "through  the  Lord's  death;"  Calvin: 
"  through  his  body,  as  fixed  to  the  cross  ;"  Bp.  Hall :  "  By 
that  all-sufficient  sacrifice  which  Christ  offered  up  in  his  flesh 
for  us  ; "  Pool  :  "  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ's  body  upon  the 
cross;"  Doddridge:  "Christ's  death  and  sufferings  having  now 
accomplished  the  design  of  the  law,  and  abrogated  its  authority  ; " 
Scott :  "  by  his  incarnation,  obedience  and  sacrifice  on  the  cross 
for  their  transgressions  ;  "  Stuart :  "  He  must  of  course  mean,  the 
body  of  Christ  as  crucified,  as  having  suffered  in  order  to  redeem 
us  from  the  curse  of  the  law ; "  Hodge  :  "  by  the  sacrifice  of  that 
body,  or  by  his  death."  The  texts  relied  on  as  sustaining  this  in- 
terpretation are  Rom.  8:2;  Gal.  2  :  19;  3  :  13  ;  Eph.  2  :  13,  15,  16; 
Col.  I  :  22  ;  2  :  14 ;  Tit.  2  :  14 ;  Heb.  10  :  5-10  ;  I  Pet.  2  :  24  ;  3:18. 
This  is  by  far  the  most  common  and  it  is  the  best  method  of 
explanation.  2.  Others  think  that  the  prominent  idea  is  that 
of  our  union  with  Christ  in  his  mystical  body.  Locke :  "  By  the 
body  of  Christ,  in  which  you  as  members  died  with  him  ; "  Mac- 
knight  :  "  Believers  being  considered  as  members  of  Christ's  body 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  5-]  THE  ROMANS.  313 

on  account  of  the  intimate  union  which  subsists  between  them 
and  him,  every  thing  happening  to  him  is  in  scripture  said  to  have 
happened  to  them."  The  texts  relied  on  to  justify  such  an  ex- 
planation are  such  as  Col.  2  :  11,  20.  3.  Evans  unites  these  views: 
^^  By  the  body  of  Christ,  that  is,  by  the  sufferings  of  Christ  in  his 
body,  by  his  crucified  body,  which  abrogated  the  law,  answered 
the  demands  of  it,  made  satisfaction  for  our  violation  of  it,  pur- 
chased for  us  a  covenant  of  grace,  in  which  righteousness  and 
strength  are  laid  up  for  us,  such  as  were  not,  nor  could  be,  by  the 
law.  We  are  dead  to  the  law  by  our  union  with  the  mystical  body 
of  Christ ;  by  being  incorporated  into  Christ  in  our  baptism  pro- 
fessedly, in  our  believing  powerfully  and  effectually,  we  are  dead 
to  the  law,  have  no  more  to  do  with  it  than  the  dead  servant,  that 
is  free  from  his  master,  hath  to  do  with  the  master's  yoke."  4.  Ferme 
says :  "  '  We  are  dead  to  the  law  in  the  body  of  Christ ' — first,  be- 
cause we  die  to  the  law  with  Christ ;  secondly,  because  Christ  died 
in  the  body  only  ;  and  thirdly,  because  we  are  in  a  manner  crucified 
with  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  inasmuch  as  his  crucified  body 
was  a  ransom  for  all :  so  that  by  his  one  death  we  are  all  set  free 
from  and  dead  to  the  law  and  sin."  5.  Not  a  few  Roman  Catholic 
expositors  by  the  body  of  Christ  understand  the  church,  into  which 
we  are  introduced  by  baptism,  and  refer  to  i  Cor.  12  :  12-27;  Eph. 
4:12  etc.,  in  proof.  The  first  of  these  views  covers  the  ground 
and  is  to  be  preferred.  Being  thus  dead  to  the  law,  believers  are 
lawfully  married  to  Christ,  who  is  raised  from  the  dead  to  the  very 
end  that  we  might  be  effectually  placed  under  a  system  of  grace, 
where  both  justification  (see  Rom.  4  :  25)  and  sanctification  might 
be  secured  to  us  ;  that  we  should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God ;  at  the 
command  and  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  so  be  like  him.  This 
fruit-bearing  is  the  only  infallible  sign  of  renewal  and  of  sanctifica- 
tion. That  this  fruitfulness  is  most  reasonably  to  be  expected 
might  be  argued  from  the  new  state  of  those,  who  had  accepted 
Christ,  and  were  under  grace.  To  this  the  brethren  at  Rome  were 
urged  (and  the  same  might  have  been  said  to  the  brethren  of  any 
of  the  churches)  by  the  fact  that  in  their  unregenerate  state  they 
had  been  diligent  in  doing  wickedness,  and  had  done  much  dis- 
honor to  God : 

5.  For  when  we  were  in  the  flesh,  the  motions  of  sins,  which  were  by 
the  law,  did  work  in  our  members  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death.  On 
the  term  flesh  see  above  on  Rom.  3  :  20.  Here  it  evidently  means 
the  natural  corrupt  state  of  man  previous  to  a  work  of  grace  on 
the  heart.  The  motioits  of  sins,  an  expression  not  elsewhere  found 
in  scripture.  In  the  Greek  Testament  the  word  rendered  mo- 
tions occurs  sixteen  times,  is  eleven  times  rendered  sufferings  or  in 


314  •  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  v.  6. 

the  svci^vXdiX  suffering ;  three  times,  afflictions  ;  onc^,  affections  ;  here, 
only,  motions.  In  Gal.  5  :  24  where  it  is  rendered  affections  it  has 
very  much  the  same  signification  as  here,  Peshito  has  emotions 
of  sin  ;  Wiclif,  Rheims,  Arabic  and  Doway,  passions  of  sin  ;  Tyn- 
dale  and  Cranmer,  lustes  of  synne ;  Coverdale,  synful  lustes ; 
Stuart,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  sinful  passions  ;  Macknight,  sinful 
inclinations,  Diodati,  the  perverse  affections  ;  Grotius,  lusts  ; 
Scott,  those  desires  and  affections  which  the  law  forbade ;  Clarke, 
the  evil  propensities  to  sins  ;  Hodge,  the  emotions  or  feelings  of 
sin.  The  word  passions  as  it  was  understood  two  or  three  centu- 
ries ago  would  be  the  best  rendering.  Perhaps  sinful  affections 
more  nearly  expresses  the  exact  idea  than  any  other  words.  These 
sinful  affections  were  by  the  lazv  ;  Chrj^sostom  :  were  produced  by 
the  law ;  Calvin :  the  law  excited  in  us  evil  emotions,  which  ex- 
erted their  influence  through  all  our  faculties ;  Diodati :  the  per- 
verse affections,  which  are  the  roots  of  sins,  being  pricked  for- 
ward, rather  than  corrected  or  repressed  by  the  law,  did  produce 
their  effects  in  all  the  parts  of  our  souls ;  Guyse  :  the  violent  pas- 
sions of  indwelling  corruption,  which  were  irritated  by  the  opposi- 
tion, that  the  purity  of  the  precepts  and  the  severity  of  the  curse 
of  the  law  made  against  them,  powerfully  worked  and  exerted 
themselves  in  the  whole  man,  unto  the  employing  and  command- 
ing of  all  the  members  of  our  bodies,  and  all  the  faculties  of  our 
souls,  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness  unto  sin.  Members,  as  in 
Rom.  6 :  13,  19,  on  which  see  above.  We  should  bring  forth  fruit, 
in  the  Greek  one  word,  a  verb  well  rendered,  found  several  times 
-in  the  New  Testament.  We  had  it  in  v.  4.  Here  the  fruit  is  unto 
death,  to  the  promotion  of  death  in  ourselves  and  others,  to  the 
service  and  honor  of  death,  personified  as  a  tyrant,  and  opposed 
to  God,  in  v.  4. 

6.  But  now  zue  are  delivered  from  the  law,  that  being  dead  wherein 
we  were  held ;  that  we  should  serve  in  newness  of  spirit,  and  not  in  the 
oldness  of  the  letter.  If  this  is  the  correct  reading  of  this  verse,  then  in 
v.  I  we  may  read  it  liveth.  But  it  is  probable  it  should  read,  we  being 
dead  to  that  wherein  we  were  held.  The  weight  of  authority  is  quite 
that  way.  This  reading  is  supported  by  Peshito,  Arabic,  Ethiopic, 
Wiclif,  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan,  Rheims,  Erasmus. 
Calvin,  Knapp,  Ferme,  Bengel,  Mill,  Wetstein,  Stephens,  Griesbach, 
Rosenmuller,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  Stuart  and  others.  Very 
seldom  is  there  so  strong  ground  for  giving  up  a  received  English 
reading.  Not  a  single  manuscript  supports  our  authorized  ver- 
sion. The  Doway,  following  the  Vulgate  reads :  But  now  we  are 
loosed  from  the  law  of  death  wherein  we  were  detained.  It  is 
true  indeed  that  the  same  doctrine  is  taught  whether  we  read  we 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  1,4-]  THE  ROMANS.  315 

are  dead  to  the  law,  or  the  law  is  dead  to  us  ;  but  it  is  best  to  fol- 
low the  true  Greek  text,  and  to  preserve,  as  far  as  we  can,  the  har- 
mony of  the  figures  of  scripture.  All  agree  that  we  are  delivered 
from  the  law,  but  to  what  intent  ?  TJiat  we  should  serve  in  newness 
of  spirit.  It  is  perhaps  best  to  supply  God  after  serve.  For  it  is  to 
him  all  religious  service  is  due.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  he  had  spoken  of  our  being  the  servants  of  God. 
This  is  better  than  any  other  construction  proposed.  Some  think 
the  meaning  is,  Ave  serve  the  Holy  Spirit.  All  God's  people  do 
indeed  serve  him,  but  that  is  hardly  the  truth  taught  here.  New- 
ness of  spirit  here  corresponds  to  newness  of  life  in  Rom.  6:4; 
only  here  we  have  the  source  of  strength  pointed  out — even  the 
Holy  Spirit.  God's  regenerated  servants  have  new  apprehen- 
sions of  truth  and  of  duty,  of  privilege  and  of  obligation  ;  new  dis- 
positions toAvards  God  and  man,  towards  God's  word  and  people, 
his  laws  and  his  promises ;  new  qualities  of  heart,  loving  what 
they  once  hated,  hating  Avhat  they  once  loved,  fearing  and  hoping 
as  they  never  did  before ;  faith  displacing  unbelief,  love  super- 
seding enmity  and  penitence  taking  the  place  of  hardness  of  heart. 
And  all  this  is  done  with  a  freshness  of  spirit,  a  vigor  and  an 
earnestness,  which  AvhoUy  distinguish  it  trom  the  oldness  of  the 
letter,  in  which  they  had  once  lived  ;  formalism,  servility,  the  spirit 
of  bondage,  and  dead  works  marking  the  whole  of  that  old  life, 
even  where  there  was  some  form  of  godliness,  sin  virtually  gain- 
ing an  advantage  all  the  time.  For  an  account  of  the  great  effects 
of  conversion  to  and  by  the  Gospel  read  Acts  2  :  41-47. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  If  we  would  profit  others,  we  must  speak  to  them  as  kindly 
as  truth  will  allow,  following  the  example  of  Paul,  who  here  ad- 
dresses the  Romans  as  brethren,  vs.  i,  4.  However  we  may  be 
grieved  by  the  dulness  and  apparent  perverseness  of  men,  we  must 
have  that  charity  which  beareth  all  things,  and  remember  that  the 
wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  righteousness  of  God.  We  may 
not  indulge  suspicious  and  harsh  tempers.  Our  Saviour  carried 
his  gentleness  so  far  that  he  even  called  Judas  friend,  in  the  very 
moment  of  betrayal.  The  law  of  kindness  never  reigns  more 
gracefully  than  in  the  speech  of  God's  ministers.  Brown :  "  If 
people  were  thoroughly  convinced  that  they  had  a  room  in  the 
affections  of  pastors,  it  would  much  help  them  to  profit  by  them, 
and  to  receive  the  truth  at  their  hands."  It  is  a  saying  not  less  than 
fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  years  old,  "  Love  and  say  what  you 
please." 


3i6  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  i-6. 

2.  If  truths  are  manifestly  scriptural  and  important,  let  us  thor- 
oughly explain  them,  and  earnestly  insist  Upon  them  ;  so  that  if 
men  reject  or  misapprehend  them,  the  fault  shall  be  wholly  their 
own.  In  Rom.  6  :  14  Paul  had  laid  down  the  great  truth  that  we 
are  not  under  law,  but  under  grace  ;  that  as  justification  had  been 
shown  to  be  impossible  by  the  deeds  of  the  law,  so  sanctification 
was  no  less  unattainable  by  legal  means  or  in  a  legal  spirit.  In 
chapter  VI.  he  had  stated  and  proven  that  we  were  free  from  sin  as 
a  master,  that  it  had  not  dominion  over  us.  Here  he  shows  that 
we  are  free  from  the  law,  and  this  was  necessary,  for  the  strength 
of  sin  is  the  law.  If  we  are  still  under  the  reign  of  law,  we  are 
still  under  the  reign  of  sin.  The  power  of  sin  is  in  the  power  of 
the  law,  as  a  covenant  of  works,  vs.  1-6.  If  one  even  religiously 
beHeves  any  thing,  and  yet  the  church  of  God  does  not  receive  it, 
the  best  and  ablest  men  looking  upon  it  as  doubtful,  or  of  slight 
importance,  he  may  well  keep  silence  respecting  it,  Rom.  14 :  22. 
But  where  we  surely  have  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  and  a  doctrine 
or  practice  is  weighty,  and  of  present  importance,  let  us  spare  no 
pains  truly  to  set  it  forth. 

3.  It  is  a  great  advantage  to  the  cause  of  Christ  when  in  vindi- 
cating and  estabHshing  the  truth  we  have  inteUigent  hearers  or 
readers,  v.  i.  It  is  well  indeed  that  in  malice  men  should  be  chil- 
dren, but  in  understanding  they  should  be  men,  i  Cor.  14:  20. 
We  should  therefore  labor  to  come,  and  to  bring  others  to  a  full 
assurance  of  understanding  in  all  the  great  things  of  God,  Col. 
2  :  2. 

4.  As  we  are  bound  not  to  exaggerate  the  errors  or  infirmities 
of  our  brethren,  so  we  ought  candidly  to  admit  their  attainments 
and  excellencies  as  Paul  does  here,  saying,  I  speak  to  them  that 
know  the  law,  v.  i.  Augustin  freely  admitted  the  good  moral 
character  of  Pelagius.  When  one  of  the  Reformers  used  harsh 
language  to  Calvin,  the  Genevan  replied  :  "  If  thou  shouldest  call 
me  a  devil,  I  would  still  esteem  thee  an  eminent  servant  of  Christ." 
We  strengthen  no  good  cause  (and  we  ought  not  by  any  means  to 
strengthen  a  bad  cause)  by  suspicious  or  slanderous  allegations 
against  any. 

5.  Scriptural  holiness,  no  less  than  Christian  comfort,  requires 
of  us  that  we  insist  upon  the  truth  (and  never  fail,  on  a  fit  occa- 
sion, to  vindicate  it),  that  believers  are  dead  to  the  law,  or  that  it 
is  dead  to  them,  as  a  means,  or  as  a  motive  to  holy  living,  no  less 
than  as  a  means  of  justification  before  God,  vs.  1-6.  Chrysostom  : 
"  The  marvel  is  that  it  is  the  law  itself  acquits  us  who  are  divorced 
from  it  of  any  charge,  and  so  the  mind  of  it  was  that  we  should  be- 
come Christ's."     We  must  be  dead  to  the  law  before  we  can  be 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  1-6.]  THE  ROMA  NS.  317 

joined  to  Christ ;  and  until  we  are  joined  to  Christ  we  can  do 
nothing,  John  15:5.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  so  many, 
who  seem  to  begin  in  the  right  way,  aim  to  be  made  perfect  in  the 
wrong  way.  T.  Adam  :  "  O  !  what  pains  are  taken  to  conjure  up 
the  ghost  of  the  law,  and  how  many  mistaken  souls  frighten  them- 
selves all  their  days  with  the  ghastly  apparition  of  it,  instead  of 
seeing  it  slain  by  Christ,  and  rejoicing  over  it  as  a  dead  enemy. 
Reader,  do  not  charge  me  with  Antinomianism  :  I  abhor  the  im- 
putation: it  is  the  desire  of  my  soul  to  say  with  the  Psalmist, 
'  Lord,  how  love  I  thy  law!'  I  believe  it  to  be  the  rule  of  our 
duty,  and  that  it  will  be  the  measure  of  our  reward  or  condemna- 
tion. I  believe,  from  my  heart,  that  we  are  only  miserable  by 
transgressing  it,  and  can  never  be  happy  but  in  conforming  to  it. 
But  then  I  must  learn  from  St.  Paul  the  Spirit's  order  of  coming 
to  the  love  of  it.  And  I  understand  from  him,  that  I  can  never 
look  upon  it  with  a  friendly  eye  till  I  see  the  sting  of  death  taken 
out  of  it,  never  be  in  a  fruit-bearing  state  according  to  it,  nor  de- 
light in  it  as  a  rule,  till  I  am  freed  from  it  as  a  covenant." 

6.  In  its  nature  marriage  is  of  perpetual  obligation,  and  can  be 
dissolved  in  no  way  during  the  life  of  the  parties  but  by  some 
crime,  which  wholly  subverts  its  design.  The  scriptures  mention 
two  such,  adultery,  and  wilful  permanent  desertion.  Matt.  5  :  32  ; 
19:  9;  Mark  16:  18 ;  i  Cor.  7:15. 

Irritability  of  temper,  want  of  congeniality,  ungodliness,  scold- 
ing, penuriousness,  insanity,  incurable  disease,  helplessness,  or 
consent  of  parties  can  give  no  right  to  dissolve  the  marriage  bond. 
The  law  of  God  is  decisive.  The  laws  of  man  should  be  no  less 
so.  Nor  is  it  possible  that  either  piety  or  good  morals  should  per- 
vade a  community,  where  the  marriage  relation  is  not  maintained 
in  its  purity.  "  Marriage  is  honorable  in  all  and  the  bed  unde- 
filed."  Only  let  neither  men,  nor  churches  attempt  to  make  mar- 
riage more  holy  than  it  is,  nor  surround  it  with  hindrances  that 
are  not  sanctioned  by  God  himself.  Scott :  "  It  would  be  foreign 
to  the  apostle's  design  to  interpret  his  words,  as  meaning  that  a 
woman,  who  had  been  equitably  divorced  for  consanguinity,  which 
rendered  her  former  marriage  a  nullity,  or  for  any  other  cause, 
would  be  guilty  of  adultery,  if  she  married  again  during  her  for- 
mer husband's  life  ;  fjor  neither  the  law  of  Moses,  nor  the  precepts 
of  Christ  inculcate  any  such  thing."  Nor  should  churches  or 
christians  discourage  second  marriages,  where  death  has  loosed 
the  bond,  vs.  2,  3,  There  may  be  as  good  reason  for  a  second  or 
third  as  for  a  first  marriage ;  and  it  is  every  way  as  lawful,  i  Cor. 

7:  39- 

7.  Good  men,  enlightened  from  above,  have  given  up  all  ex- 


3i8  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  v.  4. 

pectation  of  being  saved  by  a  righteousness  founded  on  their  per- 
sonal obedience  to  law,  or  by  motives  drawn  from  the  covenant  of 
works,  V.  4.  The  legal  spirit  is  a  great  enemy  of  the  gospel. 
Legal  repentance  is  wholly  diverse  from  evangelical  sorrow  for 
sin.  Mount  Sinai  is  far  from  Mount  Calvary.  It  was  Joshua,  not 
Moses,  that  led  Israel  into  Canaan. 

8.  The  state  of  unbehevers  is  sad  indeed.  They  are  wedded 
to  a  law,  which  they  never  kept,  which  presents  no  incentives 
strong  enough  to  secure  obedience,  and  which  pours  its  curses  on 
the  heads  of  all,  who  continue  not  in  all  things  which  it  requires. 
The  law  demands  perfect  obedience,  but  gives  no  strength  ;  un- 
spotted holiness,  but  provides  no  means  or  motives,  that  can  con- 
trol the  heart  even  for  a  day.  The  thought  of  foolishness  is  sin, 
Pr.  24 :  9  ;  but  vain  thoughts  lodge  within  the  unrenewed  all  the 
time.  Their  ploughing  is  sin,  Pr.  21  14;  for  they  plough  like 
atheists.  Their  sacrifice  is  an  abomination,  Pr.  21  :27;  because 
they  bring  it  with  a  wicked  mind.  Without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  God,  Heb.  11:6;  but  they  utterly  discredit  in  their 
hearts  the  testimony  of  God  concerning  his  Son.  Without  holi- 
ness no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,  Heb.  12  :  14;  but  they  wear  the 
image  and  do  the  works  of  the  wicked  one.  Redemption  by 
blood,  without  money  and  without  price,  is  offered  to  them  ;  but 
in  their  self-righteousness  they  reject  it.  The  yoke  of  Christ  is 
tendered  to  them  ;  but  in  their  self-will  they  say,  We  will  not 
have  this  man  to  reign  over  us.  The  gates  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  are  thrown  open  to  them  ;  but  they  madly  press  on  till 
they  drop  into  hell.  Nothing  can  be  so  dismal  as  the  future  of  an 
incorrigible  sinner,  who  has  heard  the  gospel,  and  died  without 
repentance.  So  many  of  them  say  before  they  leave  the  world. 
So  God's  word  says. 

9.  The  incarnation  and  death  of  Christ  are  truly  wonderful  in 
their  nature  and  in  their  effects.  They  reach  so  far,  delivering 
poor  lost  souls  from  sin,  and  wrath,  and  guilty  fears.  Indeed  it  is 
by  his  body  sacrificed  for  us  that  we  become  dead  to  the  law,  cease 
to  strive  for  heaven  by  a  self-righteous  course,  and  become  zealous 
of  good  works,  and  perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God.  We  must 
thus  be  dead  to  the  law  before  we  can  lay  hold  on  Christ.  The 
gospel  plan  in  its  very  nature  requires  an  utter  renunciation  of  all 
other  plans.  Christ  will  divide  the  glories  of  redemption  with 
none  other.  He  alone  will  save  us  entirely  or  not  at  all.  And 
there  is  no  other  name  under  heaven,  given  among  men,  whereby 
we  must  be  saved. 

10.  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  whereby  poor  lost  souls 
are  married  to   Christ,  v.  4.     Of  all  the  forms  of  speech  used  to 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  4]  THE  ROMANS.  319 

express  the  relations  of  saints  to  the  Saviour  and  of  the  Saviour  to 
saints  none  is  more  appropriate,  more  refreshing  or  perhaps  oftener 
adopted  in  scripture  than  that  of  marriage.  In  Ps.  45  :  8-1 5  is 
a  beautiful  illustration  of  this  remark.  Then  we  have  the  whole 
of  the  Song  of  Songs,  which  is  Solomon's,  entirely  on  the  same  sub- 
ject. No  equal  portion  of  scripture  has  probably  been  more 
admired  by  the  experienced  child  of  God.  Then  by  the  evangeli- 
cal prophet  God  brings  forth  the  same  idea  :  "  Thy  Maker  is  thy 
husband,  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name,"  Isa.  54:  5.  Then  by  the 
husband  of  Gomer  the  daughter  of  Diblaim  God  says :  "  I  will 
betroth  thee  unto  me  for  ever ;  yea,  I  will  betroth  thee  unto  me  in 
righteousness,  and  in  judgment,  and  in  loving  kindness,  and  in 
mercies.  I  will  even  betroth  thee  unto  me  in  faithfulness  ;  and 
thou  shalt  know  the  Lord,"  Hos.  2  :  19,  20.  Paul  takes  up  the 
same  glorious  truth  and  says :  "  I  have  espoused  you  to  one  hus- 
band, that  I  may  present  you  as  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ,"  2  Cor. 
11:2.  And  in  another  epistle  he  has  an  allegory  on  the  same 
blessed  theme,.  Eph.  5  :  22-32.  In  the  Apocalypse  John  has  much 
to  say  about  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife.  With  a  splendor  that 
shall  amaze  men  and  angels  her  nuptials  shall  be  publicly  cele- 
brated on  the  evening  of  the  day  of  judgment. 

11.  It  is  by  forgetting  her  marriage  covenant  and  turning  to 
folly  that  the  church  brings  on  herself  such  disgrace  and  such 
misery.  So  that  God  often  charges  her  with  harlotry  and  whore- 
dom, a  form  of  wickedness  detestable  in  all  ages  ;  and  yet  in  com- 
parison of  unfaithfulness  to  God  small  is  the  sin  against  man  of 
unfaithfulness  in  the  marriage  bond.  Oh  that  every  backsliding 
soul  and  church  would  say:  "I  will  go  and  return  to  my  first 
husband  ;  for  then  was  it  better  with  me  than  now,"  Hos.  2  :  7. 
Such  a  return  would  but  be  in  response  to  the  Lord's  glorious  in- 
vitation :  "  Thou  hast  played  the  harlot  with  many  lovers ;  yet 
return  again  to  me,  saith  the  Lord,"  Jer.  3:1, 

12.  All  religious  profession  and  service  without  holy  living — 
fruit  unto  God— zrevdiin  and  worthless,  v.  4.  Evans  :  "  The  great 
end  of  our  marriage  to  Christ  is  our  fruitfulness  in  love,  and  grace, 
and  every  good  work.  That  is  fruit  unto  God,  pleasing  to  God, 
according  to  his  will,  aiming  at  his  glory."  But  let  us  never  for- 
get that  it  is  only  in  Christ  Jesus  that  we  are  created  unto  good 
works,  Eph.  2  :  10.  The  way  in  which  the  church  avoids  the  sin 
and  shame  of  not  honoring  her  head  is  by  hoHness  in  life.  Other- 
wise the  foul  blot  of  at  least  practical  antinomianism  would  attach 
to  her.  Chalmers:  "  While  the  law  is  abolished  as  a  covenant,  it 
is  not  abolished  as  a  rule  of  life.  Though  not  under  the  economy 
of  do  and  live,  still  you  are  under  the  economy  of  live  and  do. 


320  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  4,  5. 

Your  obedience  to  the  law  is  no  longer  the  purchase-money,  by 
which  heaven  is  bougiit ;  but  still  your  obedience  to  the  law  is 
the  preparation  by  which  you  are  beautified  and  arrayed  for 
heaven.  It  is  no  longer  the  righteousness  by  which  the  rewards 
of  eternity  are  earned  ;  but  still  it  is  the  righteousness,  which  fits 
us  to  enjoy  the  sacred  rest,  and  the  hallowed  recreations  of 
eternity."  Blessed  be  God,  the  King's  highway  is  the  way  of 
holiness. 

13.  Let  Christians  hold  fast  the  fact  and  the  doctrine  of  Christ's 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  v.  4.  It  can  never  be  yielded  without 
surrendering  the  gospel.  No  truth  is  fundamental,  if  this  is  not. 
It  is  connected  with  all  good  hopes,  with  all  right  practice,  with 
salvation  itself.  He  had  power  to  lay  down  his  life ;  but  he  had 
power  to  take  it  again,  John  10  :  18.  Compare  i  Cor.  15  :  14-20  ; 
were  he  not  the  first  begotten  of  the  dead,  he  would  not  be  the 
prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth. 

14.  A  good  deal  may  be  learned  concerning  our  spiritual  state 
by  observing  our  thoughts  and  words  respecting  our  conduct  in 
that  state,  which  we  confess  to  have  been  one  of  unregeneracy,  v.  5. 
If  our  former  sinfulness  is  dwelt  upon  with  pleasure,  it  is  a  dark 
sign.  But  if  it  is  used  as  an  incentive  to  greater  humility,  dili- 
gence and  love,  it  is  a  good  sign.  Those,  who  have  been  strong 
sinners,  should  not  be  feeble  saints.  Let  the  zeal  of  God's  house 
consume  us. 

15.  What  a  horrible  thing  sin  is.  Its  very  motions  so  work  as  to 
bring  forth  fruit  unto  death,  v.  5.  Since  the  world  began  sin 
has  produced  evil,  only  evil  and  that  continually.  Though  in  his 
infinite  wisdom,  power  and  goodness  God  has  brought  great 
good  out  of  evil,  making  the  wrath  of  men  to  praise  him,  yet  sin 
works  no  good  to  man,  nor  glory  to  God.  It  brings  no  good  out 
of  itself.  It  is  evil ;  it  is  rebellion  ;  it  is  iniquity  ;  it  is  transgression  ; 
it  is  unrighteousness  ;  it  is  want  of  conformity  to  law  ;  it  is  the  folly 
of  fools  ;  it  is  a  lie.  God  hates  it  with  the  whole  of  his  nature.  It 
is  the  only  thing  he  does  hate.  The  worst  thing  that  can  be  said 
of  sin  is  not  that  it  carries  death  and  hell  in  its  train  ;  but  that  it 
is  exceeding  sinful.  It  is  so  stubborn  that  if  divine  grace  were  not 
armed  with  omnipotence,  even  it  would  not  be  able  to  bend  the 
will. 

16.  The  natural  state  of  man  is,  therefore,  very  alarming.  It  is 
a  state  of  unregeneracy,  of  impenitence,  of  unbelief,  of  war  with 
God.  The  heart  is  naturally  dead  to  good,  but  keenly  alive  to 
evil.  It  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately  wicked. 
The  affections  are  all  disordered  and  far  from  God.  The  whole 
tends  directly  to  death  and  ruin.     No  awakened  sinner  ever  had 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  6.]  THE  ROMANS.  321 

too  strong  a  sense  of  his  lost  condition,  too  dark  a  view  of  the 
heinousness  of  his  sins. 

17.  The  deliverance  from  the  law  as  a  covenant  was  a  great 
deliverance,  v.  6.  None  but  God  could  devise,  execute  or  aj)ply 
any  fit  scheme  of  redeeming  mercy.  The  power  that  held  m.tn, 
though  not  almighty,  was  too  mighty  for  any  arm  of  flesh.  They 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  strong  inati.  Great  is  the  salvation  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

18.  Why  should  not  God's  people  lead  a  new  life?  v.  6.  They 
have  new  views,  new  hopes,  new  fears,  new  joys,  new  principles, 
new  objects  of  attraction,  new  motives.  Our  righteousness 
must  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  pharisees.  We 
must  not  only  not  murder ;  we  must  not  strike  ;  we  must  not 
slander ;  we  must  not  bear  ill-will.  We  must  love  purity  for  its 
own  sake.  And  if  we  do,  we  will  surely  shew  it  in  our  walk.  If 
we  become  not  like  Christ,  we  may  not  hope  to  be  with  him. 

19.  No  wonder  the  oldness  of  the  letter  amounts  to  nothing  in 
the  service  of  God.  The  letter  killeth.  It  is  stern,  inexorable. 
It  is  clothed  with  terrors.  It  goads  the  conscience  to  madness. 
It  works  wrath.  Those,  who  cling  to  it,  make  no  progress  in 
overcoming  the  world.  They  live  and  die  the  slaves  of  cor*' 
ruption. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

VERSES  7-13. 

THOUGH  THE  LAW  NEITHER  JUSTIFIES  NOR  SANC- 
TIFIES, YET  IT  IS  EXCELLENT,  AND  USEFUL  IN 
OTHER  WAYS.  BUT  MAN  IS  QUITE  WRONG; 
AND  HIS  FALLEN  NATURE  PERVERTS  THE  LAW. 


7  What  shall  we  say  then?  /s  the  law  sin  ?  God  forbid.  Nay,  I  had  not 
known  sin,  but  by  the  law :  for  I  had  not  known  lust,  except  the  law  had  said. 
Thou  shalt  not  covet. 

8  But  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment,  wrought  in  me  all  manner  of 
concupiscence.     For  without  the  law  sin  tuus  dead. 

9  For  I  was  alive  without  the  law  once :  but  when  the  commandment  came,  sin 
revived,  and  I  died. 

10  And  the  commandment,  which  was  ordained  to  life,  J  found  to  be  unto 
death. 

1 1  For  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment,  deceived  me,  and  by  it 
slew  me. 

12  Wherefore  the  law  is  holy,  and  the  commandment  holy,  and  just,  and  good. 

13  Was  then  that  which  is  good  made  death  unto  me?  God  forbid.  But 
sin,  that  it  might  appear  sin,  working  death  in  me  by  that  which  is  good;  that 
tin  by  the  commandment  might  become  exceeding  sinful. 

7WHA  T  shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  tJie  law  sin  ?  God  forbid.  Nay 
,  /  Jiad  not  known  siji,  bnt  by  the  law :  for  I  had  not  known  lust, 
except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shalt  not  covet.  What  shall  we  say 
then  f  This  form  of  interrogation,  after  the  main  argument  on  a 
point  is  finished,  is  quite  common  with  Paul,  Rom.  3  :  27  ;  4:1; 
6:1,15.  It  clearly  marks  the  close  logical  connection.  Is  the  laiu 
sin  ?  Those,  who  would  make  Paul  a  fautor  of  sin,  can  do  so  only 
by  imputing  to  him  sentiments  of  which  he  expresses  abhorrence, 
yes,  indignant  abhorrence,  as  here.  Compare  Rom.  6  :  i,  2,  11-15. 
Paul  was  no  friend  of  loose  living.  Nor  was  he  an  enemy  of  the  law. 
He  never  said  the  law  was  sin,  or  favored  sin,  or  produced  sin.  It  was 
not  itself  evil,  nor  did  it  countenance  evil.  Ambrose :  "  The  law  dis- 
covers sin,  it  does  not  beget  sin."  God  forbid,  let  it  not  be.  See  above 
on  Rom.  3  :  4.     Nay,  I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by  the  law.     So  far 

(322) 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  8.]  THE  ROMANS.  323 

from  the  law  favoring  sin,  it  was  the  great  reprover  of  sin.  It 
made  known  its  true  nature,  odiousness  and  guilt.  The  word 
rendered  nay  is  in  Rom.  3  :  31  rendered  yea  ;  in  Rom.  8:31  nay  ; 
in  Rom.  5  :  14  nevertheless.  It  is  a  following  up  of  the  Let  it  not  be 
with  notice  of  further  statement  or  argument.  /  Jiad  not  known 
sin  ;  Tyndale  and  Genevan  :  I  knewe  not  what  synne  meant ;  Co- 
nybeare  and  Howson  :  I  should  not  have  known  what  sin  was.  The 
meaning  seems  to  be  this  :  I  should  never  have  understood  the 
real  nature  of  sin,  the  enormity  of  my  guilt,  nor  the  multitude  of 
my  offences  but  for  the  law.  One  way  of  discovering  the  unclean- 
ness  of  an  apartment  in  a  house  is  to  bring  in  a  light.  One  way 
of  discovering  the  crookedness  of  a  wall  is  to  apply  the  plumb- 
line  to  it,  Ps.  119:  105  ;  Amos  7 :  7,  8.  God's  law  is  such  a  light 
and  such  a  line.  Paul  gives  a  particular  illustration  :  /  had  not 
known  lust,  except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shalt  not  covet.  This 
tenth  commandment  was  the  key  that  unlocked  the  mystery  of 
iniquity  in  the  heart  of  the  great  apostle.  It  showed  him  the  great 
storehouse  of  iniquity  in  his  bosom.  I  had  not  known  lust ;  Tyn- 
dale, Granmer  and  Genevan :  I  had  not  knowne  what  lust  had 
meant ;  Conybeare  and  Howson :  I  should  not  have  known  the 
sin  of  coveting  ;  Locke :  I  had  not  known  concupiscence  to  be 
sin  ;  Bp.  Hall :  I  had  not  known  or  observed  lust  to  be  a  sin ; 
Stuart :  I  had  not  known  even  inordinate  desire.  Calvin  :  "  Muni- 
cipal laws  do  indeed  declare  that  intentions,  and  not  results  are  to 
be  punished.  Philosophers  also,  with  more  refinement,  place 
vices  as  well  as  virtues  in  the  soul.  But  by  this  precept  God  goes 
deeper,  and  notices  coveting,  which  is  more  hidden  than  the  will ; 
and  this  is  not  deemed  a  vice.  It  was  pardoned  not  only  by  phi- 
losophers, but  at  this  day  the  Papists  fiercely  contend  that  it  is  no 
sin  in  the  regenerate.  But  Paul  says  he  had  found  out  his  guilt 
from  this  hidden  disease  :  it  hence  follows,  that  all  those,  who 
labor  under  it,  are  by  no  means  free  from  guilt,  except  God  par- 
dons their  sin.  We  ought,  at  the  same  time,  to  remember  the 
difference  between  evil  lustings  or  covetings  which  gain  consent, 
and  the  lusting  which  tempts  and  moves  our  hearts,  but  stops  in 
the  midst  of  its  course."  Evil  desires  are  evil  things.  It  is  sinful 
to  indulge  or  even  have  them. 

8.  But  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment,  wrought  in  me  all 
manner  of  concupiscence.  For  without  the  law  sin  was  dead.  The 
word  rendered  occasion  is  found  six  times  in  the  New  Testament, 
twice  in  this  chapter,  and  always  rendered  occasion,  except  in  Gal. 
5:13,  where  we  read  liberty.  It  never  means  impunity,  as  Grotius 
thinks  it  does  here.  There  is  no  better  rendering  than  occasion. 
So    thought    Wiclif,    Coverdale,    Tyndale,    Granmer,    Genevan, 


324  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  v.  8. 

Rheims,  Doway,  and  many  others.  Peshito :  Sin  found  occasion. 
How  sin  flamed  out  so  terribly  is  here  declared.  The  precept  and 
penalty  of  the  law  both  offended  the  carnal  heart  by  bringing  to 
light  and  by  stirring  up  its  evil  inclinations.  Pride,  self-will  and 
enmity  refused  to  be  restrained  by  the  law  or  by  the  curse.  In 
previous  chapters  Paul  had  dropped  a  hint  to  the  same  effect, 
Rom.  4:15;  5  :  20.  Here  he  declares  it  in  plain  and  strong  terms. 
Chrysostom :  '•  When  we  desire  a  thing,  and  then  are  hindered  of 
it,  the  flame  of  the  desire  is  but  increased.  Now  this  came  not  of 
the  law ;  for  it  hindered  us  in  a  way  to  keep  us  off  from  it :  but 
sin,  that  is,  thy  own  listlessness  and  bad  disposition  used  what  was 
good  for  the  reverse."  Calvin :  "  The  law  is  only  the  occasion. 
And  though  he  may  seem  to  speak  only  of  that  excitement,  by 
which  our  lusting  is  instigated  through  the  law,  so  that  it  boils  out 
with  greater  fury  ;  yet  I  refer  this  chiefly  to  the  knowledge  the 
law  conveys ;  as  though  he  had  said,  '  It  has  discovered  to  me 
every  lust  or  coveting,  which,  being  hid,  seemed  somehow  to  have 
no  existence.'  "  Stuart :  "  Opposition  to  the  desires  and  passions 
of  unsanctified  men  inflames  them,  and  renders  them  more  intense 
and  unyielding."  Hodge  :  "  The  effect  of  the  law  operating  upon 
our  corrupt  hearts  is  to  arouse  their  evil  passions,  and  to  lead  to 
the  desire  of  the  very  objects  which  the  law  forbids."  Concupiscence, 
the  same  word  rendered  lust  in  v.  7,  on  which  see  above.  It  is 
sometimes  used  in  a  good  sense  for  strong  desire^  Luke  22  :  15; 
I  Thess.  2:17;  but  commonly  in  a  bad  sense  ;  as  lust  of  the  eyes, 
wordly  lusts,  fleshly  lusts,  hurtful  lusts,  deceitful  lusts,  ungodly  lusts. 
For  without  the  law  sin  was  dead.  By  dead  Chrysostom  understands 
"  not  so  ascertainable  ;"  Calvin  :  "  Without  the  law  sin  is  buried  ;" 
Locke  :  "  Not  able  to  hurt  me  ;"  Diodati :  "  As  it  were  asleep  and 
deaded,  if  it  were  not  kindled  again  by  the  law  working  lively  on 
the  conscience  ;"  Pool :  "  Comparatively  dead  ;"  Doddridge  :  "  I 
was  no  more  aware  of  any  danger  from  it,  or  any  power  it  had  to 
hurt  me,  than  if  it  had  been  a  dead  enemy  ;"  Guyse :  "  Sin  was  a 
trivial  harmless  thing  in  my  account :  it  did  not  terrify  my  con- 
science ;  but  seemed,  like  a  dead  man,  to  have  no  strength  in 
me,  and  to  carry  no  danger  in  it  ;  "  Stuart  :  "  Comparatively 
sluggish  and  inoperative  ;  "  Hodge  :  "  Inactive,  unproductive 
and  unobserved."  The  principles  involved  in  the  exposition 
are  these  :  i.  Where  there  is  absolutely  no  law,  there  is  absolutely 
no  sin,  Rom.  4:15.  2.  But  all  men  have  some  knowledge  of  right 
and  wrong,  and  therefore  some  conscience  of  sin,  Rom.  2:15, 
3.  Ignorance  of  law  naturally  begets  low  conceptions  of  sin.  4.  In 
the  absence  of  law,  sin  is  not  felt  even  where  it  does  actually  exist. 
5.  The  clear  shining  of  the  law  discovers  sins  where  none  were 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  9-]  THE  ROMANS.  325 

supposed  to  exist.  6.  The  restraints  of  law  are  irksome  to  the  carnal 
nature  of  man,  and  actually  provoke  his  evil  desires.  7.  But  this 
provoking  of  lusts  is  wholly  chargeable  to  the  evil  nature  of  sin, 
and  not  at  all  to  the  law  itself;  the  law  merely  showing  us  the 
nature,  prevalence  and  power  of  sin.  The  question,  most  mooted 
respecting  verses  7,  8,  is  whether  Paul  is  here  speaking  of  himself, 
or  merely  stating  a  general  truth  in  the  first  person  singular.  Cal- 
vin :  "  I  wonder  what  could  have  come  into  the  minds  of  interpreters 
to  render  the  passage  in  the  preterimperfect  tense,  as  though  Paul 
was  speaking  of  himself;  for  it  is  easy  to  see  that  his  purpose  was 
to  begin  with  a  general  proposition,  and  then  to  explain  the  sub- 
ject by  his  own  example."  Doddridge  thinks  the  apostle  is  "  per- 
sonating another  character."  But  is  this  so  ?  i.  Paul  uses  the 
only  form  of  speech  he  could  use,  if  he  were  speaking  of  himself. 
He  has  /  and  me.  2.  It  must  be  admitted  that  in  subsequent 
verses  the  apostle  does  speak  of  himself,  and  why  not  here?  The 
■general  structure  of  these  and  of  subsequent  verses  is  the  same. 
3.  One  clause  of  v.  7  absolutely  requires  us  to  understand  the 
apostle  as  revealing  his  personal  experience.  He  says  that  the 
tenth  commandment  was  the  means  in  the  hand  of  the  Spirit  of 
showing  him  the  true  nature  of  sin  or  of  evil  desires.  The  expe- 
rience of  every  converted  man  is  not  that  the  tenth  commandment 
first  opened  his  eyes  to  a  just  view  of  his  lost  condition.  God 
often  uses  other  portions  of  Scripture  to  bring  about  the  same 
thing.  4.  At  some  time  Paul  certainly  had  the  experience  here 
recorded,  for  it  is  substantially  the  experience  of  all  God's  people 
in  the  early  stages  of  their  religious  impressions.  That  is,  in  some 
way,  by  some  truth  their  eyes  have  been  opened  to  see  the  num- 
ber, heinousness  and  sinfulness  of  their  sins.  Paul  was  no  excep- 
tion. 

9.  For  I  was  alive  without  the  lazv  once :  but  when  the  command- 
ment came,  sin  revived,  and  I  died.  The  same  experience  in  its 
consummation  is  related  in  Gal.  2  :  19,  and  more  fully  in  Phil. 
3  :  4-10.  /  was  alive  without  the  law  once ;  Wiclif :  I  lyued  with 
outen  the  lawe  sumtyme  ;  Tyndale  and  Cranmer :  I  once  lived 
with  out  lawe ;  Peshito :  I,  without  the  law,  was  alive  formerly ; 
Doway :  I  lived  some  time  without  the  law;  Stuart:  I  was  alive, 
once,  without  the  law.  In  the  Greek  the  article  is  wanting  before 
law.  The  chief  difficulty  arises  from  the  word  rendered  was  alive. 
Some  think  it  means,  I  lived,  that  is,  I  had  my  earthly  existence. 
Mr.  Locke  so  understands  it,  and  applies  the  whole  verse  to  one, 
who  lived  before  and  after  the  giving  of  the  law  of  Moses.  But 
this  does  not  at  all  agree  with  the  context,  nor  with  the  facts  in 
the  case.     The  contrast  is  twofold.     First,  we  have  the  antithesis 


326  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  v.  lo. 

between  ivas  alive  and  died ;  and  secondly,  between  zvithoiit  laiv  and 
the  commandment  came.  To  be  alive  cannot  mean  natural  life  unless 
to  have  died  means  to  have  died  a  temporal  death.  In  what  sense 
then  may  we  understand  these  terms  ?  By  being  alive  Chrysos- 
tom  understands,  "  I  was  not  so  much  condemned ;"  and  by  died, 
he  understands  that  Paul  was  distinctly  made  acquainted  with  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  sinning.  Calvin :  "  When  I  sinned,  having 
not  the  knowledge  of  the  law,  the  sin,  which  I  did  not  observe, 
was  so  laid  to  sleep,  that  it  seemed  to  be  dead ;  on  the  other  hand, 
as  I  seemed  not  to  myself  to  be  a  sinner,  I  was  satisfied  with  my- 
self, thinking  that  I  had  a  life  of  my  own.  But  the  death  of  sin  is 
the  life  of  man,  and  again  the  life  of  sin  is  the  death  of  man."  Paul 
was  bred  a  Pharisee,  and  was  early  made  acquainted  with  the 
letter  of  the  law.  But  the  letter  convinces  none  of  sin.  None 
were  more  self-righteous  than  the  Pharisees.  But  when  God's 
Spirit  opens  the  eyes  to  see  the  extent  and  spirituality  of  the  law, 
a  very  different  state  of  things  is  produced  in  the  mind  of  even  a 
Pharisee.  His  self-esteem  dies ;  his  hope  of  heaven  by  his  own 
worthiness  dies ;  his  peace  of  mind  leaves  him  ;  his  false  ideas  of 
safety  all  forsake  him.  No  man  is  absolutely  zvitJwut  latv.  Paul 
/  certainly  never  was  so.  ^  That  phrase  therefore  here  must  point 
to  the  time,  when  spiritual  blindness  excluded  from  his  mind  just 
apprehensions  of  the  holiness,  strictness,  extent  and  spirituality  of 
the  law.  So  when  the  coinmandment  came  points  to  the  time  when 
by  the  tenth  precept  of  the  law  his  eyes  were  opened  to  see  how 
his  thoughts,  words  and  deeds  were  at  war  with  the  true  intent 
and  just  demands  of  the  law.  Then  sin  revived,  came  to  life,  i.  e. 
I  became  sensible  of  the  number  and  power  of  my  sins  and  then 
died,  as  a  legalist.  When  this  great  change  in  Paul's  views  occur- 
red, he  does  not  here  inform  us.  But  it  doubtless  began  about 
the  time  that  Jesus  arrested  him  on  his  way  to  Damascus.  Some- 
thing of  this  sort  occurs  in  the  case  of  all  truly  converted  men,  nor 
does  the  change  thus  indicated  cease  till  sanctification  is  com- 
plete. 

10.  And  the  cotnmandment,  which  was  ordained  to  life,  I  found  to 
be  unto  death.  The  commandment ,  either  the  last  precept  of  the 
decalogue,  or  the  whole  law.  Was  ordained  is  added  also  by  Tyn- 
dale,  Cranmer,  Genevan,  Doway,  Bp.  Hall  and  others.  The 
moral  law  is  unto  life  among  unsinning  angels.  It  was  unto  life 
to  our  first  parents  till  they  ate  the  forbidden  fruit.  Flad  they  and 
their  posterity  perfectly  obeyed  it,  it  would  have  been  unto  life  to 
them  all  for  ever.  It  is  the  law  of  heaven,  and  its  observance 
there  conduces  to  the  highest  good  of  that  blessed  society.  But 
every  man,  who  has  had  true  conviction  of  sin,  has,  like  Paul, 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  II,  12.]        THE  ROMANS.  327 

found  the  law  to  be  unto  death,  that  is  to  condemnation,  to  the 
death  of  legal  hope,  and  to  the  arousing  of  wicked  principles  in 
the  soul  into  lively  action.  The  law,  rightly  used,  conduces  to 
holiness  and  happiness ;  broken  or  misused,  it  conduces  only  to 
sin  and  misery. 

1 1 .  For  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment,  deceived  me,  and 
by  it  slew  me.  Notice  it  was  sin  that  did  this.  Holiness  would 
have  done  just  the  opposite.  As  in  v.  8  so  here  sin  doubtless 
means  the  sinful  principle  in  our  fallen  nature.  Occasion,  oppor- 
tunity or  advantage,  as  in  v.  8,  on  which  see  above.  The  strength 
of  sin  is  the  law.  It  gives  sin  its  damning  power,  and  its  power  to 
make  men  vile  and  miserable ;  but  it  does  all  this  by  mans'  abuse 
and  perversion.  In  this  way  sin  deceives  by  the  commandment. 
The  law  shows  a  good  way,  a  very  good  way,  an  angelical  way, 
for  the  holy.  Sin  puts  a  veil  over  the  heart,  and  persuades  the 
poor  sinner  that  he  can  win  God's  favor  by  deeds  of  law,  by  the 
law  restrain  and  remove  his  corruptions,  by  degrees  become  tol- 
erably good,  and  so  secure  heaven.  All  this  was  through  the 
great  treachery  and  desperate  wickedness  of  the  carnal  heart. 
But  the  deceitfulness  of  sin  knows  no  bounds.  It  does  its  work 
perfectly.  None  but  God  can  countervail  it.  Acute  as  was  Saul 
of  Tarsus  it  deceived  him  ;  yea  more  it  slew  him.  Sin  sunk  him  in 
guilt  and  misery,  fastening  upon  him  the  fetters  of  iniquity  and 
the  chains  of  a  fiery  condemnation.  It  then  showed  him  his  sad 
condition,  and  let  him  see  that  by  law  he  was  a  dead  man — dead 
in  the  sight  of  God's  purity,  justice  and  omniscience — dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins.  Deceived,  in  2  Cor.  11:3  beguiled.  But  the 
law  itself  is  not  seductive  ;  it  is  sin  alone  that  does  the  mischief. 

12.  Wherefore  the  law  is  holy,  and  the  commandment  holy,  and 
just,  and  good.  T.  Adam's  paraphrase  is  :  "  Wherefore  the  law  is 
(not  sin,  as  might  be  objected,  nor  the  cause  of  sin,  but)  holy  (in 
its  nature,  end,  and  purpose) ;  and  the  commandment  holy  (in 
itself),  just  (as  coming  from  God),  and  good  (for  men)."  Three 
explanations  may  be  given  of  the  terms  law  and  commandment  in 
this  verse  in  their  relation  to  each  other.  One  is  that  these  terms 
are  used  synonymously  for  the  decalogue.  Another  is  that  by 
law  Paul  means  the  decalogue,  and  by  commandment  the  tenth 
precept  of  the  decalogue,  which  he  had  specially  named  in  v.  7. 
The  third  is  that  by  lazv  he  means  the  decalogue,  and  by  command- 
ment he  means  each  precept  separately.  The  whole  law  and  the  pre- 
cepts thereof  severally  are  holy,  pure,  manifesting  the  rectitude  of 
the  divine  Lawgiver ;  just,  equitable,  capable  of  being  shown  to 
be  righteous  before  any  competent  tribunal ;  and  good,  worthy  of 
him,  who  alone  has  original  and  infinite  goodness  in  his  nature, 


328  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  13,  7. 

and  displays  his  benevolence  in  all  his  works  and  ways.  There 
are  perhaps  no  three  words  in  the  New  Testament  of  so  frequent 
occurrence,  that  vary  less  in  their  meaning  than  these  three  adjec- 
tives, which  we  render  Jioly^  just  and  good.  The  apostle,  having 
proven  what  he  asserted  in  v.  7,  that  the  precepts  of  the  law  are 
not  sin,  but  that  they  are  holy,  just  and  good,  that  they  are  of  ex- 
cellent use  in  showing  us  the  true  nature  of  sin  and  our  lost  con- 
dition by  nature,  proceeds  to  show  that  the  penalty  of  the  law 
cannot  be  fairly  objected  to,  that  death  is  the  fruit  and  fault  of  sin, 
that  the  law  curses  no  one  who  keeps  it,  and  that  we  cannot 
blame  the  law  but  only  sin  for  all  our  miseries. 

13.  Was  then  that  which  is  good  made  death  unto  me  ?  God  forbid. 
But  sin,  that  it  might  appear  sin,  ivorking  death  in  me  by  that  which 
is  good ;  that  sin  by  the  commandment  migJit  become  exceeding  sinful. 
By  that  which  is  good  he  of  course  means  the  law.  Was  it  the  law 
that  brought  death  ?  By  no  means.  On  God  forbid  see  above  on 
Rom.  3:4.  It  was  not  the  law,  but  the  transgression  of  the  law 
that  brought  death.  Sin  did  this  that  its  true,  its  deadly  nature 
might  be  seen,  tJiat  it  might  appear  sin.  The  worst  thing  that  can 
be  said  of  any  thing,  even  of  sin,  is  that  it  is  sin  ;  for  it  works  death 
by  that  which  is  good,  it  perverts  the  very  best  things,  even  the  ex- 
cellent law  of  God,  to  the  condemnation  and  ruin  of  the  soul.  Sin 
reveres  no  authority,  however  high  and  glorious.  It  bows  to  no 
will,  even  though  it  be  that  of  God.  It  goes  further  still.  It  per- 
verts the  very  gospel  to  its  own  ends,  and  thus  to  death.  The 
effect  of  all  this  is  that  to  the  discerning  sin  becomes,  that  is  ap- 
pears to  be  exceeding  sinful,  literally  sinful  to  a  hyperbole,  over- 
leaping all  bounds,  knowing  nothing  but  lawlessness,  doing  noth- 
ing but  working  wrath,  ruin  and  death,  and  thus  exposing  to  our 
view  its  mischievous  and  malignant  nature. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  Let  us  not  blame  what  is  good  for  what  is  evil,  v.  7.  Nathan 
was  in  no  way  a  partaker  of  David's  sin,  because  he  brought  it  to 
his  remembrance,  and  brought  him  to  repentance  for  it.  If  Da- 
vid's zeal  and  indignation  had  been  turned  against  the  prophet, 
and  not  against  his  sin,  it  would  have  shown  that  he  was  yet  un- 
humbled.  And  if  we  find  fault  with  the  law,  and  not  with  our- 
selves for  breaking  the  law,  we  may  know  that  all  is  still  wrong  in 
us.  The  law  is  not  sin.  If  the  law  were  not  perfect,  it  would  not 
be  worthy  of  God ;  and  how  can  a  bad  man  be  saved  by  a  good  law  ? 
2.  Whoever  undertakes  to  expound  any  part  ot  the  truth  of 
God  should  guard  it  against  any  liability  to  reasonable  misappre- 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  7-1 3-]        THE  ROMANS.  329 

hension,  and  defend  it  against  plausible  objections,  v.  7.  Much 
damage  has  been  done  to  the  law  of  God  and  to  the  gospel  also 
by  the  loose  statements  of  professed  friends.  God's  word  is  ex- 
act, precise.  Let  us  not  fall  into  habits  of  careless  or  confused 
thinking  or  speaking  on  divine  things.  If  men  pervert  what  we 
say,  let  the  fault  be  wholly  theirs,  and  not  partly  ours.  This  care 
on  our  part  is  the  more  necessary  in  proportion  as  our  readers  or 
hearers  are  ignorant,  prejudiced  or  sinful.  Let  us  never  consent, 
or  seem  to  consent  that  any  part  of  God's  word  is  not  very  pure. 

5.  Against  one  form  of  error — antinominanism — it  is  hardly 
possible  too  carefully  to  guard  our  statements  or  mankind,  v.  7. 
Every  man  in  love  with  sin  is  at  heart  an  enemy  of  the  law  in  its 
true  intent  and  spirit.  Some  express  their  opposition  to  the  law 
by  shamelessly  breaking  it,  others  by  secretly  sinning  against  it, 
others  by  arguing  against  it,  and  others  by  turning  the  grace  of 
God  into  licentiousness.  Let  us  have  no  fellowship  with  either 
class  of  these  opposers  of  righteousness.  For  the  very  reason 
that  the  law  is  too  strict  to  justify  us,  and  of  a  nature  utterly  at 
war  with  the  carnal  nature  of  man,  we  ought  to  commend  it,  and 
blame  ourselves.  It  is  its  purity  that  gives  it  its  power  to  reveal 
our  sinfulness. 

4.  It  is  a  pleasing  truth  that  God  puts  honor  on  all  the  truths 
of  scripture  in  awakening  the  careless,  in  convincing  the  self- 
righteous,  in  leading  men  to  hope  in  his  mercy,  and  in  carrying 
on  the  work  of  sanctification,  v.  7.  Some  writers  of  the  XVI Ith 
century  tell  of  a  man  whose  attention  was  called  to  religion  by  the 
words  "and  he  died,"  Avhich  occur  so  often  in  Gen.  5.  The  late 
Dr.  Hamilton  of  London  in  one  of  his  fine  tracts  has  brought  to- 
gether the  cases  of  several,  whose  religious  experience  began  or 
was  very  much  moulded  by  different  portions  of  God's  word,  as 
that  of  Paul  by  the  tenth  commandment,  the  elder  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards by  I  Tim.  1:17,  etc.  It  is  perhaps  he  who  suggests  that  if 
we  knew  the  minute  religious  history  of  all  the  pious,  and  should 
mark  with  red  the  text  blessed  to  the  conversion  of  each,  nearly 
the  whole  Bible  would  thus  be  rubric. 

5.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  religious  experience,  vs.  7-13.  That 
is,  God's  Spirit  does  lead  jnen  to  feel  and  be  exercised  by  the  truths 
of  the  divine  word.  This  experience  begins  when  men's  attention 
is  truly  awakened  to  the  word  of  God,  nor  is  it  ended  till  they 
pass  over  Jordan.  But  a  peculiar  interest  always  attaches  to  the 
early  stages  of  such  personal  religious  history.  A  scriptural  dis- 
course on  conviction  and  conversion  is  sure  to  be  eagerly  listened 
to  by  real  Christians.  That,  which  has  awakened  so  strong  pre- 
judice against  public  narrations  of  God's  dealings  with  one's  soul. 


330  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  7, 8. 

is  the  ignorance,  the  self-conceit  and  the  imprudence,  with  which 
men  have  often  spoken  of  themselves.  But  does  not  Paul  often 
tell  his  religious  experience  ?  Did  not  David  often  do  the  same  ? 
And  where  is  the  good  man  that  is  prepared  to  condemn  or 
even  censure  Bunyan's  "  Grace  Abounding,"  or  the  memoirs  of 
Halyburton,  Brainerd,  John  Newton,  Henry  Martyn,  Scott's 
"Force  of  Truth,"  or  a  multitude  of  such  books?  Truth  is 
chiefly  valuable  as  it  can  be  wrought  into  our  experience  and 
thus  mould  our  characters*  Who  ever  received  the  Lord  Jesus 
as  all  his  salvation  till  he  saw  and  felt  that  in  himself  he  was 
poor,  and  blind,  and  naked,  and  guilty,  and  vile,  and  wretched, 
and  helpless  ?  Hodge :  "  If  our  rehgious  experience  does  not 
correspond  with  that  of  the  people  of  God,  as  detailed  in  the 
scriptures,  we  cannot  be  true  Christians.  Unless  we  have  felt  as 
Paul  felt,  we  have  not  the  religion  of  Paul,  and  cannot  expect 
to  share  his  rewards." 

6.  The  law  of  God  and  God  himself  look  chiefly  at  the  heart, 
V.  7.  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he,  Pr.  23  :  7.  In 
God's  esteem  covetousness  is  as  truly  idolatry  as  bowing  down 
to  images  of  wood  and  stone,  Col.  3:5;  hatred  is  murder.  Matt. 
5:22;  and  lust  is  adultery.  Matt.  5  :  28.  That  was  a  fearful  charge 
Christ  brought  against  some,  "  I  know  you  that  ye  have  not  the 
love  of  God  in  you,"  John  5  :  42.  And  it  is  as  fearful  to  be  with- 
out the  love  of  God  now  as  it  ever  was.  To  be  in  that  state 
proves  that  one  is  every  day  breaking,  in  their  true  spirit,  all  the 
commandments.  For  long  years  Saul  of  Tarsus  had  been  a  Phar- 
isee, proud,  self-righteous,  and  confident  of  his  being  in  favor 
with  God,  but  when  his  eyes  were  opened  to  see  the  spiritual  nature 
of  one  precept,  he  soon  saw  himself  guilty  of  violating  all.  All 
inordinate  and  irregular  desires  and  affections  are  as  truly  sin  as 
overt  acts  against  the  letter  of  the  commandments.  The  very 
first  impulses  to  evil  are  evil.  How  very  low  poor  human  nature 
is  fallen  !  Aims,  motives,  dispositions  and  inclinations  may  be  as 
truly  offensive  to  God  as  words  and  overt  acts.  This  should  never 
be  forgotten.  Otherwise  we  shall  continually  make  fatal  mistakes, 
calling  bitter  sweet,  and  evil  good.  Let  men  everywhere  study 
the  law  as  expounded  in  all  the  scriptures,  especially  in  the  sermon 
on  the  mount.  It  is  not  our  enemy,  even  when  it  condemns  us, 
although  it  cannot  justify  or  sanctify  us.  But  by  God's  blessing 
it  can  show  us  that  we  are  sick  and  need  a  Physician,  weak  and 
need  a  Helper,  guilty  and  need  a  Redeemer. 

7.  We  must  make  just  distinctions,  and  we  must  heed  those 
made  in  the  word  of  God.  A  sound  discrimination  in  things 
temporal  is  a  mark  of  earthly  wisdom  ;  in  things  spiritual  it  is  a 


Ch.  VIL,  V.  8.]  THE  ROMANS.  331 

mark  of  heavenly  wisdom.  If  the  law  were  the  cause  of  sin  it 
would  be  sin.  But  its  being  the  occasion  of  sin  argues  nothing 
against  it,  v.  8.  Abel's  acceptance  before  God  was  the  occasion 
of  Cain's  violence  ;  but  the  cause  of  his  murderous  conduct  was 
his  own  wicked  envy.  Naboth's  inheritance  of  a  vineyard  gave 
occasion  to  Ahab  and  Jezebel  to  shed  innocent  blood.  But  the 
cause  of  that  crime  was  their  accursed  cruelty  and  covetousness. 
We  must  regard  moral  distinctions.  To  do  this  aright  we  must 
rightly  use  our  powers  of  discrimination.  Some  distinctions  are 
wide  and  obvious ;  but  others  are  nice  and  minute.  Some  of  this  lat- 
ter class  are  as  important  as  any  we  make.  Refinements  of  thought, 
which  are  merely  for  scholastic  or  dialectic  purposes,  may  easily 
be  perverted  to  bad  ends ;  but  anything  which  enables  us  the 
more  clearly  to  apprehend  truth,  in  particular  moral  and  religious 
truth,  is  of  importance  to  us. 

8.  Spiritual  Christians  will  study  and  faithful  ministers  will 
preach  the  law  of  God.  Salvation  is  not  by  the  law,  but  by  it  is 
the  knowledge  of  sin.  The  law  is  itself  no  means  of  sanctification, 
but  it  presents  the  true  standard  of  holiness.  The  corruption, 
which  the  law  stirs  up,  exists  before  the  law  comes,  and  is  not 
created  by  the  law,  v.  8.  Brown :  "  It  is  not  unsuitable  unto 
the  days  of  the  gospel,  for  ministers  to  be  treating  of  the  law, 
and  explaining  it  unto  people,  nor  ought  they  for  so  doing,  to 
be  reproachfully  styled  legal  preachers."  On  this  point  Paul 
has  instructed  us  by  his  example,  and  Paul's  Master  did  the  same. 
A  considerable  part  of  the  sermon  on  the  mount  was  directed 
to  the  rescuing  of  the  law  from  false  glosses  and  popular  errors. 
Hodge :  "  Though  the  law  cannot  save  us,  it  must  prepare  us 
for  salvation." 

9.  There  must  be  something  very  dreadful  in  the  nature  of 
sin,  for  it  not  only  flies  in  the  face  of  law,  contemns  law  and 
refuses  subjection  to  law,  but  is  by  it  actually  aroused  into  greater 
activity  and  desperateness,  so  that  by  the  law  it  excites  many  un- 
holy desires,  and  '  so  works  in  men  all  manner  of  concupiscence,' 
V.  8.  Fraser :  "  The  more  the  law,  with  its  authority,  light,  and 
terror,  reached  the  heart  and  sin  in  it,  sin  exerted  itself  the 
more  vehemently."  A  running  stream  may  be  dammed  up  for 
a  while  but  it  is  gaining  head  and  force  all  the  while,  and  must 
in  the  end  rise  above  the  obstruction  or  sweep  it  away.  Brown : 
"  So  prone  are  these  naturally  corrupted  hearts  of  ours  to  break 
out  into  all  manner  of  actual  transgressions,  till  grace  make  a 
change,  and  diminish  the  strength  and  vigor  of  original  corrup- 
tion, that  what  should  prove  a  curb,  proves  a  spur."  Sin  per- 
verts everything,  law,  authority,  love  and  mercy. 


332  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  9-11. 

10.  It  is  no  marvel  that,  without  any  right  rule  of  moral  judg- 
ment before  their  minds,  men  should  have  high  though  false 
hopes  of  even  heavenly  felicity,  v.  9.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  ? 
When  men  beUeve  that  God  is  either  the  patron  of  vice,  or  indif- 
ferent to  moral  character,  that  wicked  desires  and  affections,  which 
are  not  acted  out,  are  not  sinful,  or  that  God  will  accept  a  moral 
reformation  or  some  tears  of  sorrow  for  atonement,  why  should 
they  not  be  confident  of  future  happiness,  at  least  some  measure 
of  it  ?  Blindness  of  mind,  stupidity  of  conscience,  popular  errors 
among  worldly  men,  false  religious  doctrines,  the  seductions  of 
Satan  and  self-flattery  may  well  account  for  all  the  delusive  dreams 
entertained  by  men  concerning  their  spiritual  state.  Such  self- 
deception  is  not  uncommon.  Many  a  man  might  save  his  soul,  if 
he  would  give  up  his  false  hope ;  but  if  he  hugs  his  hope  to  the 
last,  his  damnation  is  sure. 

11.  Yet  the  slumber  of  the  soul  under  such  delusion  may  be 
broken  at  any  time ;  for  no  man  can  tell  when  the  coimyiandinent 
may  come  with  such  light  and  power  as  shall  at  once  plunge 
him  into  the  deepest  distress,  v.  9.  Scott :  "  The  proudest  Pha- 
risee on  earth  would,  from  his  towering  height  of  vain  confi- 
dence, sink  into  despair,  if  the  commandments  of  God  were  once 
discovered  to  his  soul,  in  all  their  spirituality  and  excellency,  with- 
out a  correspondent  view  of  the  salvation  of  Christ."  Great 
activity  in  corruption  is  -not  at  all  inconsistent  with  excessive 
spiritual  pride.  High  conceits  and  high  looks  entirely  consist 
with  a  depravity,  which  will  frighten  any  one,  whose  eyes  are  by 
divine  grace  opened  to  see  his  true  character  in  the  glass  of  God's 
word. 

12.  Sin  may  sleep  without  dying,  v.  9.  Sometimes  for  a  season 
Satan  seems  to  leave  a  man,  corruption  seems  to  be  very  much 
gone,  but  if  the  change  is  not  owing  to  a  thorough  work  of  grace, 
these  specious  appearances  will  all  vanish.  Our  Saviour  told  us 
how  all  this  was,  Matt.  12  :  43-45. 

13.  Knowing  God's  will  and  not  doing  it  will  save  no  man. 
Non-compliance  with  truth  revealed  will  turn  all  divine  revelations 
into  means  of  sorer  destruction.  Through  sin  Paul  found  even 
the  law  to  be  unto  death,  v.  10.  Thousands  have  done  the  same. 
Yea  more,  by  unbelief,  which  is  the  great  master  sin,  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God,  becomes  a  savor  of  death  unto  death. 
"  Sin  overturneth  all  things."  In  our  fallen  state  we  never  rightly 
regard  the  law,  till  we  see  how  to  us  by  reason  of  sin  it  works 
death. 

14.  Sin  is  a  terrible  delusion.  It  deceives  and  seduces  in  many 
ways,  V.  II.     There  is  danger  that  even  converted   men  will  be 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  II-I3.]      THE  ROMANS.  333 

hardened  through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  for  the  old  man  is  very 
corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts,  Heb.  3  :  13  ;  Eph.  4:  22. 
The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately  wicked, 
Jer.  17:9.  Men  cannot  be  too  much  on  their  guard,  lest  there 
should  be  among  them  a  root  that  beareth  gall  and  wormwood  ; 
and  it  come  to  pass  that  when  they  hear  the  very  words  of  the 
curse,  that  they  bless  themselves  in  their  hearts  saying,  We  shall 
have  peace,  though  we  walk  in  the  imagination  of  our  hearts, 
Deut.  29  :  18,  19. 

15.  It  is  a  sad  error  into  which  some  fall  that  even  a  bias  to 
sin  is  not  sinful,  that  sinful  inclinations  are  not  themselves  wicked, 
or  that  there  may  be  a  proper  cause  of  sin,  which  is  not  sinful. 
This  whole  section  condemns  such  doctrine.  Lust,  covetousness, 
evil  concupiscence  are  as  truly  worthy  of  God's  displeasure  as 
overt  acts  of  profaneness  or  violence. 

16.  The  wrath  of  God,  foreshadowed  by  men's  alarms  of  con- 
science and  by  conviction  for  sin,  slaying  all  false  hopes,  does  not 
come  on  men  capriciously  but  by  the  measure  of  a  holy,  just  and 
good  law,  V.  II.  Death  is  by  sin  and  the  strength  of  sin,  in  work- 
ing man's  ruin,  is  the  law.  The  great  trouble  with  a  very  sick 
man  is  that  his  disease  turns  both  food  and  medicine  to  his  further 
injury.  Cathartics  weaken  him.  Stimulants  produce  febrile  action. 
Sedatives  nauseate  him.  Every  thing  works  against  him.  Just  so 
sin  makes  law  and  gospel,  precepts  and  promises,  warnings  and 
threatenings  all  conducive  to  the  death  of  the  sinner. 

17.  Let  us,  therefore,  at  all  times  defend  the  law  against  all 
charges  brought  against  it,  and  study  it  with  care.  Luther  said 
that  if  for  a  day  he  ceased  to  meditate  on  the  law,  he  was  sensible  of 
a  decline  in  his  pious  feelings.  True  the  law  has  curses,  but  they 
are  all  deserved.  It  has  precepts  too  strict  for  a  sinner  to  keep 
perfectly,  but  they  are  all  holy,  just  and  good.  It  forbids  nothing 
that  omniscience  regards  as  good  for  us.  The  only  perfectly 
happy  society  in  the  universe  is  one  where  the  law  is  perfectly 
and  universally  obeyed.  Chalmers  :  "  God  loves  what  is  wise  and 
holy  and  just  and  good  in  the  world  of  mind  ;  and  with  a  far 
higher  affection  too,  than  he  loves  what  is  fair  and  graceful  and 
comely  in  the  world  of  matter."      Let  our  taste  coincide  with  his. 

18.  We  cannot  be  too  guarded  against  a  temper  that  shall  lead 
us  to  pervert  the  right  ways  of  God,  find  fault  with  his  orderings, 
or  oppose  his  known  will.  Reasonable  difficulties  we  may  properly 
state  that  they  may  be  solved  ;  but  the  spirit  of  cavilling  is  as 
wicked  as  it  is  foolish.  We  may  never  find  fault  with  God.  To 
do  so  is  impiety.  To  accuse  his  law  of  working  death  is  wicked, 
V.  13. 


334 


EPISTLE.  [Ch.  VII.,  V.  13. 


19.  It  is  bad  to  oe  justly  charged  with  want  of  civility.  Even 
awkwardness  may  do  harm.  But  the  worst  thing  that  can  be  truly 
said  of  any  thing  is  that  it  is  sinful.  Yea,  the  worst  thing  that  can 
be  said  of  sin  itself  is  that  it  is  exceeding  sinful,  v.  13.  Pool:  "  Sin 
is  so  evil,  that  he  cannot  call  it  by  a  worse  name  than  its  own." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

VERSES    14-25. 

THE  GREAT   SPIRITUAL  WARFARE  OF  THE  CHRIS- 
TIAN. 

14  For  we   know  that  the  law  is  spiritual  :  but  I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin. 

15  For  that  which  1   do,  I  allow  not:  for  what  I  would,  that  do  I  not;  but 
what  I  hate,  that  do  I. 

16  If  then  I  do  that  which  I  would  not,  I  consent  unto  the  law  that  it  is  good. 

17  Now  then  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me. 

18  For  I  know  that  in  me  (that  is,  in  my  flesh,)  dwelleth  no  good  thing  :  for  to 
will  is  present  wiih  me ;   but  how  to  perform  that  which  is  good  I  find  not. 

19  For  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not:  but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I 
do. 

20  Now   if  I  do  that  I  would  not,    it   is   no    mo-re  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that 
dwelleth  in  me. 

21  I  find  then  a  law,  that,  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me. 

22  For  1  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man  : 

23  But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind, 
and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members. 

24  O  wiecched  man  that  I  am  1   who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ? 

25  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     So  then  with  the  mind  I  my- 
self ;erve  the  law  of  God;  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin. 

FROM  this  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  we  have  twelve  verses, 
giving  us  a  full  account  of  the  spiritual  warfare,  carried  on 
in  the  heart  of  believers.  That  this  is  the  real  subject  of  these 
verses  has  long  been  held  by  many  in  the  church  of  God.  But 
this  view  has  been  by  some  much  opposed.  In  particular  Whitby 
and  Stuart  have  shown  great  zeal  in  attempting  to  prove  that 
these  verses  do  not  describe  the  exercises  of  a  converted  man. 
Instead  of  arguing  this  matter  in  each  verse,  it  will  be  more  satis- 
factory to  make  the  discussion  of  it  preliminary  to  the  exposition 
of  these  verses.  Whitby  :  "  I  think,  nothing  can  be  more  evident, 
and  unquestionably  true  than  this,  that  the  apostle  doth  not  here 
speak  of  himself  in  his  own  person,  or  in  the  state  he  was  then  in." 

(31O 


336  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

Stuart :  "  I  suppose  the  apostle  to  be  here  speaking  of  himself 
when  in  a  legal  state,  or  under  the  law,  and  before  he  was  united 
to  Christ."  These  writers  are  agreed  in  their  interpretation  only 
negatively,  viz.  that  Paul  is  not  speaking  of  himself  in  a  regenerate 
state.  Stuart  admits  that  Paul  is  speaking  of  himself,  but  Whitby 
thinks  he  is  speaking  "  only  in  the  person  of  a  Jew,  conflicting 
with  the  motions  of  his  lusts,  only  by  the  assistance  of  the  letter 
of  the  law,  without  the  aids  and  powerful  assistance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit."     These  general  remarks  are  offered, 

I.  The  controversy  respecting  this  portion  of  scripture  is  not  to 
be  settled  by  scorn  or  vituperation.  Stuart  seems  greatly  moved  on 
this  subject  and  exclaims :  "  When  will  it  be  believed,  that  scorn 
is  not  critical  acumen,  and  that  calling  men  heretics,  is  not  an  ar- 
gument that  will  convince  such  as  take  the  liberty  to  think  and 
examine  for  themselves  ?  When  will  such  appeals  cease  ?  And 
when  shall  we  have  reasons  instead  of  assertions,  criticism  in  the 
place  of  denunciation,  and  a  full  practical  exhibition  of  the  truth, 
that  the  simple  testimony  of  the  divine  word  stands  immeasurably 
higher  than  all  human  authority  ?"  If  this  quotation  has  any  per- 
tinency to  the  matter  in  hand,  it  is  a  pretty  distinct  intimation 
from  the  Andover  Professor,  that  those,  who  hold  views  directly 
opposite  to  his  are  deficient  in  "  critical  acumen,"  do  not  "  think 
and  examine  for  themselves,"  offer  "  assertions"  instead  of  reasons, 
and  denunciation  in  the  place  of  "  criticism,"  put  "  human  author- 
ity" above  the  "  divine  word,"  or  along  side  of  it ;  and  that  they 
resort  to  scorn  and  vituperation  instead  of  argument.  If  this  is  the 
intent  and  meaning  of  the  words  quoted,  they  contain  more  that 
is  harsh  and  scornful  towards  opponents  than  I  have  yet  found  in 
all  the  writers  on  the  other  side.  The  same  author  says  a  good 
deal  that  is  quite  as  harsh.  Whitby  says  that  those  who  hold  the 
view  commonly  approved  by  sound  divines  present  "  as  great  an 
instance  of  the  force  of  prejudice,  and  the  heat  of  opposition,  to 
pervert  the  plainest  truths  as  can  be  haply  produced."  Whitby 
was  of  course  not  ignorant  of  the  instance  of  prejudice  and  heated 
opposition  furnished  by  the  history  of  the  enemies  of  Christ,  and 
recorded  in  the  gospels,  for  he  had  written  much  about  it,  and  yet 
he  thinks  that  no  greater  than  that  of  the  many  good  and  learned 
men,  who  think  Paul  is  here  speaking  of  himself  while  in  a  state 
of  grace  !  Is  not  scorn  or  something  very  much  like  it  apparent 
here  ?  Many  instances  of  a  like  strain  of  remark  from  writers  on 
the  same  side  could  easily  be  pointed  out.  Take  one  more. 
Clarke :  "  This  opinion  has  most  pitifully  and  most  shamefully 
lowered  the  standard  of  Christianity,  and  even  destroyed  its  influ- 
ence and  disgraced  its  character."     Again  :  "  Of  Paul  the  apostle 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25-]      THE  ROMANS.  337 

all  here  said  would  be  monstrous,  and  absurd,  if  not  blasphemous." 
Is  this  critical  acumen  ?  Is  this  reasoning?  Is  it  any  thing  better 
than  railing  ?  Socinus  himself  warning  men  against  understanding 
this  passage  of  persons  regenerate  and  under  grace  exclaims  :  "  Be- 
ware as  of  the  pestilence."     Of  course  he  means  a  deadly  pestilence. 

2.  It  has  been  shown,  (see  above  on  v.  8)  that  Paul  is  there  for 
several  verses  preceding  the  14th,  speaking  of  himself,  and  if  now 
he  begins  to  speak  of  another  man,  or  of  himself  merely  as  person- 
ating a  Jew,  let  it  be  manifested.  It  has  not  yet  been  made  to  ap- 
pear. The  place  so  much  relied  on  to  prove  that  Paul  is  in  the  habit 
of  personating  others  or  of  using  himself  merely  as  a  figure  to 
teach  important  truth  can  have  no  pertinency  to  this  matter : 
"  These  things,  brethren,  I  have  in  a  figure  transferred  to  myself 
and  to  ApoUos,  for  your  sakes ;  that  ye  might  learn  in  us  not  to 
think  of  men  above  that  which  is  written,"  i  Cor.  4:  6.  Whatever 
may  be  the  precise  idea  here  suggested,  it  cannot  be  regarded  as 
proving  that  in  Rom.  7 :  14-25  Paul  is  speaking  of  some  one  else 
than  himself  for  two  reasons :  i.  In  i  Cor.  4:  6  he  gives  fair  notice 
that  he  had  in  a  figure  transferred  certain  things  to  himself  and 
ApoUos;  but  he  gives  no  such  notice  in  Rom.  7:  14-25.  2.  In  i 
Cor.  he  says  nothing  of  himself  or  of  Apollos,  that  is  not  true 
of  himself  or  of  Apollos,  as  is  apparent  on  the  face  of  the 
text.  See  the  place.  Now  if  it  is  admitted  that  all  Paul  says 
here  is  literall}-  true  of  himself  as  well  as  of  other  good  men, 
we  have  made  some  progress  towards  ending  the  controversy. 
For  those,  v\^ho  take  the  view  of  the  best  divines,  admit  that  Paul 
is  here  giving  his  own  experience,  not  as  peculiar  to  himself,  but 
in  common  with  the  body  of  believers.  And  Stuart  says  :  "  Does 
the  apostle  mean  to  designate  himself  specially  and  peculiarly,  or 
does  he  include  others  with  himself?  Others  certainly  are  in- 
cluded, understand  him  as  you  please.  If  he  speaks  of  himself 
while  under  the  law,  he  means  by  a  parity  of  reasoning  to  include 
all  others  who  are  in  the  same  condition.  If  he  speaks  of  himself 
as  a  Christian,  he  means  in  the  same  manner  to  include  all  other 
Christians,  who  of  course  must  have  similar  experience.  .  .  What- 
ever ground  of  exegesis  one  takes,  as  to  chap  VII,  in  general,  the 
principle  that  Paul  speaks  of  himself  only  as  an  example  of  what 
others  are  in  like  circumstances,  must  of  course  be  admitted." 

3.  Stuart  admits,  and  very  correctly  too,  that  what  is  said  in  vs. 
14-25  is  substantially  Christian  experience.  His  language  is  clear : 
"  The  question  is  not  whether  it  be  true  that  there  is  a  contest  in 
the  breast  of  Christians,  which  might  (at  least  for  the  most  part) 
be  well  described  by  the  words  there  found ;  but  whether  such  a 
view  of  the  subject  is  congruous  with  the  present  design  and  ar- 


338  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

gument  of  the  apostle."  Again :  "  I  concede,  in  the  first  place, 
that  Christians  have  a  contest  with  sin ;  and  that  this  is  as 
plain  and  certain,  as  that  they  _  are  not  wholly  sanctified 
in  this  life.  It  is  developed  by  almost  every  page  of  scrip- 
ture, and  by  every  day's  experience.  That  this  contest  is 
often  a  vehement  one  ;  that  the  passions  rage,  yea,  that  they  do 
sometimes  gain  the  victory ;  is  equally  plain  and  certain.  It  fol- 
lows now,  of  course,  that  as  the  language  of  Rom.  7  :  14-25  is 
intended  to  describe  a  contest  between  the  good  principle  and  the 
bad  one  in  men,  and  also  a  contest  in  which  the  evil  principle 
comes  off  victorious ;  so  this  language  can  hardly  fail  of  being 
appropriate  to  describe  all  those  cases  in  a  Christian's  experience, 
in  which  sin  triumphs.  Every  Christian  at  once  recognizes  and 
feels,  that  such  cases  may  be  described  in  language  like  that  which 
the  apostle  employs."  This  is  a  concession  called  for  by  the  very 
nature  of  the  case.  Rightly  used  it  may  aid  us  in  coming  at  the 
/  truth.  Here  then  it  is  conceded  that  the  language  of  Rom.  7  :  14- 
25  is  appropriate  to  the  case  of  Christians ;  that  all  Christians  have 
a  contest  like  that  here  described  ;  and  that  the  matter  is  of  a  very 
weighty  character — a  matter  of  universal  Christian  experience, 
than  which  nothing  is  to  us  more  important  to  be  rightly  under- 
stood. 

4.  This  controversy  cannot  be  settled  by  human  authority, 
although  the  friends  of  truth  need  not  blush  to  let  it  be  known 
what  company  they  are  in.  It  is  freely  admitted  that  among  the 
early  fathers  of  the  church  Origen,  Tertullian,  Chrysostom  and 
Theodoret  interpreted  the  passage  of  an  unregenerate  man.  Gro- 
tius  is  so  delighted  with  this  fact  that  he  exclaims :  "  Praise  be  to 
God,  that  the  best  Christians,  those  of  the  first  three  centuries, 
understood  this  place,  as  they  ought,"  etc.  But  Stuart  goes  too 
far  when  he  says,  "  that  Augustine  was  the  first,  who  suggested 
the  idea  that  it  (Rom.  7  :  14-25)  must  be  applied  to  Christian  ex- 
perience." Augustine  himself  in  his  Retractions  B.  I.  Chap.  2-}^, 
expressly  denies  this  :  "  Hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  I  came  to 
understand  these  things,  as  Hilary,  Gregory,  Ambrose  and 
other  holy  and  famous  [noti]  doctors  of  the  church  understood 
them,  who'  thought  that  the  apostle  himself  strenuously  struggled 
against  carnal  lusts,  which  he  was  unwilling  to  have,  and  yet  had, 
and  that  he  bore  witness  to  this  conflict  in  these  words."  Stuart 
is  altogether  wrong  also  in  saying  that  Augustine  was  led  to  his 
views  "  in  the  heat  of  dispute  with  Pelagius,"  and  that  he  "  felt 
himself  pressed"  by  the  arguments  of  Pelagius,  and  "  made  his 
^escape  by  protesting  against  the  exegesis  of  his  antagonist."  That 
Augustine  did  at  one  time  regard  Rom.  7  :  14-25  as  inapplicable 


Ch.  VIL,  vs.  14-25.]      THE  ROMANS.  339 

to  one  in  a  state  of  grace  is  denied  by  no  one,  not  even  by  himself. 
"  But  as  a  deeper  insight  into  his  own  heart"  [says  Hodge]  "  and 
a  more  thorough  investigation  of  the  scriptures,  led  to  the  modifi- 
cation of  his  opinions  on  so  many  other  points,  they  produced  a 
change  on  this  also.  This  general  alteration  of  his  views  cannot 
be  attributed  to  his  controversy  with  Pelagius,  because  it  took 
place  long  before  that  controversy  commenced.  It  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  his  religious  experience,  and  his  study  of  the  word 
of  God."  Beyond  controversy  this  is  the  fair  historic  verity. 
On  the  same  side  with  the  earlier  fathers  we  find  Photius  in 
the  IX.  and  Oecumenius  in  the  X.  century.  After  them  came 
Erasmus,  Alfonso  Turrettin,  Le  Clerc,  Bengel,  Arminius,  Epis- 
copius,  Limborch,  Locke,  Bull,  Hammond,  Whitby,  Doddridge, 
Kettlewell,  Macknight,  Tholuck,  Storr,  Flatt,  Stier,  Conybeare 
and  Howson,  and  others,  whose  names  have  already  been  men- 
tioned. 

On  the  other  side  we  have  Augustine  (with  his  matured  views), 
Anselm,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Cornelius  a  Lapide,  Luther,  Melanc- 
thon,  Calvin,  Beza,  Diodati,  Buddaeus,  T.  Adam,  Bp.  Hall, 
Ferme,  John  Owen  of  Oxford,  John  Brown  of  Wamphray,  Guyse, 
Burkitt,  Dutch  Annotations,  Assembly's  Annotations,  Gill,  Pool, 
Koppe,  Dickinson,  Hawker,  Scott,  Eraser,  Wardlaw,  Andrew 
Fuller,  Haldane,  Chalmers,  and  others.  The  great  treatise  of 
Owen  on  "  Indwelling  Sin"  is  founded  on  this  portion  of  scripture. 
Hawker  says,  "  Nothing  can  be  more  plain,  than  that  it  is  PaiiVs 
own  history  he  writes,  and  his  own  experience  in  the  very  moment 
of  writing ;  and  which  the  Holy  Ghost  taught  him  to  instruct  the 
church  concerning.  And  sure  I  am,  that  every  child  of  God, 
savingly  called  of  God,  and  long  taught  of  God  as  Paul  was  when 
he  tlius  committed  to  writing  what  daily  passed  in  his  heart,  will 
not  only  bear  testimony  to  the  same,  but  bless  God  the  Holy 
Ghost  for  the  history,  for  it  is  most  precious."  Those,  who  em- 
brace the  views  defended  in  this  work,  are  generally  very  decided 
in  their  utterances.  Their  convictions  seem  to  be  very  clear. 
Commonly  they  appeal  to  the  universal  experience  of  God's  peo- 
ple in  confirmation  of  their  views  ;  nor  do  they  appeal  in  vain,  if 
we  take  as  a  proof  the  exercises  of  the  most  experienced  servants 
of  God. 

5,  If  the  apostle  had  designed  to  speak  of  himself  in  a  state  of 
grace,  he  has  certainly  used  the  appropriate  terms  and  forms  of 
speech  to  that  end.  We  have  in  the  passage  itself  the  personal 
pronoun,  /,  my,  me,  repeated  fifteen  or  sixteen  times  ;  and  that 
there  may  be  no  room  left  for  doubt  as  to  the  designation  Paul 
once  says  I  myself  .     Then  we  thrice  have  the  participle  or  adjec- 


340  EPIS  TLE    TO        [Ch.  VII,  vs.  14-25. 

tive  agreeing  with  this  pronoun,  and  in  more  than  twenty  cases 
we  have  the  verb  in  the  first  person  singular.  It  ver}'  seldom 
happens  that  in  the  space  of  twelve  verses  there  is  so  remark- 
able a  combination  of  verbs,  participles,  adjectives  and  pronouns 
determining  the  person  spoken  of,  and  this  appears  in  every  trans- 
lation now  at  hand.  And  after  the  apostle  begins  to  speak  of  him- 
self in  V.  14  he  does  never  change  the  person  or  the  number.  It  is 
/,  my,  me  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  This  is  the  more  remarkable 
as  Paul  does  sometimes  make  a  transition  from  the  singular  to  the 
plural  and  back  again  to  the  singular,  as  in  i  Cor.  13:11,  12.  If 
the  language  of  Psalms  32,  51  points  out  David  as  speaking  of 
himself,  these  twelve  verses  do  as  clearly  make  Paul  to  speak  of 
himself. 
\^  6.  This  view  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  in  vs.  7-13  Paul 
invariably  uses  the  past  tense  ;  but  in  vs.  14-25  he  uses  the  pres- 
ent tense,  when  speaking  of  himself,  never  varying  from  it.  Here 
"~~-are  verbs  found  more  than  twenty  times  in  the  present  tense,  with- 
out one  exception,  while  just  before  Paul  had  for  seven  verses  as 
carefully  used  the  past  tense.  In  no  writer  adopting  the  views  of 
Whitby,  Stuart,  etc.  have  I  found  the  least,  respectful  notice  of 
this  change  in  tenses.  Yet  many,  who  favor  their  views,  could 
not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  in  construing  an  author  such  a 
change  ought  to  affect  the  sense,  and  should  therefore  be  carefully 
noticed.  The  Dutch  Annotations  on  v.  14  says:  "Hitherto  the 
apostle  hath  spoken  of  the  power  of  the  law  and  of  sin,  in  the  cor- 
rupt and  unregenerate  man  ;  as  he  himself  also  had  formerl}^  ex- 
perienced, when  he  was  yet  in  such  a  state,  v.  9,  but  now  he 
cometh  and  speaketh  of  himself  as  he  then  was,  and  declares  what 
power  the  remainder  of  sinful  flesh  had  still  in  him,  now  after  that 
he  was  delivered  from  the  dominion  of  sin,  like  as  all  his  reasons, 
which  follow,  speak  of  the  present  time, 'and  not  of  the  time  past." 
Fraser  :  "  He  had  been  speaking  of  himself  in  the  past  tense.  .  . 
He  now  from  v.  14.  speaks  of  himself  in  the  present  tense."  Ols- 
hausen  notes  the  same  thing:  "The  passage  (Rom.  7:  7-13),  in- 
deed, according  to  the  opinion  of  all  expositors,  applies  to  the 
state  before  regeneration,  as  the  apostle  also  sufficiently  indicates 
by  the  aorist  that  the  state  described  is  gone  by ;  but  whether  the 
passage  (Rom.  7 :  14-24)  is  likewise  to  be  considered  as  before  re- 
generation, seems  very  uncertain,  since  in  this  section  Paul  makes 
use  of  the  present  only,  while  in  Rom.  8  :  2  the  aorist  again  appears." 
Wardlaw :  "  Of  this  change  this  transition  from  past  to  present 
time,  neither  Tholuck  nor  Stuart  takes  any  notice.  Yet  surely  it 
is  no  unimportant  item  in  the  case.  .  .  When  a  man  has  once 
been  speaking  of  the  views  which  he  once  entertained,  and  which 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25.]     THE  ROMANS.  341 

he  had  continued  for  a  length  of  time  to  hold,  respecting  his  own 
character  and  state,  and  in  doing  so  uses  the  past  tense,  and  then 
makes  a  transition  from  the  past  to  the  present,  it  cannot  but  ap- 
pear unnatural  in  a  high  degree  to  consider  him  as  still  meaning 
the  past,  and  still  continuing  to  speak  of  what  he  had  been. 
When  the  same  man,  in  speaking  of  his  own  views  and  principles 
and  character,  says  first  I  was,  and  then  changes  to  I  am,  is  it  not 
reasonable  to  conceive  that  he  is  speaking  of  his  former  and  his 
present  self?  "  See  also  Guyse  and  others  to  the  same  effect.  If 
there  is  no  significance  in  this  change  of  tense,  it  seems  useless  to 
pay  any  attention  to  the  grammar  -of  a  language.  If  this  matter 
is  not  important  here,  it  is  important  no  where.  Nor  can  anything 
like  this  construction  of  verbs  in  an  extended  passage  be  found 
elsewhere  in  Paul's  writings  or  in  the  New  Testament,  unless  this 
is  significant. 

7.  In  these  twelve  verses  there  are  things  said,  which  can  by  no  "/ 
fair  interpretation  be  applied  to  an  unregenerate  man,  and  there- 
fore thev  must  refer  to  Paul  or  some  one  in  a  state  of  grace.  If 
any  thing  in  religious  character  is  decisive,  it  is  one's  state  of  mind 
towards  the  law  of  God.  On  this  matter  the  scriptures  are  de- 
cisive and  harmonious.  One  of  David's  marks  of  a  good  man  is 
that  "  his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord  :  and  in  his  law  doth  he 
meditate  day  and  night,"  Ps.  1:2;"  The  law  of  thy  mouth  is  better 
unto  me  than  thousands  of  gold  and  silver,"  Ps.  119  :  72.  "  I  will 
meditate  in  thy  precepts,"  Ps.  119:  78.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  that 
feareth  the  Lord,  that  delighteth  greatly  in  his  commandments," 
Ps.  112:  I.  "Then  shall  I  not  be  ashamed  when  I  have  respect 
unto  all  thy  commandments,"  Ps.  119:6.  So  in  many  other  places 
human  character  is  said  to  be  good  or  bad,  as  it  stands  well  or  ill 
affected  to  the  law  of  God.  In  the  portion  of  scripture  under  con- 
sideration the  apostle  makes  three  statements  respecting  the  law, 
either  of  which  ought  to  be  regarded  as  decisive  of  his  real  state 
of  mind  and  of  heart  in  the  sight  of  God.  One  is  in  v.  16,  "I  con- 
sent unto  the  law  that  it  is  good."  One  is  in  v.  22,  ''  For  I  delight 
in  the  law  of  Gcd  after  the  inward  man."  The  other  is  in  v.  25, 
"  So  then  with  the  mind  I  myself  serve  the  law  of  God."  Some 
very  strange  things  have  been  said  to  do  away  with  these  declara- 
tions, which  upon  the  face  of  them  seem  to  be  decisive  of  the 
whole  matter.  Clarke  says :  *'  So  far  is  it  from  being  true  that 
none  but  a  REGENERATE  man  can  delight  in  the  law  of  God,  we  find 
even  ?i  proud,  unhumbled  Pharisee  can  do  it."  And  that  this  is  no 
careless  assertion  is  evident  from  much  more  that  he  says  like  it : 
"  If  it  be  said,  that  it  is  not  possible  for  an  unregenerate  man  to 
delight  in  the  law  of  God,  the  experience  of  millions  contradicts  the 


342  EPISTLE    TO     [Ch.  VII.,  nts.  14-25. 

assertion.  Every  true  penitent  admires  the  moral  law  :  longs  most 
earnestly  for  a  conformity  to  it :  and  feels  that  he  never  can  be 
happy  till  he  awakes  up  after  this  divine  likeness  ;  and  he  hates 
himself,  because  he  feels  that  he  has  broken  it,  and  that  his  evil  pas- 
sions are  still  in  a  state  of  hostility  to  it."  One  hardly  knows  how 
to  cease  to  wonder  at  such  language.  An  unregenerate  man  is 
stated  to  be  a  true  penitent !  No  man  can  be  saved  without  the  new 
birth.  Yet  here  is  a  true  penitent  still  unregenerate  ;  and  an  unre- 
generate true  penitent,  who  still  gives  the  very  best  scriptural 
evidence  of  being  a  new  creature.  Can  any  but  a  renewed  heart 
love  holiness  ?  Yet  the  law  of  God  is  holy,  and  is  the  standard  of 
holiness.  How  can  one,  who  is  not  in  a  state  of  grace,  love  holi- 
ness, or  the  perfect  law  that  enjoins  it?  The  language  of  each  of 
the  three  clauses  is,  and  upon  their  face  was  evidently  intended  to 
be  unmistakeable  :  "  I  consent  unto  the  law  that  it  is  good."  He 
does  not  say  "  I  assent  to  the  law  ;"  that  would  be  merely  an  act 
of  the  understanding,  and  might  be  cold  and  heartless.  But  he 
says  "  I  consent "  to  it.  He  here  uses  a  word  found  no  where  else 
in  the  New .  Testament,  Wiclif,  Cranmer,  Rheims,  Doway  and 
Stuart  render  it  consent.  He  consents  to  the  law  that  it  is  good. 
An  unregenerate  man  may  see  and  say  that  the  law  is  strict  and 
rigorous,  but  when  did  an  unrenewed  man  ever  say  that  the  law, 
the  whole  law,  was  good,  good  for  himself,  good  for  every  man  ? 
He  adds :  "  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man." 
Here  each  important  word  may  in  succession  be  emphasised  and 
the  sense  will  be  evolved  and  not  obscured.  Paul  expresses  delight 
in, the  law  of  God.  Here  too  we  have  a  word  found  no  where  else 
in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  very  strong — I  delight  myself  in  the 
law.  What  is  it  but  saying — "  I  delight  in  real,  hearty,  entire, 
universal  obedience  and  holiness,  just  such  as  the  law  demands  ?  " 
What  more  did  David  mean  when  he  said  ?  "  Thy  law  is  my 
delight,"  Ps.  119  :  "JT,  174  ;  "  Thy  testimonies  are  my  delight,"  Ps. 
119:  24;  "I  will  delight  myself  in  thy  statutes,"  Ps.  119:  16,  35  ; 
"  Make  me  to  go  in  the  path  of  thy  commandments ;  for  therein 
do  I  delight,"  Ps.  1 19  :  35  ;  "  I  will  delight  myself  in  thy  command- 
ments, which  I  have  loved,"  Ps.  119:47;  "For  I  delight  in 
thy  law,"  Ps.  119:70.  For  ages  the  church  of  God  has  re- 
garded delight  in  the  law  of  God,  as  a  conclusive  evidence 
of  a  renewed  heart.  Nor  was  this  a  wild  notion  as  we  have 
seen.  "  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God  :  for  it  is  not  sub- 
ject to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be,"  Rom.  8  :  7.  And 
that  there  may  be  no  mistake  in  his  meaning  he  says  :  "  I  delight  in 
the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man."  The  word  rendered  inward 
or  inner  is  an  adverb  and  means  within.    He  delights  in  the  law  of 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25.]       THE  R  OMA  NS.  343 

God  after  the  man  within.  It  is  not  some  outward  or  carnal 
delight.  We  have  precisely  the  same  words  rendered  the  inner 
man  in  Eph.  3:  16.  What  do  they  mean  there?  What  can  they 
mean  but  the  renetved  heart  of  man  ?  They  are  very  explicit : 
"  That  he  would  grant  you  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory,  to 
be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  inner  man.''  Does 
not  this  mean  the  new  nature,  the  new  creature,  the  new  man  ?  Is 
not  that  what  needs  strengtliening  ?  Is  it  not  that  which  is 
strengthened  ^vith  might  by  the  Spirit  ?  Paul  was  not  praying  that 
their  natural  faculties  might  be  invigorated,  but  that  their  gracious 
habits  and  principles  might  be  increased  in  power.  Then  we 
have  a  cognate  adverb,  just  the  same  as  this  except  in  termination 
and  rendered  as  in  Rom.  7  :  22.  "  For  which  cause  we  faint  not; 
but  though  our.  outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward  man  is 
renewed  day  by  day."  Does  this  mean  that  the  natural  faculties 
were  growing  while  the  body  was  decaying  ?  Surely  not.  Often  the 
mental  powers  of  aged  Christians  are  daily  losing  their  vigor, 
while  they  are  rapidly  ripening  for  heaven,  and  their  gracious 
characters  are  becoming  exceedingly  refined,  elevated  and  invigo- 
rated. The  third  of  these  remarkable  expressions  concerning  the 
law  is  this  :  "  So  then  with  the  mind  I  myself  serve  the  law." 
Here  mind  evidently  means  the  same  as  the  intvard  man  in  v.  22 ; 
for  although  the  word  does  often  mean  the  understanding,  yet  it 
also  means  the  controlling  moral  character  of  the  man ;  and  so  we 
read  of  a  "reprobate  mind,"  "  the  renewing  of  your  mind,"  "  the 
vanity  of  their  mind,"  "fleshly  mind,"  "men  of  corrupt  minds," 
Rom.  I  :  28  ;  12:2;  Eph.  4  :  17 ;  Col.  2  :  18 ;  2  Tim.  3:8.  In 
Eph.  4  :  23,  Paul  says,  "  And  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your 
mind.''  Here  the  very  same  word  is  used  as  in  Rom.  7  :  25.  Evi- 
dently the  meaning  is,  my  heart  goes  out  after  the  law  and  truly 
engages  me  to  serve  it.  That  he  means  as  much  as  this  is  evident 
from  the  use  of  the  two  pronouns,  /  myself.  There  is  no  dispute 
concerning  the  Greek  text.  There  ought  to  be  none  about  the 
rendering.  We  have  quite  the  same  in  these  places  :  "  It  is  /  my- 
self^' Luke  24  :  39 ;  "I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed," 
Rom.  9:3;  "  I  myself  ^m  persuaded,"  Rom.  15  :  14;  "Now  / 
Paul  myself  beseech  you,"  2  Cor.  10  :  i  ;  "/  myself  was  not  bur- 
densome to  you,"  2  Cor.  12  :  13.  If  anything  can  settle  entire 
identity  these  words  must  be  allowed  that  power.  Serve,  the  same 
verb  so  rendered  in  Rom.  6  :  6 ;  7  :  6.  Its  cognate  noun  is  ren- 
dered servant  in  Rom.  i  :  i  ;  6  :  16,  17,  20.  It  expresses  subjection 
and  obedience.  "  His  servants  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey."  Here 
it  expresses  the  willing  service  rendered  to  the  precepts  of  God's 
law.     I  am  minded  to  keep  God's  law.     My  soul  by  divine  grace 


f 


^ 


344  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

is  set  on  this  thing.  My  new  nature  inclines  me  that  wa)\  I  do 
it.     I  myself  do  it. 

In  these  verses  are  many  other  things,  which  can  by  no  fair  in- 
terpretation be  applied  to  an  unregenerate  man,  as  the  reader  will 
see  in  the  exposition.  But  it  has  been  shown  that  there  are  three 
such.  One  ought  to  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  a 
fair  mind. 

8.  In  these  twelve  verses  there  is  nothing  said,  which  may  not 
enter  into  the  experience  of  a  regenerate  man ;  nothing  said 
stronger  than  is  said  of  good  men  by  themselves  or  by  others  in 
various  parts  of  scripture.  This  will  of  course  be  more  and  more 
manifest  as  we  consider  in  detail  the  several  verses.  At  this  time 
attention  is  called  to  several  direct  declarations  of  God's  word  on 
the  matter  of  human  imperfection.  "  There  is  no  man  that  sin- 
neth  not,"  i  Kings  8  :  46.  If  possible  the  following  language  is 
still  stronger:  "There  is  not  a  just  man  upon  earth  that  doeth 
good,  and  sinneth  not,"  Ecc.  7  :  20.  "  Who  can  understand  his 
errors?  cleanse  thou  me  from  secret  faults,"  Ps.  19:  12.  "Who 
can  say,  I  have  made  my  heart  clean,  I  am  pure  from  my  sins?  " 
Pr.  20  :  9.  "  In  many  things  we  offend  all,"  Jas.  3:2.  "  If  we  say 
that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves  and  the  truth  is  not  in 
us,"  I  John  1:8.  In  like  manner  the  best  of  mere  men  in  telling 
us  their  thoughts  of  themselves  use  language  as  strong  as  any  Paul 
employs  in  Rom.  7  :  14-25.  After  unusual  discoveries  of  the  glory, 
majesty  and  holiness  of  God,  Job  says  :  "  I  abhor  myself  and  repent 
in  dust  and  ashes,"  Job  42  :  6.  David  in  several  penitential  Psalms 
bewails  his  depravity,  and  pleads  for  mercy.  "  Peter  fell  down  at 
Jesus'  knees,  saying.  Depart  from  me;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O 
Lord,"  Luke  5  :  8.  Elsewhere  Paul  thus  speaks  of  himself,  "  Not 
as  though  I  had  already  attained,  either  were  already  perfect," 
Phil.  3:12.  There  is  as  much  strength  in  these  expressions  as  in 
any  found  in  Rom.  7  :  14-25.  If  Paul  says,  "  The  evil  that  I  would 
not,  that  I  do ;"  David  says,  "  Iniquities  prevail  against  me."  If 
Paul  says,  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  ;"  Isaiah  says,  "  Wo  is  me  ! 
for  I  am  undone ;  because  I  am  a  man  of  vmclean  lips."  If  Paul 
says,  "  I  know  that  in  me  (that  is  in  my  flesh,)  dwelleth  no  good 
thing ;"  Isaiah  says,  "  We  are  all  as  an  unclean  thing,  and  all  our 
righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags;  and  we  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf; 
and  our  inquities,  like  the  wind,  have  taken  us  away,"  Isa.  64  :  6. 
If  Paid  here  says  of  himself,  "  The  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not ;" 
he  elsewhere  says  the  same  of  the  churches  in  a  whole  province : 
"  The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirt,  and  the  spirit  against  the 
flesh  ;  and  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other ;  so  that  ye  can- 
not do  the  things  that  ye  would,"  Gal.  5  :  17.  v  Instead,  therefore, 


Ch.  VIL,  vs.  14-25.]       THE  ROMANS.  345 

of  regarding  a  man  as  a  bad  man  because  he  has  a  deep  sense  of 
liis  own  vileness  and  weakness,  the  scriptures  teach  us  to  form  an 
estimate  just  the  reverse.  Perhaps  no  one  has  ever  dared  to  say 
that  Job  was  an  unregenerate  man  because  he  said,  "  Behold,  I 
am  vile  ;  what  shall  I  answer  thee  ?  I  will  lay  my  hand  upon  my 
mouth,"  Job  40  :  4.  The  very  book  that  says  of  Job  that  he  was 
"  perfect  and  upright,  and  one  that  feared  God,  and  eschewed 
evil,"  yea,  God  himself  said,  "There  is  none  like  him,"  Job  i  :  1,8, 
brings  that  good  man  before  us  saying  :  "  If  I  wash  myself  in  snow 
water,  and  make  ni}^  hands  never  so  clean  ;  yet  shalt  thou  plunge 
me  in  the  ditch,  and  mine  own  clothes  shall  abhor  me,"  Job  9 :  30, 
31.  The  fact  is  that  no  man's  piety  goes  beyond  his  hvimility. 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  though  a  murderer  of  holy  men  and  women,  was 
full  of  self-complacency  ;  but  Paul  the  apostle  says,  "  I  am  not 
worthy  to  be  called  an  apostle,"  "  I  am  less  than  the  least  of  all 
saints ;"  and,  just  before  he  leaves  the  world,  "  I  am  the  chief  of 
sinnei'S."  The  worse  a  man  is  the  better  he  thinks  himself  to  be. 
The  better  a  man  is,  the  lower  is  his  estimate  of  his  own  righteous- 
ness. The  more  the  light  shines  into  an  apartment,  the  easier  it 
is  to  see  millions  of  particles  of  dust  before  unperceived.  To  in-_ 
terpret  Rom.  7  :  14-25  aright,  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  a 
complaint,  that  the  apostle  is  bitterly  bemoaning  his  state,  and 
that  his  language  is  that  of  a  heart-broken  penitent,  every  word  of 
which  is  felt  to  be  true,  as  he  stands  in  the  presence  of  omniscient 
purity.  Such  notes  are  never  heard  from  the  Pharisee,  from  the 
careless,  nor  from  the  unregenerate.  Wardlaw  :  "  We  never  ex- 
pect to  hear  an  unrenewed  man  bewailing  his  carnality  and  oppo- 
sition to  the  divine  law,  as  through  the  whole  of  the  passage  before 
us,  this  writer  does.  But  on  the  other  hand,  the  more  truly  holy 
a  person  becomes — the  more  spiritual  in  mind  and  affections,  the 
stronger  will  be  his  impressions  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  of  his  ow^n 
sin,  and  of  the  extent  of  his  disconformity  to  the  character  and 
law  of  God.  .  .  As  a  man  advances  in  holiness,  corruption  at  the 
same  time  remaining  in  him,  he  will  be  disposed  to  express  his 
abhorrence  of  himself  in  exceedingly  strong  and  vehement  terms, 
in  proportion  as  the  loathing  of  the  spiritual  nature  is  experienced 
as  regards  everything  that  is  evil."  Fraser :  "  The  expressions 
here  are  not  used  by  another  concerning  a  person  historically  ;  but 
by  himself  in  the  way  of  bitter  regret  and  complaint.  A  man  may 
in  this  way,  and  in  the  bitterness  of  his  heart,  say  very  strong 
things  concerning  himself  and  his  condition,  which  it  were  unjust 
and  absurd  for  another  to  say  of  him,  in  giving  his  character  his- 
torically." The  renewed  and  experienced  Christian  knows  the 
plague  of  his  own  heart,  and  speaks  of  himself  in  much  lowliness 


/ 


346  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

as  of  sincerity,  as  of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  is  no  mock 
humility.  Every  word  he  utters  respecting  his  own  sinfulness  is 
sincere  and  is  true.  By  the  Holy  Spirit  he  is  taught  how  exceed- 
ingly broad  is  the  commandment.  And  yet  in  the  main  his  walk 
before  men  is  upright,  and  it  would  be  mere  uncharitableness  for 
other  men,  not  inspired,  to  charge  him  with  what  his  own  heart 
and  the  Most  High  know  he  is  chargeable  with  before  God. 

9.  Stuart  insists  that  it  is  "  a  fundamental  point  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  whole  "  that  Rom.  7  :  7-25  is  plainly  a  comment  on 
Rom.  7:5;  and  that  Rom.  8  :  1-17  is  plainly  a  comment  on  Rom. 
"J  \6\  and  that  there  is  plainly  and  certainly  an  antithesis  between 
Rom.  7:  7-25  and  Rom.  8  :  1-25.  This  is  a  favorite  postulate  of 
writers  of  the  same  school.  It  takes  for  granted  that  Rom.  7  :  5  is 
in  antithesis  with  Rom.  7  :  6,  and  then  that  Rom.  7  :  7-25  is  a  com- 
ment on  Rom.  7  :  5,  in  antithesis  with  the  comment  on  Rom.  7  : 6 
found  in  Rom.  8  :  1-17.  To  maintain  this  mode  of  explanation 
they  take  for  granted  that  there  are  such  comments  and  antitheses, 
and  give  their  exposition  accordingly,  and  then  from  their  exposi- 
tion prove  that  there  are  such  comments  and  antitheses.  The  first 
objection  to  this  mode  of  explanation  is  that  it  is  a  mere  assumption, 
the  text  and  context  hinting  no  such  thing.  A  second  objection 
is  that  it  is  a  very  awkward  kind  of  assumption,  making  the  apos- 
tle lay  down  a  truth,  then  drop  it,  and  lay  down  another,  then  drop 
it,  and  then  argue  the  first  at  the  length  of  18  verses,  and  then 
drop  it,  and  without  any  hint  to  that  effect  take  up  the  second  and 
argue  it.  A  third  objection  is  that  this  assumption  takes  no  notice 
of  the  change  of  tense  at  v.  14.  It  is  a  fatal  objection  that  anti- 
thesis is  assumed  for  exposition  and  the  exposition  is  cited  to  prove 
antithesis.  Wardlaw  well  says  :  "  This  is  not  fair,"  and  quotes  some 
one  as  saying :  "  A  particular  interpretation  cannot  first  be  as- 
sumed to  make  out  the  antithesis,  and  then  the  antithesis  be  as- 
sumed to  justify  the  interpretation."  In  other  words,  we  cannot 
argue  in  a  circle.  So  the  ''  fundamental  point  in  the  interpreta- 
tion "  of  this  passage  wholly  vanishes  out  of  sight.  It  will  not 
bear  its  own  weight. 

10.  Another  demand  often  made  by  writers  of  the  same  class 
is  that  we  shall  look  upon  Paul  as  endeavoring  to  allay  prejudice 
by  using  soft  words,  and  by  insinuating  offensive  truth  into  the 
minds  of  the  prejudiced.  Thus  Whitby  :  *'  He  saith  not,  you  that 
are  under  the  law  are  carnal,  but  representing  what  belonged  to 
them  in  his  own  person,  and  so  taking  off  the  harshness,  and  molli- 
fying the  invidiousness  of  the  sentence,  by  speaking  of  it  in  his 
own  person,  he  saith,  I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin."  He  cites 
Photius  and  Oecumenius  as  endorsing  this  sentiment.    Others  fol- 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25.]     THE  ROMANS.  347 

low  Whitby.  Now  what  is  the  truth  respecting  Paul's  course  as 
to  candor  and  the  avoiding  of  prejudice  ?  i.  None  will  deny  that 
he  displayed  consummate  ministerial  address.  He  availed  himself 
of  all  lawful  and  fair  means  to  allay  prejudices,  and  to  commend 
his  Master's  cause.  2.  We  have  no  proof  that  Paul  ever  resorted 
to  the  arts  of  the  sophists  or  orators  of  ancient  times  to  win  favor 
to  himself,  or  to  avoid  odium  on  account  of  the  character  of  the 
doctrines  he  was  called  to  preach.  Himself  says,  we  "  have  re- 
nounced the  hidden  things  of  dishonesty,  not  walking  in  craftiness, 
nor  handling  the  word  of  God  deceitfully ;  but  by  manifestation 
of  the  truth,  commending  ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in 
the  sight  of  God,"  2  Cor.  4 :  2.  Much  more  does  he  say  to  the 
same  effect.  3.  In  this  epistle  Paul  has  everywhere  else  displayed 
great  candor,  and  entire  fearlessness  in  directly  stating  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  most  offensive  to  Pharisaic  pride  and  Jewish 
prejudice.  Why  should  he  now  begin  to  mince  matters,  or  to 
speak  by  indirection,  and  that  on  a  point  surely  not  more  calcula- 
ted to  give  offence  than  others,  which  he  had  stated  in  the  plainest 
manner  and  the  most  direct  terms  ?  If,  as  some  contend,  Paul  was 
addressing  Jews  already  converted  to  Christianity,  he  had  already 
informed  them  that  they  were  dead  to  the  law,  and  were  delivered 
from  the  law,  vs.  4,  6.  There  is  nothing  here  to  offend  them,  if 
Paul  is  speaking  of  a  man  under  law,  and  not  under  grace.  None 
will  contend  that  Paul  is  here  addressing  unbelieving  Jews.  If  he 
had  been,  his  language  would  have  been  of  a  very  different  sort, 
as  we  know  from  samples  left  us  of  his  addresses  to  such.  Had  this 
epistle  been  sent  to  such,  they  would  doubtless  have  consented 
that  Paul  was  even  a  worse  man  than  any  fair  exposition  of  this 
chapter  could  make  him  appear.  4.  "  If  it  be  allowed,  that,  on 
some  occasions,  Paul  doth  in  very  few  words  express  arguments, 
objections  and  reproaches  used  by  others  against  himself,  his  doc- 
trine or  conduct ;  yet  in  every  such  case  the  thing  evidently  ap- 
pears by  the  obvious  import  of  the  expressions,  and  by  the 
answers  immediately  subjoined ;  so  that  there  is  no  room  left  for 
mistaking."  All  such  cases  are  very  different  from  a  discourse 
running  through  twelve  verses,  and  peculiarly  marked  as  pertain- 
ing to  himself 

II.  It  is  remarkable  that  while  in  these  twelve  verses  Paul  con- 
stantly speaks  of  his  zvill  (as  much  as  six  or  seven  times)  and  of  his 
delight  (one  of  the  highest  pleasurable  affections),  yet  of  all  those 
who  hold  that  he  is  here  speaking  of  an  unregenerate  man,  few, 
perhaps  none,  pay  any  serious  attention  to  the  true  state  of  case, 
and  generally  hold  that  when  he  says  anything  good  of  himself 
he  is  merely  telling  what  his  reason  and  conscience  urge  and  de- 


348  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

mand.  So  Stuart :  "  Nothing  can  be  more  unfounded,  than  the 
supposition  that  moral  good  is  put  to  the  account  of  the  sinner, 
merely  because  one  assigns  to  him  reason  to  discern  its  nature, 
and  conscience  to  approve  it."  The  context  shows  that  all  he 
admits  this  man  to  have  is  what  is  here  expressed,  some  intellect 
and  some  conscience.  To  admit  that  the  man  here  spoken  of  had 
a  will  to  that,  which  is  good,  would  be  fatal  to  his  interpretation. 
And  yet  it  is  the  will  Paul  chiefly  speaks  of,  and  never  here  once 
in  any  form  mentions  his  conscience.  Nor  is  this  the  course  of  one 
scholar  merely.  It  seems  to  have  been  so  generally.  Grotius 
took  the  same  course.  And  Fraser,  who  died  in  1769,  says  the 
same  course  was  pursued  in  his  day :  "  They,  who  hold  this  in- 
terpretation, do  most  commonly  seem  to  understand  by  what  good 
is  here  ascribed  to  the  unregenerate,  no  more  than  the  light  of 
reason  in  the  mind  or  understanding ;  with  the  urgent  testimony 
for  duty,  and  against  sin,  that  is  in  the  conscience  of  the  unregene- 
rate, with  different  degrees  of  light  and  force."  Should  we  apply 
this  mode  of  explanation  to  other  parts  of  scripture  what  sad 
havoc  we  should  make  of  the  truth.  In  Rom.  1:13  Paul  says: 
"  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant,"  etc.  In  Rom.  16 :  19  he  says  : 
"  I  would  have  you  wise."  Does  he  mean  no  more  than  that  his 
reason  and  conscience  are  in  favor  of  their  being  wise  and  intelli- 
gent ?  or  does  he  not  declare  that  his  heart  was  set  upon  their 
making  these  attainments?  Many  other  cases  where  the  same 
verb  is  used  might  be  cited  with  as  much  pertinency  as  those  just 
given.  Of  a  like  character  is  the  attempt  to  ignore  all  the  signi- 
ficancy  of  the  word  delight.  Whitby  thus  paraphrases  the  words, 
"  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God,"  "  my  mind  approving  for  some 
time,  and  being  pleased  with  its  good  and  holy  precepts."  In 
like  manner  expositions  of  this  scripture  by  writers  of  the  same 
school  do  much  tend  to  show  that  the  apostle  meant  very  little  by 
anything  he  said  unless  it  is  something  that  can  be  used  to  show 
that  he  is  speaking  of  one  unregenerate. 

12.  A  number  of  writers,  who  in  the  main  expound  these  twelve 
verses  of  an  unregenerate  man,  do  yet  admit  that  in  them  are 
many  things  that  a  true  Christian  might  say  and  think  of  himself. 
This  has  been  done  to  such  an  extent  that  Olshausen  actually  pro- 
poses an  interpretation  which  shall  show  "  what  is  right  and  what 
erroneous"  in  these  two  classes.  He  has  probably  satisfied  very 
few  that  his  middle  way  is  feasible.  But  that  is  not  the  matter 
now  before  us.  His  testimony  to  the  concessions  of  others  is 
striking :  "  After  Spener,  Franke,  Bengel,  Gottfreid  Arnold,  Zin- 
zendorf,  the  words  of  the  apostle  were  again  begun  to  be  explained 
of  the  state  before  regeneration,  and  Stier,  Tholuck,  Ruckert,  De 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25.]        THE  ROMANS.  349 

Wette,  Meyer  follow  them  in  their  interpretation.  These  learned 
men  nevertheless  quite  rightly  acknoAvledge,  that  the  Augustinian 
representation  has  also  something  true  in  it,  since  that  in  the  life 
of  the  regenerate  moments  occur,  in  which  they  must  speak  en- 
tirely as  Paul  expresses  himself  here ;  and,  moreover,  as  it  is  only 
by  degrees  that  the  transforming  power  of  the  gospel  penetrates 
the  different  tendencies  of  the  inner  life,  congenial  phenomena  ex- 
tend through  the  whole  life  of  the  believer ;  and  this  leads  to  the 
thought,  that  the  two  views  might  admit  of  being  united  in  a 
higher  one.  For  it  is  little  probable  that  men  like  Augustine  and 
the  reformers  should  have  entirely  erred  in  the  conception  of  so 
important  a  passage."  This  quotation  is  weighty  and  important. 
It  concedes  as  much  as  most  sound  interpreters  would  desire  as 
the  basis  of  an  exposition. 

13.  If  the  exposition,  to  which  we  object,  is  correct,  what  need 
is  there  of  divine  grace  to  accomplish  the  salvation  of  unregen- 
erate  men  ?  If  a  man,  not  under  grace,  can  "  consent  to  the 
law  that  it  is  good,"  can  "  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  in- 
ward man,"  can  himself  "  with  his  mind  serve  the  law  of  God," 
can  "  hate"  sin,  can  "  will"  all  that  God's  word  demands  and  en- 
joins, and  can  in  the  midst  of  his  greatest  conflicts  with  temptation 
and  sin  still  sing  out  in  triumph,  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,"  there  seems  to  be  nothing  left  to  be  accom- 
plished in  setting  one  in  the  strait  and  narrow  way  that  leads  to 
life  and  peace.  If  "  the  moral  powers  of  nature"  can  do  all  these 
things,  why  cannot  these  same  moral  powers  without  special 
grace  go  on  and  complete  the  work  so  happily  begun  }  Encour- 
agement would  no  doubt  be  acceptable  to  any  one,  moral  suasion 
would  certainly  not  be  amiss,  but  surely  they  would  not  be  essen- 
tial. And  if  an  unregenerate  man  himself  without  God's  grace 
can  do  all  these  wonderful  things,  what  could  not  a  man  do  who 
was  regenerate  even  if  he  were  left  to  work  his  way  without  God's 
Spirit?  Yet  how  differently  do  the  scriptures  speak.  In  one 
place  Paul  confesses  the  total  inability  of  himself  and  his  brethren 
even  to  think  a  good  thought :  "  Not  that  we  are  sufficient  of  our- 
selves to  think  any  thing  as  of  ourselves  ;  but  our  sufficiency  is  of 
God,"  2  Cor.  3:5.  In  another  place  he  declares  the  inability  of 
even  Christians  to  approach  God  acceptably  in  prayer  unless  God 
teaches  and  helps  them :  "  Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our 
infirmities :  for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we 
ought :  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groan- 
ings  which  cannot  be  uttered,"  Rom.  8  :  26.  If  even  Christians 
and  apostles  converted  and  experienced,  can  neither  think  nor 
pray  aright  without  special  help  from  God,  how  shall  an  unregen- 


350  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  VIL,  vs.  14-25. 

erate  miin,  "  with  his  mind  serve  the  law,"  which  is  holy,  just  and 
good,  and  which  forbids  all  sin  and  enjoins  all  obedience  pleasing 
to  God:  yes,  and  also  "hate"  all  that  is  opposed  to  it,  and  "de- 
light" (Stuart  translates  it  take  pleasure)  "  in  the  law  of  God  after 
the  inward  man?"  Fraser:  "  If  a  natural  man,  destitute  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  can  sincerely  will,  love,  delight,  and  hate,  as  is  here 
said  ;  I  would  wish  to  know,  Avhat  is  left  for  divine  grace  to  do  in 
regeneration,  according  to  the  sentiments  of  these  writers  ?  What 
but  external  revelation,  and  moral  suasion  well  inculcated,  to  give 
the  proper  excitement  to  the  more  languid  will,  inclination  and 
affection  towards  holiness,  which  a  man  in  nature  hath,  from  ra- 
tional nature  itself,  that  these  may  exert  themselves  with  due  ac- 
tivity and  force  ?  This  is  divine  grace,  and  the  human  will  con- 
senting to  this  suasion,  and  so  exerting  itself  in  practice,  is,  accor- 
ding to  them,  regeneration. 

"  Moral  suasion  must  indeed  have  its  own  place,  in  dealing  with 
rational  creatures.  They  are  not  dealt  with  as  stocks  or  stones 
under  the  hand  of  the  mechanic.  Conversion  to  God  through 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  holiness,  is  the  consequence  of  proper  evi- 
dence, and  of  proper  motives.  Conversion  is  the  effect  of  suasion ; 
but  not  of  that  merely  :  suasion  is  not  of  itself  a  cause  adequate  to 
such  an  effect  in  sinful  men.  In  using  that  suasion,  and  that  the 
proper  evidence  and  motives  should  have  effect  on  the  hearts  of 
men,  there  is  needful  the  immediate  operation  and  influence  of  di- 
vine power  and  grace  on  the  hearts  of  men."  How  necessary 
God's  almighty  power  and  grace,  and  the  effectual  working  of  his 
Spirit  are  in  regeneration  the  scriptures  very  fully  declare,  John 
I  :  13  ;  3  :  5  ;  Eph.  i  :  18-20 ;  3  :  7  ;  Jas,  1:18.  That  the  same  power 
and  grace  are  necessary  to  keep  believers  in  the  right  way  after 
regeneration  is  no  less  clear,  John  10 :  28,  29  ;  i  Pet.  1:5;  Jude  i. 
But  how  is  this,  if  one  not  under  grace  can  do  all  that  is  in  Rom.  7  : 
14-25  said  to  be  done  ? 

14.  If  the  passage  (Rom.  7  :  14-25)  does  not  teach  what  is 
claimed  for  it  by  Whitby,  Stuart,  and  that  class  of  writers,  it  may 
be  asked  what  does  it  teach  ?  This  is  a  fair  question.  The  object 
in  connection  with  the  great  argument  of  the  apostle  is  very  im- 
portant indeed.  He  had  demonstrated  that  justification  was  not 
and  could  not  be  by  deeds  of  law  ;  that  it  was  by  faith  laying  hold 
of  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  the  fruits  of  gratuitous 
justification  were  exceedingly  rich  ;  that  man's  recovery  by  the 
second  Adam,  like  his  ruin  by  the  first  Adam,  was  by  repre- 
sentation and  covenant  headship  ;  that  as  a  consequence  be- 
lievers are  dead  to  sin  and  alive  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ ;  that 
believers  are  dead  to  the  law  as  a  covenant ;   that  when  those, 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  14.]  THE  ROMANS.  351 

who  are  now  God's  children,  were  nnregenerate,  they  had  a 
thorough  experience  of  the  impossibility  of  gaining  by  the  law 
the  mastery  over  their  sins,  but  were  by  it  only  made  acquainted 
with  their  number,  guilt  and  power.  This  brings  him  to  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  verse  of  the  seventh  chapter  of  this  epistle. 
Then  in  vs.  14-25  he  shows  the  utter  powerlessness  of  law  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  sanctification  even  in  the  hearts  of  renewed  men, 
thus  warning  them  against  the  legal  spirit.  Even  in  converted 
men  mere  precepts  do  not  day  by  day  renew  the  soul.  That  is 
peculiarly  the  effect  of  evangelical  doctrine  and  truth.  So  that  to 
believers  Jesus  Christ  is  of  God  made  wisdom,  and  righteousness, 
and  sanctification,  and  redemption.  The  capital  error  of  the  Gala- 
tian  churches  was  that  having  begun  in  the  gospel,  they  sought  to 
be  made  perfect  by  the  law,  Gal.  3  :  3.  They  so  changed  their 
base  of  proceeding  as  to  bring  on  themselves  many  and  sore 
calamities,  confusion,  perplexity  and  loss  of  comfort.  It  must  be 
so  in  every  case.  Hodge :  "  The  law  excites  in  the  unrenewed 
mind  opposition  and  hatred  ;  in  the  pious  mind  complacency  and 
delight ;  but  in  neither  case  can  it  break  the  power  of  sin,  or  in- 
troduce the  soul  into  the  true  liberty  of  the  children  of  God." 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  a  consideration  of  the  several  verses. 

14.  For  zve  knotv  thai  the  law  is  spiritual :  but  I  am  carnal,  sold 
under  sin.  We  knozv,  we.  Christians  generally,  have  no  doubt  on 
the  point.  All  admit  it.  It  is  one  of  the  truths  learned  in  the  early 
stages  of  a  saving  acquaintance  with  the  gospel.  Some  prefer  to 
read  /  knozv  indeed  and  the  Greek  admits  either.  The  change  does 
not  affect  the  sense  of  the  context.  The  law  is  spiritual,  the  con- 
text shows  that  it  is  the  moral  law  of  which  he  §peaks.  Spiritual, 
a  word  found  in  the  New  Testament  as  much  as  twenty-five 
times.  It  is  sometimes  the  opposite  of  natural.  Thus  speaking 
of  the  human  body  in  death  and  the  resurrection  Paul  says :  "  It 
is  sown  a  natural  body  ;  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body,"  i  Cor.  15  : 
44.  Compare  i  Cor.  2  :  14,  15.  Sometimes  it  is  the  opposite  of 
secular  or  temporal.  "  If  we  have  sown  unto  you  spiritual  things, 
is  it  a  great  thing  if  we  shall  reap  your  carnal  things?"  i  Cor. 
9:11.  The  context  shows  that  he  is  speaking  of  the  temporal 
support  of  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Compare  Rom.  15  :  27.  In 
both  these  verses  we  may  read  secular  or  temporal  as  the  oppo- 
site of  spiritual,  and  we  shall  get  the  sense.  So  when  Paul 
speaks  of  spiritual  songs  he  designates  not  only  such  as  were 
the  opposite  of  lascivious,  profane,  or  idolatrous,  but  such  as 
were  the  opposite  of  secular,  witty,  amusing,  though  they  might  be 
free  from  any  thing  wicked.  Then  it  is  used  to  designate  things 
the  opposite  of  material,  which  material  things  set  forth  blessings 


352  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  v.  14. 

or  privileges  provided  by  Christ.  So  we  read  of  spiritual  meat, 
spiritual  drink  and  spiritual  Rock,  i  Cor.  10:3,4,  a  spiritual 
house  and  spiritual  sacrifices,  i  Pet.  2:5.  Spiritual  is  also  an 
epithet  applied  to  consistent  Christians,  who  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
have  attained  a  good  degree  of  holiness  and  stability.  Thus  Paul 
says  :  "  I  brethren  could  not  speak  unto  you  as  unto  spiritual,  but 
as  unto  carnal,  even  as  unto  babes  in  Christ,"  i  Cor.  3:1.  Here 
spiritual  designates  a  strong  or  matured  believer  in  opposition  to 
a  feeble  one.  The  word  spiritual  evidently  has  the  same  meaning 
in  Gal.  6:1.  Sometimes  the  word  simply  means  pertaining  to 
spirits  as  where  we  read  of  spiritual  wickedness,  Eph.  6:  12.  But 
what  is  the  precise  meaning  of  the  word  here  ?  Wardlaw  : 
"  Spiritual,  as  contrasted  with  carnal,  evidently  signifies  not  only 
the  law's  reaching  to  the  inward  thoughts,  affections  and  desires ; 
but  its  perfection  of  accordance  in  all  that  it  requires,  both  in- 
wardly and  outwardly,  with  the  character  and  mind  of  God's 
Spirit,  as  opposite  to  the  moral  corruption  of  man's  fallen  nature, 
called  the  flesh."  Stuart:  "The  law  enjoins  those  things  which 
are  agreeable  to  the  mind  of  the  Spirit."  Owen  of  Thrussington  : 
"  As  carnal  means  what  is  sinful  and  corrupt,  so  spiritual  imports 
what  is  holy,  just  and  good."  Hodge :  "  The  word  spiritual  is 
here  expressive  of  general  excellence,  and  includes  all  that  is 
meant  by  holy,  just  and  good."  The  ideas  of  excellence,  holiness, 
justness  and  goodness  are  in  scripture  always  connected  with  the 
law  of  God,  but  we  must  on  no  account  drop  the  idea  that  the  law 
is  spiritual  in  the  sense  of  being  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  in- 
tents of  the  heart.  It  was  by  this  means  that  Paul  formerly 
received  conviction  of  the  true  nature  and  terrible  extent  of  sin  as 
stated,  vs.  8-12.  I  am  carnal.  In  considering  the  word  spiritual, 
we  have  seen  that  the  opposite  in  some  cases  is  carnal.  See  also 
above  on  Rom.  3  :  20  where  the  cognate  noun  flesh  is  explained. 
So  here  Paul  admits  the  excellence  of  the  law  and  his  own  vile- 
ness.  If  the  law  is  holy,  he  is  sadly  deficient  in  holiness.  If  it  is 
just,  he  sees  he  is  far  from  being  personally  righteous  as  the  law 
requires.  If  it  is  good,  he  is  so  evil  as  to  be  a  loathing  to  himself. 
In  considering  i  Cor.  3 :  i  it  has  been  shown  that  the  word  carnal 
does  sometimes  mean  comparatively  carnal.  Paul  might  say,  I  am 
carnal,  compared  with  the  perfect  and  holy  law  of  God,  compared 
with  my  own  imperfect  perceptions  of  what  the  law  demands, 
compared  with  what  I  sincerely  desire  to  be.  See  also  i  Cor. 
3  :  3,  4.  To  be  carnal  is  not  in  scripture  the  same  as  to  be  in  the 
flesh  ;  for  Paul  addresses  the  Corinthians  as  brctJircn,  which  he 
would  not  have  done,  if  he  had  regarded  them  as  unregenerate. 
Surely  this  place  demonstrates  that  saints,  brethren,  may  in  some 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  15.]  THE  ROMANS.  353 

respects  be  sadly  carnal,  even  in  the  eyes  of  other  good  and  charit- 
able men.  Much  more  may  a  man  in  his  own  eyes  have  many  re- 
mains of  sin  in  him.  So  that  he  may  truly  utter  the  complaint  of 
this  verse  Sold  under  sin.  There  were  two  classes  of  slaves.  One 
was  so  by  voluntai^y  act.  Provision  was  made  for  men  becoming  so 
in  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  Ex.  21  :  6.  Such  were  willing  slaves. 
They  preferred  that  state  to  freedom.  If  they  had  any  good  prin- 
ciples they  served  their  masters  with  a  will.  Ahab  was  like  one 
of  these,  in  this  that  it  was  his  own  perverse  and  continued  choice 
to  work  wickedness.  He  sold  himself  to  work  evil  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord,  i  Kings  21  :  20,  25.  God  tells  us  of  others  who  willingly 
and  greedily  wrought  evil  and  so  sold  themselves  to  do  evil,  2 
Kings  17:17.  The  other  way  of  being  a  slave  was  without  the 
consent  of  the  slave.  He  was  sold  for  debt,  or  as  a  prisoner  of 
war.  In  no  sense  did  he  sell  himself;  yet  he  had  a  master  whom 
he  was  forced  to  serve.  He  did  so  reluctantly,  wishing  all  the 
time  that  he  should  be  free  from  his  master.  This  was  the  servi- 
tude of  Paul.  He  Jiated  his  tyrant,  indwelling  sin,  and  hoped  to  be 
wholly  free  in  God's  good  time  ;  but  now  he  was  a  captive. 

15.  For  that  which  I  do  I  allow  not ;  for  tvhat  I  would,  that  do  I 
7iot ;  but  what  I  hate  that  I  do.  For  allow  Stuart  reads  approve. 
The  original  is  literally  know,  but  must  here  be  taken,  as  the  word 
often  is,  in  the  sense  of  allowing,  approving,  or  owning  as  friends. 
Matt.  7  :  23  ;  2  Cor.  5:21;  2  Tim.  2  :  19 ;  i  John  3:1.  When  he 
sa3^s  that  which  I  do  I  allozv  not,  he  does  not  mean  all  that  he  does, 
but  whatever  he  does  in  his  spiritual  captivity.  He  did  not  mean 
to  say  that  he  did  not  approve  of  praying,  preaching,  and  serving 
Christ ;  but  he  says  that  in  the  service  he  renders  to  God  there  is 
such  deficiency  as  fills  him  with  shame  and  self-reproach.  The  same 
limitation  must  be  applied  to  the  next  clause  :  for  what  I  zvoiild, 
that  do  I  not,  q.  d.  the  will  of  my  renewed  nature  is  to  serve  God 
perfectly ;  I  wish  to  be  entirely  holy,  and  do  God's  will  as  the 
angels  and  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  in  heaven  do.  But  I 
continually  come  short  of  even  my  own  standai;d,  and  certainly  I 
come  short  of  the  law  of  God.  But  what  I  hate,  that  do  I.  Every 
translation  at  hand  has  hate.  The  Greek  admits  of  no  other  ren- 
dering. No  unregenerate  man  hates  sin,  abhors  himself  for  it, 
repenting  in  dust  and  ashes.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  three 
verbs  in  this  verse  rendered  do  must  exclusively  refer  to  external 
acts.  But  the  context  clearly  uses  them  of  acts  of  the  mind  and 
heart.  Every  experienced  Christian  knows  that  when  he  has  made 
the  greatest  attainments  in  holiness,  he  has  the  deepest  sense  of 
his  own  vileness.  Hodge  :  "  The  language  of  this  verse  may  not 
be  metaphysical,  though  it  is  perfectly  correct  language.  It  is  the 
23 


354  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  16-18. 

language  of  common  life,  which  as  it  proceeds  from  the  common 
consciousness  of  men,  is  often  a  better  indication  of  what  that  con- 
sciousness teaches  than  the  language  of  the  schools." 

16.  If  then  I  do  that  which  I  would  not,  I  consent  unto  the  law  that 
it  is  good.  He  does  not  say,  nor  mean  to  intimate  that  he  is  not 
responsible  for  his  failures,  much  less  does  he  deny  that  his  failures 
are  sinful.  But  he  does  declare  that  all  the  time  his  conflict  is 
going  on,  his  better,  his  new  nature  resisted  temptation.  In  proof 
he  gave  his  hearty  consent  to  the  law,  which  is  the  standard  of 
moral  excellence.  On  consenting  to  the  law  see  above  preliminary 
remarks  No.  7.  Hodge:  "To  disapprove  and  condemn  what  the 
law  forbids,  is  to  assent  to  the  excellence  of  the  law." 

17.  Now  then  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwel'leth  in  me. 
The  apostle  could  not  more  decidedly  adhere  to  the  profession  of 
his  confidence  in  the  reality  of  his  great  change  from  a  state  of 
nature  to  a  state  of  grace.  It  was  not  he,  not  his  new  nature,  not 
his  better  part,  that  did  wrong  or  failed  to  do  right.  No  !  it  was 
the  old  man,  the  fallen  nature,  the  flesh  that  thus  involved  him  in 
trouble.  Fraser  :  "  It  is  reasonable  to  consider  it  as  a  fixed  point, 
that  to  consent  to  the  goodness  of  the  law,  as  it  is  spiritual,  giving 
rule  to  men's  spirits,  which  is  the  apostle's  special  view  in  this 
place,  is  far  from  the  disposition  of  any  unregenerated  soul."  Could 
words  more  clearly  state  that  the  Christian  man  Paul,  whom  he 
calls  /  was  truly  sincere,  and  his  heart  in  the  main  right  with  God  ? 
It  was  sin  that  gave  all  the  trouble,  not  Paul's  new  nature. 

18.  For  I  knoiv  that  in  me  {that  is,  in  my  fleshy  dwelleth  no  good 
tlmtg:  for  to  tvill  is  present  with  me ;  but  how  to  perform  that  ivhich 
is  good  I  find  not.  Divine  grace  makes  a  wonderful  change,  long 
before  it  brings  its  subjects  to  spotless  purity  and*  angelic  perfec- 
tion. The  unrenewed  sinner's  heart  is  fully  set  in  him  to  do  evil, 
he  will  not  accept  the  gospel  offer.  His  will  and  affections  are 
bent  to  evil.  The  remains  of  this  sinful  nature,  called  the  flesh, 
had  in  it  no  good  thing.  It  did  not  see,  or  think,  or  feel,  or  pur- 
pose, or  act  aright.  But  Paul's  will,  in  his  new  nature,  was 
right.  If  he  could  have  had  his  way  he  never  would  have  sinned 
any  more.  Grace  wrought  this  change,  and  it  was  a  great  one. 
But  he  had  such  temptations,  and  sin  was  so  urgent  and  instant 
that  he  often  found  himself  unable  to  carry  out  his  best  volitions 
and  purposes,  at  least  to  the  degree  which  the  law  justly  demand- 
ed. That  willing  what  is  holy  is  a  fruit  of  God's  spirit  and  is 
proof  of  the  presence  of  divine  grace  is  evident  from  Phil.  2:13, 
"  It  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good 
pleasure."  Here  is  a  direct  and  unmistakeable  assertion  that  we 
are  as  dependent  on  divine  grace  for  a  right  will  as  for  anything  else. 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  19-21.]      THE  ROMANS.  355 

19.  For  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not :  but  the  evil  which  I  tvoiild 
not,  that  I  do.  He  still  maintains  that  his  will  is  for  the  good,  for 
xvould  is  the  same  verb  and  in  precisely  the  same  form  as  in  v.  18 
is  rendered  zvill.  Stuart  does  not  alter  the  force  of  the  argument 
by  substituting  desire  for  would  in  this  verse.  For  real  hearty 
desires  after  holiness  prove  a  man  to  have  been  born  again.  On 
this  verse  some,  who  plead  for  the  application  of  the  passage  to  an 
unregenerate  man,  bring  many  quotations  from  heathen  authors 
to  show  that  what  Paul  says  of  himself  here  might  be  said  of  a 
man  not  under  grace.  And  it  is  freely  admitted  that  conscience 
has  often  mightily  moved  men  in  favor  of  the  right,  and  that  at 
times  they  are  full  of  grief  for  misconduct,  which  has  brought  on 
them  much  disappointment  and  vexation.  But  when  was  the  will 
of  the  unrenewed  man  ever  set  on  the  good  ?  when  did  he  earnestly 
desire  holiness? 

20.  Now  if  I  do  that  I  would  not,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin 
that  dwelleth  in  me.  This  is  nearly  a  repetition  of  v.  17.  The  ob- 
ject of  saying  the  matter  again  probabl}^  is  to  remove  all  doubt 
on  the  point  that  Paul  speaks  as  a  Christian,  having  the  will  of  his 
new  nature  right  before  God,  and  yet  unwillingly  led  into  sad  im- 
perfections. Arminius  has  labored  to  show  that  the  word  divclleth 
found  here  signifies  the  possession  of  dominion.  II  he  had  succeed- 
ed in  his  argument,  it  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  interpretation 
maintained  in  this  work.  It  is  true  that  the  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  does  always  imply  dominion  over  the  soul,  Rom.  8  :  9, 
II  ;  I  Cor.  3  :  16.  This  results  from  the  sovereign  authority  and 
glorious  nature  of  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity.  But  that  there 
is  no  such  idea  as  sovereign  sway  involved  in  the  word  dwell  is 
perfectly  manifest.  In  i  Cor.  7  :  12  Paul  says:  "If  any  brother 
hath  a  wife  that  believeth  not,  and  she  be  pleased  to  dzvcll  with 
him,  let  him  not  put  her  away."  Surely  he  does  not  mean  that 
the  wife  should  rule  her  husband.  Here  we  have  the  same  word 
rendered  dwell  as  in  our  verse.  The  only  idea  essentially  con- 
nected with  the  word  dwelling  is  habitation,  as  every  scholar  must 
see  on  examining  the  word  and  its  cognates. 

21.7  find  then  a  lazv,  that,  zvhen  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
zvith  me.  I  find,  I  have  experience  of  the  fact.  With  me  it  is  no 
matter  of  conjecture,  nor  of  vague  theory.  I  have  the  sad  reality 
to  deal  with.  I  find  a  law ;  in  v.  20  he  told  us  what  this  law  was — ■ 
"  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me."  The  term  law  here  denotes  a  powerful 
principle.  Owen  of  Oxford  :  "  It  is  not  an  outward,  written,  com- 
manding, directing  law,  but  an  inbred,  working,  impelling,  urging 
law.  A  law  proposed  to  us  is  not  to  be  compared  for  efficacy  to 
a  law  inbred  in  us."     By  the  power  of  divine  grace  we  are  set  free 


356  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VIL,  vs.  22,  23 

from  the  dominion  but  not  from  the  annoyance  of  sin.  The  tribes 
of  Canaanites  were  not  the  Lords  of  Palestine  after  the  days  of 
Joshua,  but  they  still  dwelt  in  the  land  and  greatly  tempted,  vexed 
and  harassed  the  people  of  God.  In  the  unregenerate  this  law  is 
unbroken  in  its  power.  They  obey  it  habitually  and  promptly. 
Their  wills  yield  to  its  demands.  In  the  regenerate  its  dominion 
is  cast  off,  but  it  still  has  great  force  to  mar  their  good  works,  and 
hinder  their  conformity  to  God.  It  does  not  lord  it  over  the 
saints,  but  it  seduces  them.  It  is  terribly  deceitful  and  terribly 
wicked.  That  we  may  thus  understand  the  word  law,  as  synony- 
mous with  inward,  urging  principle  is  clear.  See  v.  23  and  com- 
pare Rom.  8  :  2.  This  law  has  power  in  a  renewed  man,  one  that 
would  do  good,  one  the  prevailing  inclinations  of  whose  will  are 
right.  As  Owen  says  this  indwelling  sin  'is  a  law  or  power  in 
believers,  but  it  is  not  a  law  unto  them.'  It  meets  not  their  ap- 
proval ;  it  commends  not  itself  to  their  consciences,  nor  to  their 
spiritual  tastes.  They  were  once  fully  under  its  dominion ;  but 
that  is  now  broken.  Yet  old  habits  of  sinning,  the  weakness  of 
grace  and  the  urgency  of  temptation  do  still  give  it  much  power, 
to  annoy,  vex  and  betray  the  soul.  The  apostle  specially  mentions 
the  urgency  of  sin.  Evil  is  present  zvith  me.  The  tow  is  always 
in  our  hearts,  so  long  as  our  sanctification  is  incomplete,  and  we 
know  not  at  what  moment  the  enemy  may  hurl  his  fiery  darts. 

22.  For  I  delight  in  the  laiv  of  God  after  the  inward  man.  For 
an  explanation  of  the  terms  and  phrases  of  this  verse,  see  above 
preliminary  remarks  No.  7.  The  law  of  God  certainly  includes  the 
ten  commandments  as  explained  in  scripture.  Sometimes  law  is 
a  name  given  to  the  whole  word  of  God,  of  which  his  preceptive 
will  forms  an  important  part.  For  delight  Taylor  of  Norwich  has 
esteem.  But  this  is  trifling.  That  this  verse  describes  the  exer- 
cises of  a  renewed  man  is  as  clear  as  any  mark  of  regeneration 
laid  down  in  scripture.  If  an  unregenerate  man  can  delight  in  the 
law  of  God,  why  cannot  he  love  God  supremely  and  his  neighbor 
equally  ?  why  cannot  he  love  the  brethren  and  do  every  thing  else 
required  of  men  ?  The  fact  is  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against 
God  :  it  is  not  subject  to  his  law.  How  then  can  it  delight  in  any- 
thing holy  ?  for  the  law  is  to  us  the  standard  pf  holiness. 

23.  But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  laiv 
of  my  mind,  and  briiiging  me  into  captivity  to  the  laiv  of  sin  which  is 
in  my  members.  Here  again  we  have  the  word  law  in  the  same 
sense  as  in  v.  21  ;  and  in  contrast  with  the  law  of  God  in  v.  22. 
Members,  the  same  word  so  rendered  in  Rom.  6:13,  19  ;  7:5,  on 
which  see  above.  Warring  against,  the  word  is  literally  rendered. 
Indwelling  sin  never   reasons    or  remonstrates  but  seduces,  de- 


Ch.  VII.,  V.  24.]  THE  ROMANS.  357 

ceives,  wages  war,  and  commits  acts  of  violence.  It  arrays  its 
whole  forces  against  the  inner  man,  or  new  creature,  the  lazv  of  the 
mind,  established  in  regeneration.  God  had  so  far  fulfilled  the 
provisions  of  the  covenant  as  to  write  the  law  on  Paul's  heart,  Jer. 
31  :  33  ;  Heb.  8  :  10.  Yet  the  remains  of  his  fallen  nature  brought 
him  into  the  condition  of  an  unwilling  captive,  who  felt  the 
force  though  he  hated  the  power  of  that  which  kept  him  in  bond- 
age. The  law  of  his  mind  was  utterly  contrary  to  the  law  of  sin. 
Though  the  latter  had  long  had  possession,  yet  it  had  no  longer 
in  any  sense  a  right  there.  All  it  claimed  and  controlled  was  by 
usurpation.  Wardlaw  :  "  Bringing  me  into  captivity  has  been  inter- 
preted as  if  it  signified  that  he  was  uniformly  overcome,  actually 
brought  into  full  captivity.  But  it  expresses  no  such  thing,  as 
that  the  power  of  corruption  was  either  uniformly,  or  even  pre- 
vailingly successful.  Similar  expressions  are  used  to  denote  a  ten- 
dency that  has  not  effect.  It  was  the  case  with  the  apostle,  and  it 
is  the  case  with  every  saint  of  God,  that  he  feels  this  law  in  his 
members  bringing  him,  i.  e.  he  feels  it  to  be  its  constant  tendency 
to  bring  him  into  captivity  ;  so  that  were  it  not  resisted  by  '  the 
law  of  his  mind,'  by  the  energy  of  the  new  man  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Spirit  of  God,  such  would  infallibly  be  its  effect." 
This  is  all  that  can  fairly  be  educed  from  these  words.  Thus 
much  they  do  certainly  teach.  The  same  truth  is  expressly  set 
forth  in  Gal.  ^wj.  Some  have  cited  Ezek.  24:  13  as  conveying 
the  same  truth.  Possibly  it  does,  but  it  fairly  admits  of  another 
exposition. 

24.  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body 
of  this  death  ?  Wretched,  the  word  occurs  but  once  more  in  the 
New  Testament,  Rev.  3:17,  and  is  rendered  as  here.  The  cog- 
nate noun  occurs  twice  and  is  rendered  misery,  Rom.  3:16;  jas. 
5:1.  The  cognate  verb  occurs  once  and  is  rendered.  Be  afflicted, 
Jas.  4:9.  It  expresses  extreme  unhappiness.  Rheims  has  iin- 
happie.  The  language  is  so  strong  that  some  have  said  it  cannot 
possibly  apply  to  the  Christian  for  he  is  happy  not  wretched. 
Wardlaw  well  says:  "It  is  truly  marvellous  that  such  an  argu- 
ment should  ever  have  been  used.  One  is  strongly  tempted  to 
suspect  that  he  by  whom  such  an  argument  could  be  used,  can 
never  himself  have  felt  the  burden  of  corruption,  the  plagues  of 
his  own  heart.  Is  it  not  the  very  man  whose  heart  is  most  under 
the  influence  of  holiness  and  the  love  of  God  that  feels  most 
acutely  the  anguish  of  a  sense  of  remaining  corruption?"  The 
fact  is  these  words  express  the  same  idea  made  familiar  to  us  by 
patriarchs  and  prophets,  as  has  been  already  shown.  In  this  whole 
section  the  apostle  has  not  been   expressing  an  apprehension  of 


358  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VII.,  v.  25. 

wrath  for  unpardoned  sin,  but  a  sense  of  self-loathing  on  account 
of  indwelling  corruption.  The  word  rendered  deliver  has  not  be- 
fore occured  in  this  epistle.  It  is  very  strong.  Owen  of  Thrus- 
sington  says  it  means  to  pluck  out,  rescue,  take  away  by  force,  and 
is  applied  to  a  forcible  act,  effected  by  power.  By  the  body  of  this 
death  some  understand  this  mortal  body,  and  think  the  speaker 
here  was  expressing  a  wish  to  die.  But  such  an  exposition  cer- 
tainly does  not  suit  Paul.  He  himself  tells  us  that  on  the  subject 
of  dying  he  was  in  a  strait,  Phil,  i  :  23,  24.  Nor  does  it  suit  the 
case  of  an  awakened  unregenerate  man  ;  for  he,  who  rightly  sees  his 
sins  and  does  not  behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  is  for  very  good  cause, 
the  best  cause  in  the  world,  both  afraid  and  unwilling  to  die  and 
meet  God  in  judgment.'  His  cry  "  is  not  the  utterance  of  despair, 
but  of  longing  and  vehement  desire."  The  next  verse  clearly 
shows  this.  By  the  body  of  this  death  others  understand  the  body 
of  sin  consisting  of  the  members ;  Hall :  "  the  mass  of  inward 
corruption  ;"  Stuart :  "  the  seat  of  carnal  and  sinful  principles  ;" 
Hodge :  "  it  may  be  taken  metaphorically  for  sin  considered  as  a 
body."  Some  give  an  illustration  of  the  conception  in  the  apostle's 
mind  by  referring  us  to  an  ancient  mode  of  punishment  resorted 
to  in  some  cases,  where  the  culprit — perhaps  a  murderer — was 
punished  by  having  a  dead  human  body  fastened  firmly  to  his  own, 
limb  to  limb,  and  then  the  criminal  turned  loose.  Soon  the  stench 
was  horrible  ;  soon  the  virus  of  the  corrupting  body  communicated 
its  deadly  poison,  and  a  horrible  though  not  a  very  speedy  death  en- 
sued. No  doubt  Paul  was  aware  of  this  practice.  Nor  is  it  im- 
probable that  he  here  alludes  to  it.  So  think  Scott,  Clarke  and 
others. 

25.  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  So  then  with  my 
mind  I  myself  serve  the  law  of  God ;  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of 
sin.  Fraser :  "  I  thank  God,  who  hath  provided  comfort  for  me 
with  respect  to  this  my  present  wretchedness,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord :  by  virtue  of  whose  cross  the  old  man  in  me  is 
crucified :  which  gives  me  the  sure  and  delightful  prospect,  that 
this  body  of  sin  and  death  shall,  in  due  time,  be  absolutely  de- 
stroyed, and  I  completely  and  for  ever  delivered  from  it."  This 
paraphrase  seems  to  cover  very  much  the  ground  of  thankfulness 
here  expressed.  This  language  puts  the  grace  of  Christ  in  strong 
contrast  with  the  rigors  of  law  and  its  powerlessness  to  aid  a  sin- 
ner in  his  conflict  with  inbred  sin.  For  many  verses  the  apostle 
had  been  describing  the  great  conflict  of  his  renewed  nature  with 
indwelling  sin,  the  law  yielding  him  no  help  in  the  fight,  until  at 
last  he  utters  that  bitter  cry,  O  zvretchcd  man  !  But  he  lets  us  see 
that  he  is  not  in  despair.     He  yields  not  to  the  enemy,  but  direct- 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25-]       THE  ROMANS.  359 

ing  the  eye  of  his  faith  to  the  great  Deliverer,  he  says  the  first  cheer- 
ful word  we  have  had  for  many  verses  :  I  thank  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Instead  of  /  thank  God,  the  Vulgate, 
Wiclif,  Rheims,  Doway,  Locke  and  others,  following  the  Cler- 
mont, and  other  Greek  manuscripts  read,  the  grace  of  God.  This 
requires  but  a  slight  change  in  the  Greek  and  gives  a  good  sense. 
Paul  says,  Who  shall  deliver  me  ?  The  answer  is,  The  grace  of 
God  through  or  b)'^  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  shall  deliver  me.  But 
we  do  virtually  get  the  same  idea  from  the  authorized  version. 
Sanctification,  no  more  than  justification,  is  by  the  law,  but  both 
of  them  are  by  grace,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  But  for 
the  gospel  men  might  Avell  despair  of  pardon,  acceptance,  any  fit- 
ness for  communion  with  God,  or  any  victory  over  sin.  Pleasant 
as  this  theme  is  he  dwells  no  longer  on  it,  but  reverts  to  the  bur- 
den of  the  paragraph.  So  then  zvith  the  mind,  with  the  will,  with 
the  person  so  often  called  /,  with  the  inward  man,  with  the  law  of 
my  mind,  with  the  affection  of  delight,  which  so  influences  cheerful 
obedience,  /  myself,  I  Paul,  who  hate  sin,  and  will  what  is  good, 
serve  the  law  of  God.  In  this  I  am  not  deceived,  nor  am  I  a 
deceiver — I  am  no  hypnrrifp — -piy  hp^^t  is  truly  engaged — I  love 
the  law — my  most  animating  hope  is  that  I  shall  be  as  holy  as  the 
law  requires ;  but  with  the  flesh,  with  sin,  with  another  law  in  my 
members,  I  serve  the  law  of  sin.  This  warfare  I  have,  and  expect 
to  have,  till  I  close  my  earthly  career.  But  I  will  fight  on.  I 
shall  never  be  satisfied  till  I  awake  in  the  likeness  of  the  Redeemer. 
Some  have  objected  to  the  general  view  taken  of  these  verses  that 
no  man  can  serve  two  masters.  And  it  is  true  that  no  man  can  in 
the  same  sense  and  to  the  same  extent  serve  two  masters.  But 
neither  of  these  things  occurred  with  Paul.  Sin  Jhadjnot  dominion 
over  him,  though  it  had  power  against  him.  He  did  highly  and 
prevaihngly  please  Christ,  and  did  not  willingly  or  habitually 
serve  sin.  He  was  imperfect,  but  not  a  hypocrite,  a  true  penitent, 
not  a  self-deceiver. 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

I.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  religious  experience,  and  it  is 
dangerous  to  treat  it  with  contempt  or  despite,  vs.  14-25.  No 
man  has  any  more  piety  which  will  stand  the  tests  of  the  last  day, 
than  has  made  itself  felt  in  the  depths  of  his  nature.  One  may  be 
a  real  child  of  God  without  having  yet  experienced  all  Paul  felt ; 
but  as  he  advances  in  the  divine  life,  he  will  know  more  and  more 
of  what  is  here  described.  Scott :  "  Every  believer  knows  a  httle 
of  the  things  spoken  of  by  the  apostle  in  these  verses,  when  he 


36o  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

first  flees  for  refuge  to  the  hope  of  the  gospel :  but  his  subsequent 
experience  gives  him  still  further  insight  into  them."  Owen  of 
Thrussington :  "  The  apostle  says  nothing  here  of  himself,  but 
what  every  real  Christian  finds  to  be  true.  It  was  the  saying  of  a 
good  man,  lately  gone  to  his  rest,  whose  extended  pilgrimage  was 
ninety-three  years,  that  he  must  often  have  been  swallowed  up  by 
despair,  had  it  not  been  for  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  epistle  to 
the  Romans.  The  best  interpreter  of  many  things  in  scripture  is 
spiritual  experience."  Hawker:  "  Blessed  and  eternal  Spirit!  I 
praise  thee  for  the  account,  which  thou  hast  caused  thy  servant 
the  apostle  to  give  of  himself  in  this  sweet  chapter."  True,  indeed, 
much  odium  has  been  cast  on  the  subject  of  Christian  experience 
by  the  ignorance,  folly,  and  self-conceit  of  some,  who  have  spoken 
much  on  the  matter.  But  it  is  not  wise  to  give  up  any  thing  vital 
in  religion  because  it  has  sometimes  been  abused. 

2.  There  is  a  vast  difference  between  sin  indulged  and  sin  re- 
sisted, between  corruption  nourished  and  corruption  lamented. 
This  marks  one  of  the  prominent  distinctions  between  good  and 
bad  men  in  this  world.  No  two  things  are  more  contrary  to  each 
other  than  sin  and  grace,  the  flesh  and  the  spirit.  Chalmers :  "  In 
the  case  of  an  unconverted  man,  the  flesh  is  weak  and  the  spirit  is 
not  willing ;  and  so  there  is  no  conflict — nothing  that  can  force 
those  outcries  of  shame  and  remorse  and  bitter  lamentation,  that 
we  have  in  the  passage  before  us.  With  a  Christian  the  flesh  is 
weak  too  but  the  spirit  is  willing ;  and  under  its  influence  there 
must  from  the  necessary  connection  that  there  is  between  the 
human  faculties,  there  must  from  the  desires  of  his  heart  be  such 
an  efflux  of  doings  upon  his  history,  as  shall  make  his  life  distin- 
guishable in  the  world,  and  most  distinguishable  on  the  day  of 
judgment  from  the  life  of  an  unbeliever."  The  difference  between 
the  weakest  of  converted  men  and  the  most  amiable  of  the  unre- 
generate  is  the  difference  between  friendship  and  hostility  to  God. 
Wardlaw :  "  Indulged  corruption,  indeed,  may  and  ought  to  lead 
to  doubt  and  despair.  But  corruption  itself  should  not.  It  should 
only  lead  us  to  have  more  constant  and  simple-hearted  recourse 
to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  and  to  more  earnest  supplications  for 
the  restraining  and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  promised  Spirit." 

3.  Christ's  people  may  fall  into  melancholy  and  write  more 
bitter  things  against  themselves  than  the  truth  demands  or  allows  ; 
but  even  real,  exemplary  Christians,  contemplated  in  the  light  of 
God's  holy  word  and  of  Christ's  perfect  example,  are  poor  crea- 
tures. So  Paul  judged  of  himself,  vs.  14-25.  So  others  judge  of 
themselves.  Fraser :  "  All  professed  Christians  will  acknowledge, 
that  it  is  very  consistent  with  a  state  of  grace,  to  have  much  im- 


Ch.  VII,  vs.  14-25-]      THE  ROMANS.  361 

perfection  in  holiness,  and  much  remaining  sinfulness.  Upon  this 
view  it  is  most  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  the  farther  one  is  ad- 
vanced in  holiness,  and  the  more  his  heart  is  truly  sanctified,  he 
will  have  the  greater  sensibility  with  regard  to  sin,  and  it  must 
give  him  the  more  pain  and  bitterness."  Increase  of  sanctification 
is  not  increase  of  sanctimoniousness,  nor  is  it  marked  by  grimace, 
or  pomp,  or  high  self-estimation,  but  by  humility,  gentleness  and 
modesty. 

4.  Let  no  man  think  his  spiritual  state  good,  who  does  not  in 
his  heart  consent  to  the  excellence  of  the  law  of  God,  vs.  14,  16, 
22,  25.  If  one  objects  to  the  perfection  of  that  standard,  the  evi- 
dence against  him  is  very  strong.  Guyse  :  "  How  excellent  is  the 
moral  law,  as  the  rule  of  obedience !  In  this  view  of  it,  it  is  un- 
changeably and  everlastingly  binding,  and  is  fit  and  worthy  to  be 
so ;  for  it  is  all  holy,  just  and  good,  and  reaches  to  the  thoughts 
of  the  heart,  as  well  as  to  the  actions  of  the  life :  it  discovers  and 
strictly  forbids  every  sin,  and  stands  clear  of  all  charges  of  defect ;" 
aye,  and  of  excess  also.  Wardlaw  :  "  The  whole  system  of  salva- 
tion by  grace  has  its  foundation  in  the  absolute  and  immutable 
perfection  of  the  law.  It  is  in  this  that  the  necessity  of  a  scheme 
of  grace  originates."  The  right  estimate  of  the  excellence  of  the 
law  is  necessary  to  a  believer  in  many  ways.  One  is  suggested  by 
this  section,  viz.  it  keeps  a  good  man  from  despair  when  he  can 
look  at  that  perfect  rule  of  right,  and  say  I  esteem  it  right,  I  con- 
sent to  it,  I  serve  it,  I  delight  in  it.  No  man  in  such  a  state  of 
mind  can  ever  be  depressed  beyond  recovery.  He  who  looks  on 
the  law  as  all  right  and  sin  as  hateful  need  not  seriously  doubt  his 
own  regeneration. 

5.  On  the  other  hand,  as  Hodge  says,  "  it  is  an  evidence  of  an 
unrenewed  heart  to  express  or  feel  opposition  to  the  law  of  God 
as  though  it  were  too  strict ;  or  to  be  disposed  to  throw  off  the 
blame  of  our  want  of  conformity  to  the  divine  will  from  ourselves 
upon  the  law  as  unreasonable."  When  the  boy,  that  would  learn 
to  write,  finds  fault  with  the  perfection  of  the  copy  set  him,  and 
not  with  himself  for  his  want  of  skill,  there  is  but  little  hope  that 
he  will  soon  hold  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  or  ever  become  a  pro- 
ficient in  the  art  of  penmanship.     The  illustration  is  easily  applied. 

6.  Where  the  carnal  nature  has  the  mastery,  and  one  is  led 
captive  by  the  devil  at  his  will,  and  no  hearty  resistance  is  made 
to  sin,  there  is  no  scriptural  piety.  So  teach  the  scriptures.  So, 
when  rightly  interpreted,  teach  these  verses.  The  reason,  why 
the  wicked  lament  not  their  state  is  not  that  it  is  good,  but  be- 
cause it  is  very  bad.  Owen  of  Oxford  :  "  Many  there  are  in  the 
world  who,  whatever  they  may  have  been  taught  in  the  word,  have 


362  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.VIL,  vs.  15-22. 

not  a  spiritual  sense  and  experience  of  the  power  of  indwelling 
sin,  and  that  because  they  are  wholly  under  the  dominion  of  it. 
They  find  not  that  there  is  darkness  and  folly  in  their  minds,  be- 
cause they  are  darkness  itself,  and  darkness  will  discover  nothing. 
They  find  not  deadness  and  an  indisposition  in  their  hearts  and 
wills  to  God,  because  they  are  dead  wholly  in  trespasses  and  sins. 
They  are  at  peace  with  their  lusts,  by  being  in  bondage  unto 
them."  In  human  limbs  and  bodies  insensibility  attends  mortifi- 
cation. One  of  the  saddest  signs  in  many  is  the  entire  absence  of 
alarm  respecting  their  spiritual  affairs. 

7.  Let  us  watch  carefully  all  our  sentiments  and  opinions  re- 
specting the  moral  law.  Low  views  of  it  are  always  injurious  to 
piety.  Let  us  always  consent  to  it  that  it  is  good,  and  dehght  in 
it  in  our  inmost  souls,  vs.  16,  22,  Durham  :  "There  was  never  so 
much  matter  and  marrow,  with  so  much  admirably  holy  cunning, 
compended,  couched  and  conveyed  in  so  few  words  by  the  most 
laconic,  concise,  sententious  and  singularly  significant  spokesman 
in  the  world  as  we  find  in  the  moral  law."  Colquhoun :  "  If  a 
man  have  not  just  and  spiritual  apprehensions  of  the  holy  law,  he 
cannot  have  spiritual  and  transforming  discoveries  of  the  glorious 
gospel."  T.  Watson  :  "  Though  the  moral  law  is  not  a  Christ  to 
justify  us,  yet  it  is  a  rule  to  instruct  us."  John  Newton  :  "  Igno- 
rance of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  law  is  at  the  bottom  of  most 
religious  mistakes."  It  is  not  possible  for  man  to  tell  whether 
Pharisaic  self-righteousness  in  the  letter  of  the  law  or  Sadducean 
laxity  concerning  its  obligation  most  effectually  defeats  God's  be- 
nevolent design  in  giving  us  his  perfect  law. 

8.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  a  good  will,  rightly  set,  in  the 
things  of  God,  vs.  15,  16,  19-21.  The  state  of  the  will  decides"-the 
character.  He,  who  wills  what  is  evil,  is  evil.  He,  who  wills 
what  is  good,  is  a  renewed  man.  But  a  will  is  more  than  a  wish. 
It  is  settled  and  controls  the  man,  if  not  wholly,  yet  in  the  main. 
And  a  will  to  that,  which  is  good,  is  the  gift  of  grace. 

9.  Where  inability  results  from  a  sinful  nature  or  from  sinful 
habits,  it  is  itself  sinful,  and  so  is  no  excuse  for  a  failure  to  do  our 
whole  duty.  It  is  not  by  way  of  excuse,  but  in  humiliation  and 
self-abhorrence  that  Paul  cries :  "  What  I  hate,  that  do  I  ;  "  "  how 
to  perform  that  which  is  good  I  find  not,"  etc.  Let  us  beware 
how  we  spare,  excuse  or  justify  sin  or  imperfection.  To  us  it  is 
more  dangerous  in  our  own  hearts  than  in  the  hearts  of  others. 
We  have  destroyed  and  cannot  save  ourselves.  But  we  have 
done  all  this  by  sin ;  and  sin  is  not  a  misfortune  ;  it  is  a  crime. 
Any  course  of  reasoning  that  makes  us  think  lightly  of  indwelling 
sm  is  false  and  detestable. 


Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25.]        THE  ROMANS.  363 

10.  It  is  a  popular,  yet  a  gross  error  that  to  have  strong  incli- 
nations to  evil,  if  they  gain  not  the  mastery  over  us,  evinces 
higher  virtue  than  to  Hve  virtuously  without  such  inclinations. 
Such  a  doctrine  makes  the  virtuous  principle  in  a  renewed  man 
more  amiable  than  in  an  angel  who  never  sinned,  more  amiable 
in  an  imperfect  Christian  than  in  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect. Surely  the  virtue  of  him,  who  is  my  companion  on  a  long 
journey  and  never  meditates  anything  but  kindness  is  far  better 
than  that  of  him  who  frequently  harbors  thoughts  of  robbing  and 
murdering  me,  though  he  carries  not  out  his  plans. 

11.  Yet  if  we  overcome  evil  principles,  and  have  a  deadly 
aversion  to  sin,  and  are  not  brought  into  willing  captivity  to  evil, 
let  us  not  be  discouraged.  He,  who  lives  and  dies  fighting 
against  sin,  shall  not  lose  his  soul,  but  shall  yet  wear  a  conqueror's 
crowp. 

12.  We  cannot  be  too  much  on  our  guard  against  the  lust  of 
the  eye,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  pride  of  life,  and  all  the  brood  of 
unholy  affections.  T.  Adam  :  "  We  are  so  accustomed  to  overlook 
the  depravation  of  nature  in  coveting,  or  evil  lusting,  and  so  con- 
fident that  it  will  not  be  laid  to  our  charge,  if  it  is  in  some  measure 
resisted,  and  does  not  generally  break  out  into  gross  acts  of  trans- 
gression, that  for  this  reason  we  do  not  understand  the  apostle 
when  he  is  imputing  it  to  himself  for  sin,  lamenting  his  bondage 
under  it,  exulting  in  the  grace  that  is  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  holding 
it  forth  to  all  as  the  necessary  means  of  deliverance  from  the  guilt 
that  is  upon  us ;  and  therefore  fly  to  some  other  method  of  inter- 
pretation, as  supposing  neither  him  nor  ourselves  to  be  culpable 
on  this  account  before  God,  and  obnoxious  to  the  sentence  of  his 
law  on  this  account."  He,  who  would  avoid  the  worst  evils  must 
make  war  on  the  evils  of  his  heart.  Owen  of  Oxford  :  "  Would 
you  not  dishonor  God  and  his  gospel,  would  you  not  scandalize 
the  saints  and  ways  of  God,  would  you  not  wound  your  con- 
sciences and  endanger  your  souls,  would  you  not  grieve  the  good 
and  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  the  author  of  all  your  comforts,  would 
you  keep  your  garments  undefiled,  and  escape  the  woful  tempta- 
tions and  pollutions  of  the  days  wherein  we  live,  would  you  be 
preserved  from  the  number  of  the  apostates  in  these  latter  days ; 
awake  to  the  consideration  of  this  cursed  enemy  [indwelling  sin], 
which  is  the  spring  of  all  these  and  innumerable  other  evils,  as 
also  of  the  ruin  of  all  the  souls  that  perish  in  the  world." 
*'  Dearly  beloved,  I  beseech  you  as  strangers  and  pilgrims,  abstain 
from  fleshly  lusts,  Avhich  war  against  the  soul,"  i  Pet.  2  :  11. 
Who  ever  lamented  that  he  had  watched  and  prayed  too  much  ? 

13.  Nor  can  we  have  too  much  jealousy  over  ouj"  own  hearts. 


364  EPTS  TL  E    TO        [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  22-24. 

nor  too  earnestly  inquire  into  their  state.  "  Grace  is  as  sharp- 
sighted  and  searching,  as  it  is  humble  and  heart-humbling."  It  is 
but  self-deception  to  think  or  hope  that  we  shall  be  finally  tested 
by  any  rules  less  rigorous  than  God  has  laid  down  in  his  word. 
Self-examination,  not  candidly  conducted,  can  avail  for  no  good 
thing. 

14.  In  every  stage  and  shape  sin  is  horrible.  It  ma}-'  be  par- 
doned, and  pardon  is  a  great  mercy,  but  forgiveness  makes  not 
sin  the  less  detestable.  We  may  confidently  hope  for  final  victory 
over  it,  but  that  abates  nothing  of  its  odiousness,  vs.  23,  24.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  If  there  were  no  hell,  sin  would  be  abom- 
inable. It  is  to  be  abhorred  not  because  it  is  to  be  punished ;  but 
it  is  to  be  punished,  because  it  is  to  be  abhorred.  How  can  one, 
who  finds  his  best  purposes  crossed,  his  best  desires  frustrated,  his 
best  prayers  followed  by  lapses  into  sin,  but  look  with  detestation 
on  the  cause  of  his  wretchedness?  In  some  things  there  is  great 
danger  of  excess  ;  but  no  man  need  fear  that  he  loves  God  or 
hates  sin  excessively. 

15.  The  doctrines  of  the  power  of  indwelling  sin  and  of  the 
spiritual  warfare,  though  true  and  of  great  importance,  may  be, 
and  have  been  perverted  and  abused.  How  many,  whose  minds 
perceived  their  own  errors,  and  whose  consciences  remonstrated 
against  their  evil  courses,  have  pleaded  that  it  was  not  they  that 
did  the  evil,  but  sin  that  dwelt  in  them,  while  all  the  time  they 
loved  these  hateful  courses  with  an  undivided  heart.  Their  wills 
Avere  not  at  all  averse  to  the  evil  they  practised.  If  a  man  laments 
not  from  the  heart  any  evil  still  adhering  to  him ;  if  he  allows  the 
evil  he  does  ;  if  he  hates  not  sin  in  every  shape  ;  if  he  excuses  wrong 
because  it  is  in  himself;  if  he  serves  the  law  in  his  members  with 
a  cheerful  heart ;  if  he  longs  not  to  be  delivered  from  all  sin,  there 
is  no  solid  ground  of  comfort  for  him  in  the  experience  of  Paul 
here  recorded. 

16.  Nor  is  it  ever  idle  to  inquire  whether  we  have  clear,  just 
and  growing  views  of  the  beauty  of  holiness.  If  we  have  not,  we 
stand  in  great  need  of  a  change  of  heart.  He,  who  sees  nothing 
lovely  in  holiness,  does  not  love  it  or  practise  it.  An  easy  test  on 
this  point  is  furnished  us  in  our  feelings  towards  the  law  of  God. 
Do  we  delight  in  it,  in  the  whole  of  it,  in  all  its  precepts  ?  v.  22. 
It  is  the  standard  of  holiness. 

17.  There  is  one  blessed  truth  relating  to  indwelling  sin  in  be- 
lievers, stated  by  Owen  in  his  treatise:  "The  more  they  find  its 
power,  the  less  they  will  feel  its  effects."  This  sounds  almost  like 
a  contradiction,  but  the  children  of  wisdom  know  what  it  means. 
To  them  it  is  a  cheering  truth.     "  Proportionally  to  their  discovery 


Ch.  VIL,  vs.  14-25.]        THE  ROMANS.  365 

of  it,  will  be  their  earnestness  for  grace  ;  nor  will  it  rise  higher. 
All  watchfulness  and  diligence  in  obedience  will  be  answerable 
also  thereunto." 

18.  The  Christian  is  a  wonder!  He  is  a  wonder  unto  many. 
He  is  a  wonder  to  himself  He  has  glorious  hopes,  yet  mortify- 
ing failures  ;  he  has  intense  longings  after  holiness,  yet  is  strangely 
led  away  from  the  right  path  in  many  things.  '  The  wrongs  he 
does  he  knows  not,  he  approves  not,  he  excuses  not,  he  palliates  not.' 
The  good  'he  does,  he  does  not  of  himself,  but  by  the  grace  of 
God.  Of  course  he  boasts  not  of  it  as  coming  from  his  own  suffi- 
ciency. With  one  breath  he  cries,  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  ; 
with  the  next.  Thanks  be  unto  God.  How  amazing  is  that  grace, 
which  shall  take  away  his  divided  heart,  and  give  him  one  heart, 
one  mind,  one  will,  as  he  has  now  one  God,  one  Redeemer,  one 
Comforter, 

19.  It  is  vain  to  hope  that  an  unrenewed  man  will  understand 
aright  the  bitterness  of  a  soul  grieved  for  its  own  sins  with  a  godly 
sorrow.  Paul  was  no  chicken-hearted  man.  He  bore  stripes, 
bonds,  imprisonments,  stonings,  shipwrecks,  perils  by  land  and  by 
sea,  by  robbers  and  by  his  countrymen  ;  he  was  hungry  and  thirsty 
and  weary ;  but  none  of  these  things  moved  him.  Yea,  when  the 
sword  hung  over  him,  and  he  knew  it  was  about  to  close  his  earth- 
ly existence  for  ever,  he  said  '  I  am  ready  ;'  but  when  corruption 
displayed  its  deformities  within  him,  his  cry  was  piteous :  O 
wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of 
this  death  ?  And  there  is  so  much  corruption  remaining  in  the 
best  men  on  earth  that  a  sight  of  it  would  extort  a  cry  no  less 
bitter.  Brown  :  "  Corruption  seems  no  contemptible  enemy  unto 
believers."  Nor  is  it  to  be  despised.  It  has  slain  many  mighty 
men.  It  has  wounded  many  others,  and  they  have  gone  lame  all 
their  days. 

20.  Most  admit  it  is  foolish  and  dangerous  to  seek  justification 
by  the  law ;  it  is  no  less  unwise  or  perilous  to  seek  sanctification 
by  the  law.  This  Section  proves  this,  if  it  proves  anything. 
Brown  :  "  As  in  and  through  Christ,  we  got  the  pardon  of  our  sin  ; 
so  it  is  in  and  through  him,  who  died,  that  he  might  sanctify  and 
cleanse  his  church,  and  present  her  glorious  without  spot  or 
wrinkle,  holy  and  without  blemish,  that  believers  are  kept  up  in 
the  battle  against  corruption,  so  that  they  are  not  quite  over- 
thrown thereby,  and  that  grace  is  always  growing,  and  corrup- 
tion decaying."  Christ  is  all  our  salvation.  Let  him  be  all  our 
desire. 

21.  Let  every  man,  who  would  save  his  soul,  make  up  his  mind 
to  warfare.     There  is  no  possibility  of  evading  it.     Compare  Rom. 


366  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  VII.,  vs.  14-25. 

8  :  24 ;  2  Cor.  5  :  2-4.  It  has  always  been  so.  It  is  so  now.  It 
will  be  so  to  the  end  of  time.  Whoever  would  go  to  heaven  must 
go  against  the  tide  of  wordliness  without  and  of  indwelling  sin 
within.  Owen  :  "  Never  let  us  reckon  that  our  work  in  contend- 
ing against  sin,  in  crucifying,  mortifying  and  subduing  it,  is  at  an 
end.  .  .  Many  conquerors  have  been  ruined  by  their  carelessness 
after  a  victory  ;  and  many  have  been  spiritually  wounded  after 
great  success  against  this  enemy.  .  .  The  heart  hath  a  thousand 
wiles  and  deceits,  and  if  we  are  in  the  least  off  from  our  watch,  we 
may  be  sure  to  be  surprised."  It  is  always  wise  to  cry.  Search 
me,  O  God,  and  know  me.     Fight  on,  my  soul,  till  death. 

22.  Sad  as  is  the  case  of  the  believer,  all  will  yet  be  well,  he 
himself  being  judge.  He  is  borne  down  but  he  is  not  borne  away 
by  trials  ;  he  is  encumbered,  but  not  drowned  in  wordly  lusts,  he 
is  grieved,  but  not  in  despair  respecting  his  state.  He  knows 
God  shall  yet  lift  up  his  head  above  all  his  enemies  round  about. 
The  final  victory  is  sure  and  shall  be  glorious. 

23.  How  sweet  the  rest  of  heaven  will  be — rest  not  merely  from 
toil,  and  pain,  and  bereavement  but  above  all  from  sins  and  temp- 
tations. "  How  reviving  are  the  hopes  of  relief  in  Christ  against 
these  evils."  Glory  be  to  God,  the  battle  may  last  all  day,  but  it 
shall  not  last  for  ever.  It  may  be  fierce  and  terrific,  but  the  issue 
is  not  doubtful. 

24.  All  solid  advantages  and  real  profit  in  the  spiritual  conflict, 
yea,  in  the  divine  life,  are  only  by  and  through  Jesus  Christ.  This 
is  right.  It  is  just  that  he  should  have  all  the  glory  of  all  the  vic- 
tories won  by  his  elect.  He  is  the  Captain  of  their  salvation.  By 
him  they  conquer.  To  him  they  bow  and  give  glory.  He  is 
worthy  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and 
blessing,  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

VERSES  1-11. 

THE  SAFETY  OF  BELIEVERS.  THEY  ARE  JUSTI- 
FIED. THEY  ARE  SANCTIFIED.  THE  SPIRIT 
DWELLS  IN  THEM.  THEY  DIFFER  FROM  THE 
WICKED. 

1  HERE  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit. 

2  For  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death. 

3  For  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God 
sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin,  condemned  sin  in  the 
flesh  : 

4  That  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after 
the  flesh  but  after  the  Spirit, 

5  For  they  that  are  after  the  flesh  do  mind  the  things  of  the  flesh;  but  they  that 
are  after  the  Spirit,  the  things  of  the  Spirit. 

6  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death;  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and 
peace. 

7  Because  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God  :  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law 
of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be. 

8  So  thdn  tt.ey  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God. 

q  But  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
dwell  in  you.  Now  if  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of 
his.  • 

10  And  if  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of  sin;  but  the  Spirit  is 
life  because  of  righteousness. 

1 1  But  if  the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  he 
that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  his 
Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you. 

WE  now  proceed  to  consider  a  chapter  long  regarded  with 
peculiar  delight  by  the  pious.  Some  have  spoken  of  it  as  the 
crowning  gem  of  this  epistle.  Hitherto  we  have  commonly  had 
logical  argument,  with  digressions  to  answer  important  objections, 

(367) 


368  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIlI.,  v.  i. 

and  to  make  some  application  of  the  truths  taught.  Now  for 
thirty-nine  verses  we  have  as  strong  language  of  triumph  as  is 
commonly  found  even  in  the  most  exultant  parts  of  scripture. 
Nothing  in  the  song  of  Miriam,  or  in  the  song  of  Deborah  can 
compare  with  portions  of  this  chapter  for  sublimity.  A  noble 
young  hero  of  the  cross,  Rev.  William  Hoge,  D.D.,  whose  sun 
not  long  since  went  down  in  a  blaze  of  glory,  such  as  never  sur- 
rounds any  but  the  dying  Christian,  in  a  manuscript  kindly  lent 
me  by  surviving  friends,  says  :  "  For  fervor  and  strength  of  ex- 
pression, for  rapidity  and  vigor  of  argument,  for  richness  in  doc- 
trine, for  revelation  of  high  and  precious  mysteries,  and  for  a 
noble  elevation  of  sentiments,  which  pervades  the  whole,  and 
bursts  out  at  the  end  with  irrepressible  ardor,  there  are  few  pas- 
sages equal  to  it,  even  in  the  sacred  oracles,  and  certainly  none 
out  of  them."     This  witness  is  true. 

This  chapter  brings  to  a  happy  and  practical  conclusion  all 
that  had  been  stated  in  the  former  part  of  the  epistle  respecting 
justification  by  union  with  Christ,  sanctification  by  the  gospel, 
and  victory  over  corruption  by  believers,  even  if  their  spiritual 
warfare  is  long  and  distressing.  It  shows  many  of  the  excellent 
uses  of  these  doctrines.  Very  few  sound  commentators  deny  that 
the  first  verse  contains  the  pregnant  truths,  on  which  depends  the 
just  exultation,  Avhich  follows. 

I.  There  is  therefc^^.now  no  condemtiation  to  them  which  are  in 
Christ  Jesus,  who  tvalk  not  after  t lie  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit.  There- 
fore connects  this  chapter  with  the  whole  preceding  argument. 
The  meaning  is,  that  the  truths  of  the  gospel  being  thus  clear  and 
settled,  it  is  not  possible  there  should  be  condemnation  resting  on 
believers.  Condemnation,  in  many  old  English  versions  damnation  ; 
the  same  word  occurs  in  the  Greek  in  Rom.  5  :  i6,  i8,  and  no- 
where else  in  the  New  Testament.  The  reason  why  believers  are 
free  from  a  condemning  sentence  is  that  they  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 
These  words  point  to  a  vital  union  with  Christ,  such  as  the  branch 
has  with  the  vine,  the  limb  with  the  body.  Locke  says  it  means 
"  the  professing  the  religion  and  owning  a  subjection  to  the  law 
of  Christ."  But  Whitby  justly  observes  that  it  must  mean  much 
more  than  being  members  of  the  Christian  church  by  profession. 
And  Paul  in  more  than  one  place  teaches  the  same  thing :  "  If  any 
man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature,"  2  Cor.  5  :  17.  Compare 
I  Thess.  4:  16  and  many  other  places.  It  has  been  an  old  device 
of  the  adversary  to  corrupt  the  truth,  that  justification  is  not  per- 
fect without  some  rite  or  addition,  and  that  it  may  become  imper- 
fect, even  when  real.  This  verse  is  fatal  to  both  these  errors.  If 
justification  exists  at  all,  it  is  complete.      There  is  to  him  that  is 


Ch.  VIII,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  369 

a  partaker  of  this  benefit  no  condemnation  ;  none  for  old  sins,  none 
for  sins  committed  after  admission  to  the  church  ;  none  for  origi- 
nal sin,  none  for  actual  sin.  There  was  special  propriety  in  here 
presenting  the  truth  contained  in  v.  i,  for  the  apostle  had  dwelt 
considerably  on  the  infirmity,  temptation  and  trouble  of  a  child 
of  God.  It  was  very  fitting  that  he  should  announce  that  the 
spiritual  warfare  did  in  no  way  impair  the  completeness  of  justifi- 
cation. He  adds  that  those  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus  prove  it  in  a 
very  decisive  way  :  they  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit. 
This  part  of  the  verse  is  entirely  omitted  in  the  Greek  text  of  the 
English  Hexapla,  and  also  by  Griesbach,  Mill  and  others.  But 
the  Greek  manuscripts  generally  retain  it,  as  we  do  on  their 
authorit3^  It  is  all  found  in  v.  4.  In  Eph.  3  :  i  the  words  hath  he 
quickened  in  the  English  translation  are  very  properly  brought 
forward  from  v.  5,  where  they  are  found  in  the  original.  So  here, 
there  is  no  error  taught  by  inserting  these  words,  though  we  may 
not  vary  the  text  without  authority.  The}^  are  all  admitted  by 
Wiclif,  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan,  Rheims  and  Bp. 
Hall ;  and  the  first  clause  is  admitted  by  the  Vulgate,  Doway, 
Bengel,  Morus  and  Peshito.  To  zvalk  in  both  Testaments  indicates 
the  course  of  the  life.  Compare  Ps.  i  :  i  ;  2  Cor.  10:  2;  12  :  18  ; 
Gal.  2  :  14;  Eph.  2  :  2.  To  walk  after  the  flesh  therefore  is  to  be 
habitually  or  prevailingly  governed  by  carnal  inclinations.  So 
to  walk  after  the  Spirit  is  to  be  governed  by  his  word,  and  actuated 
by  his  motions.  In  Ps.  32  :  2  David  in  like  manner  unites  justifi- 
cation and  sanctification :  "  Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the 
Lord  imputeth  not  iniquity,  and  in  whose  spirit  there  is  no  guile." 
Compare  Rom.  4  :  6-8. 

2.  For  the  lazv  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  jfesus  hath  made 
me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  For  the  Spirit  of  life  Tyn- 
dale has  the  Spirit  that  bringeth  life.  For  set  free  Peshito  has 
emancipated.  We  had  the  same  word  in  Rom.  6:  18,  22.  It  oc- 
curs again  in  v.  21.  Our  Lord  used  it  when  he  said,  The  truth 
shall  make  you  free ;  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  John  8  :  32,  36. 
In  the  exposition  of  Rom.  7:  21  the  Avord  law  was  explained  as 
having  the  same  import  as  here,  that  of  a  powerful  impelling 
principle  in  the  soul.  If  the  former,  the  law  of  sin,  Avas  potential 
for  evil,  much  more  is  this,  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life,  mighty 
for  good  ;  for  it  liberates  believers  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 
That  exposition  is  supported  by  Owen  of  Oxford  and  many  others.. 
It  makes  the  work  of  grace  by  the  Spirit  efficacious  in  destroying 
the  work  of  sin  and  death  in  the  soul.  It  has  destroyed  the 
dominion  of  sin.  It  is  destroying  its  power,  and  it  shall  finally 
destroy  the  whole  force  of  sin  and  death  in  the  soul,  not  leaving 
24 


370  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v  3. 

"  spot,  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing.  The  whole  efficacy  of  this  law 
in  Christ  Jesus  is  by  the  Spirit.  This  is  substantially  the  view 
taken  by  Chrysostom,  Calvin,  Diodati,  Beza,  Vitringa,  Doddridge, 
^Scott,  Stuart  and  Chalmers.  But  Ambrose,  Parens,  VVitsius, 
Hodge,  Haldane  and  others  prefer  another  explanation,  which 
may  be  thus  stated.  Believers  are  not  under  the  moral  law  as  a 
covenant  of  works,  or  as  a  means  of  sanctification.  They  are  not 
under  law  but  under  grace.  They  are  thus  freed  from  the  moral 
law  by  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  is  by  the 
gospel,  of  which  the  Spirit  is  the  author — the  gospel  revealing  a 
scheme  of  gratuitous  justification.  The  obvious  objections  to  this 
exposition  are  such  as  these,  i.  It  is  unusual  to  call  the  gospel  a 
law.  It  is  sometimes  done,  Rom.  3  :  27,  but  it  is  in  such  a 
connection  and  with  such  explanations  as  leave  no  room  for  mis- 
take. 2.  It  is  still  more  unusual  to  denominate  the  moral  law  by 
such  terms  as  are  here  employed.  Calvin :  "  I  dare  not,  with 
some,  take  the  lata  of  sin  and  death  for  the  law  of  God,  because  it 
seems  a  harsh  expression."  This  consideration  is  the  more 
weighty  inasmuch  as  Paul  has  been  in  the  preceding  context  care- 
fully guarding  against  views  derogatory  to  the  excellence  of  the 
law.  3.  Believers  are  so  far  made  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death  within  them,  that  sin  no  longer  lords  it  over  them,  nor  has 
dominion  over  them,  nor  controls  their  wills,  nor  shall  it  prove  to 
them  a  law  of  dpath,  for  it  shall  itself  be  utterly  destroyed.  It 
does  indeed  vex  and  harass  the  good  man,  but  like  the  house 
of  Saul  it  waxes  weaker  and  weaker,  while  the  gracious  princi- 
ple, like  the  house  of  David,  waxes  stronger  and  stronger. 
4.  The  plea  for  connection  with  v.  i  quite  overlooks  all  of 
that  verse  but  the  first  clause  of  it.  5.  The  subsequent  context 
may  without  any  violation  of  the  laws  of  language  as  well  be  con- 
nected with  V.  I,  if  we  follow  the  former  as  the  latter  exposition. 
But  if  any  still  prefer  the  latter,  we  have  no  contention  with 
them. 

3.  For  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the 
flesh,  God  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flcsJi,  and  for 
sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh.  Here  the  law  no  doubt  means  the 
;moral  law.  It  was  impotent  for  justification  and  for  sanctification 
also.  It  condemned  ;  it  could  not  justify.  It  gave  the  knowledge 
but  not  the  cure  of  sin.  It  is  said  to  have  been  weak,  wanting 
strength,  lacking  power.  This  was  no  inherent  fault  of  the  law  ; 
in  fact,  its  working  wrath  arose  from  its  very  perfection,  which 
brought  a  knowledge  of  the  heinous  nature  of  sin,  revealed  its 
power,  and  unmistakeably  threatened  righteous  and  awful  retri- 
bution on  the  transgressor.     Nor  could  it  give  an)'^  strength  to 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  3-]  .  THE  ROMANS.  371 

believer  or  unbeliever  to  resist  the  seductions  of  fallen  human 
nature.  To  each  and  all  of  these  ends  it  was  impotent.  In  this 
our  sad  state  the  Lord  undertook  for  us,  sent  his  own  Son  in  the 
likeness  of  sinful  flesh.  God's  own  Son  was  he,  who  counted  it 
not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God.  He  was  with  God  and  he  was 
God.  The  likeness  of  sinful  flesh  is  not  sinful  flesh,  but  "  the  like- 
ness of  that  flesh  which  was  sinful,"  elsewhere  expressed  by  the 
phrase  in  the  hkeness  of  men,  Phil.  2  :  7.  He  was  in  all  things 
made  like  unto  his  brethren,  having  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable 
soul,  Heb.  2  :  16-18.  But  he  was  not  born  in  sin,  nor  did  he  ever 
offend  against  God,  but  was  holy,  harmless,  undefiled  and  separate 
from  sinners.  His  Father,  his  friends,  his  judge,  his  betrayer  all 
pronounced  him  faultless.  It  is  said  God  sent  his  Son  for  sin, 
Peshito,  on  account  of  sin  ;  Theophylact,  in  respect  of  sin.  But 
from  Augustine  down  many  have  explained  the  words  for  sin  as 
meaning*  for  a  sin-offering.  So  Melancthon,  Calvin  and  many 
others.  Whitby  cites  more  than  thirty  cases  in  the  Septuagint 
where  the  same  words  mean  for  a  sin-offering.  In  Heb.  10  :  6 
undoubtedly  this  is  the  meaning.  The  margin  in  this  place  has  a 
sacrifice  for  sin.  The  foregoing,  among  good  writers,  is  the  more 
common  method  of  exposition.  But  some  contend  that  Paul  is 
still  speaking  of  sanctification,  not  of  justification.  Nor  can  it  be 
denied  that  in  many  parts  of  scripture  the  sanctification  of  believers 
is  stated  in  close  connection  with  the  sacrifice  and  sufferings  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  John  17  :  19;  Eph.  5  :  25,  26;  Tit.  2  :  14 ;  i  Pet. 
I  :  18,  19.  Nor  is  it  safe  to  deny  that  by  a  figure  of  speech  often 
only  one  thing  in  salvation  is  named,  when  the  whole  is  intended 
to  be  included.  And  Fraser  is  quite  confident  that  in  this  verse 
Paul  is  still  showing  how  men  must  be  sanctified.  He  says  :  "  The 
general  point  is  clear,  that  the  scripture  connects  making  men 
free  from  the  dominion  of  sin  with  Christ's  sufferings  and  sacri- 
fice." He  also  cites  Gal.  3  :  13,  14  in  confirmation  of  the  truth 
that  the  Spirit  is  received  through  the  faith  which  lays  hold  of  the 
redemption  of  Christ.  We  may  and  we  must  distinguish,  but  we 
may  never  separate  between  justification  and  sacntification,  and 
either  of  these  words,  or  their  synonymes  may  be  chosen  to  re- 
present to  us  all  the  benefits  obtained  by  believers  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Condemned,  always  so  rendered  except  a  few  times  where  it  is 
rendered  damned.  It  is  found  again  in  v.  34  of  this  chapter. 
Peshito  has  condemned ;  Schleusner,  Hodge  and  Haldane : 
punished ;  Locke :  put  to  death,  extinguished  or  suppressed ; 
Conybeare  and  Howson :  overcome  or  conquered.  The  promi- 
nent idea  in  the  verb  is  that  of  sentencing  to  death,  or  of  putting 
to  death  in  execution  of  a  sentence.     The  doubt  among  interpret- 


372  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  3. 

ers  is  whether  Paul  is  speaking  of  justification  or  sanctification,.of 
the  removal  of  the  guilt  of  sin  or  of  the  destruction  of  its  power. 
On  this  point  they  are  much  divided.  Venema,  Parens,  Pool, 
Bp.  Hall,  Whitby,  Hodge  and  Haldane  refer  it  to  justification. 
But  Chrysostom,  Eraser,  Locke,  Doddridge,  Scott,  Macknight, 
Owen  of  Thrussington  and  Stuart  refer  it  to  sanctification.  Many 
admit  that  in  this  verse  sin  is  personified.  If  it  is,  we  know  how 
it  fared  in  the  sacrifice  of  Calvary.  It  was  punished,  condemned 
and  overcome.  By  that  one  offering  it  was  made  certain  that  sin 
should  be  put  down,  or  as  Calvin  says  :  "  cast  down  from  its 
power,  so  that  it  does  not  now  hold  us  subject  to  itself."  The 
chains  of  its  guilt  are  knocked  off;  the  sceptre  of  its  power  is 
broken  ;  it  is  no  longer  lord  over  any  one  who  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
The  more  these  verses  are  considered,  the  more  it  looks  as  if  Paul 
was  not  nicely  discriminating  between  the  guilt  and  the  power  of 
sin,  but  was  speaking  of  its  utter  destruction  in  every  sense,  so 
that  it  shall  neither  condemn  us  nor  hold  us  in  bondage.  The 
word  condemned  is  cognate  to  the  word  condemnation  in  v.  i. 
Those  who  are  in  Christ  are  not  in  any  sense  condemned,  but  sin 
is  in  every  sense  condemned.  The  sentence  has  gone  forth,  the 
death  on  Calvary  was  decisive,  and  the  application  of  redemption 
by  the  Spirit  is  giving  the  victory  more  and  more,  till  in  all  who 
are  in  Christ  there  shall  be  left  neither  spot  nor  wrinkle.  In  other 
words  complete  deliverance  from  sin  itself  and  from  all  its  effects 
seems  to  be  spoken  of  in  these  verses,  by  a  figure  of  speech,  a  part 
being  often  put  for  the  whole.  This  mode  of  explanation  seems 
to  have  been  in  the  mind  of  Evans  :  "  By  the  appearance  of  Christ 
sin  was  condemned,  that  is,  God  did  therein  more  than  ever  mani- 
fest his  hatred  of  sin  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  for  all  that  are  Christ's 
both  the  damning  and  the  domineering  power  of  sin  is  broken 
and  taken  out  of  the  way.  He  that  is  condetnned Q,2iV\.rv€\\kiQx accuse 
nor^r^/e  ;  his  testimony  is  null,  and  his  authority  null.  Thus  by 
Christ  is  sin  condemned,  though  it  live  and  remain,  its  life  in  the 
saints  is  still  but  that  of  a  condemned  malefactor.  It  was  by  the 
condemning  of  sin  that  death  was  disarmed,  and  the  devil,  who 
had  the  power  of  death,  destroyed.  The  condemning  of  sin  saved 
the  sinner  from  condemnation."  This  mode  of  explanation,  tak- 
ing a  part  for  the  whole,  and  personifying  sin,  covers  the  whole 
ground,  and  allows  us  to  see  how  by  the  union  of  the  legal  and 
moral  effects  of  Christ's  death  believers  have  full  salvation.  It  is 
said  that  God  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh.  Two  explanations  are 
offered.  One  is  that  God  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh  of  Christ. 
So  Peshito.  The  other  is  that  he  condemned  it  in  human  nature. 
But  it  is  better  to  unite  the  two  and  say  that  God  condemned  sin 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  4-]  THE  ROMANS.  373 

in   human   nature,  of  which  Christ  is  a  partaker.     All  this  was 
done, 

4.  That  the  righteousness  of  the  law  migJit  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who 
walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit.  Perhaps  the  best  method 
of  expounding  this  verse  is  the  same  as  that  adopted  in  v,  3.  The 
righteousness  of  the  law  is  the  righteousness  which  the  law  de- 
mands. By  living  union  with  Jesus  Christ  we  receive  his  perfect 
active  and  passive  obedience  to  the  law  in  our  room  and  stead  as 
our  justifying  righteousness.  The  law  demands  no  more.  This 
robe  is  without  a  rent ;  and  so  the  righteousness  of  the  law  is  per- 
fectly fulfilled  in  our  justification.  Some  contend  that  this  is  all. 
But  if  the  view  given  of  v.  3  is  correct,  we  may  in  the  same  way 
add  that  this  verse  also  embraces  the  sanctification  of  believers ; 
and  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  through  Jesus  Christ  and  by 
his  Spirit  is  fulfilled  in  them  just  so,  far  and  so  fast  as  their  sanctifi- 
cation progresses.  The  great  objection  urged  to  this  view  is  that 
the  law  calls  for  perfect  conformity  to  its  demands,  and  that  the 
best  of  mere  men  freely  confess  thfey  come  far  short  of  perfection. 
In  answer  it  may  be  said  i.  that  whatever  may  be  the  imperfec- 
tion of  good  men  in  this  life,  it  shall  not  be  so  always.  They  shall 
at  last  have  in  their  hearts  and  characters  all  that  holiness  which  the 
law  requires.  If  the  gospel  should  fail  in  producing  this  effect, 
it  would  fail  utterly  in  bringing  glory  to  God  or  good  to  men.  2, 
Although  the  holiness  of  a  believer  is  not  in  degree  what  the  law 
requires,  yet  to  a  pleasing  extent  it  is  in  kind  much  what  the  com- 
mandments call  for.  I.  This  obedience  is  personal.  2.  It  is  to  the 
law  as  coming  from  God,  having  his  authority  and  expressing  his 
will.  3.  It  is  from  the  heart.  4.  It  flows  from  love  to  God.  5. 
It  flows  from  godly  fear.  6.  It  springs  from  true  and  lively  faith.* 
7.  It  is  humble  and  accompanied  by  a  just  and  deep  sense  of  im- 
perfection. 8.  It  is  universal,  extending  without  partiality  to  all 
the  commands  of  God.  9.  It  is  habitual  and  not  by  fits  and  starts. 
10.  It  is  evangelical,  drawing  its  strongest  motives  from  the  love 
of  God  manifested  in  the  cross  of  Christ.  Colquhoun  :  "  True  ho- 
liness is  spiritual  and  sincere  obedience  to  the  law  as  a  rule  of  life, 
in  the  hand  of  the  blessed  Mediator,  and  is  commonly  styled  evan- 
gelical holiness  or  true  godhness."  Were  this  obedience  perfect, 
as  it  is  sincere  ;  spotless,  as  it  is  accepted  and  rewarded  of  God ; 
without  defect,  as  soon  it  shall  be ;  it  would  in  every  respect  be 
the  very  righteousness  of  the  law,  that  is,  the  very  holiness  of  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  Even  now  regenerate  men  walk  1/  Y 
not  after  the  flesh.  They  are  often  carnal  to  an  extent  very  morti-  | 
fying  to  themselves,  but  the  tenor  of  their  lives  and  the  aim  of  I 
their  hearts  even  now  are  towards  holiness,  not  sin,  after  the  Spirit,] 


374  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  5, 6. 

not  after  the  flesh.  Without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord. 
A  professed  reliance  on  the  merits  of  Christ,  not  followed  by  con- 
formity to  the  preceptive  will  of  God,  is  utterly  vain  and  unprofit- 
able. 

5.  For  they  that  are  after  the  flesh  do  mind  the  things  of  the  flesh  ; 
but  they  that  are  after  the  Spirit,  the  things  of  the  Spirit.  The  same 
doctrine  is  taught  by  our  Lord  :  "  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh, 
is  flesh  ;  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit ;"  "  It  is  the 
Spirit  that  quickeneth ;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing,"  John  3:6; 
6 :  63.  It  is  much  the  same  as  that  announcement  by  the  great 
prophet  of  the  captivity  :  "  The  wicked  shall  do  wickedly  ;  but  the 
wise  shall  understand,"  Dan.  12:  10;  or  by  Christ  in  the  sermon 
on  the  mount :  "  Every  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruit ;  but  a 
corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit,"  Matt.  7:  17.  In  other 
words,  sin  and  holiness  have  very  different  fruits,  appropriate  to 
their  respective  natures.  The  special  object  of  introducing  these 
thoughts  here  is  to  show  that  we  in  vain  plead  that  we  are  in 
Christ,  if  we  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  walk  not  in  his 
footsteps ;  and  that  we  are  certainly  corrupt  and  unregenerate  if 
our  lives  are  wicked.  The  word  mind  is  to  be  taken  in  the  sense 
of  fixing  the  attention  and  setting  the  heart  on  any  thing.  In  Matt. 
16 :  32  and  elsewhere  it  is  rendered  savorest.  In  Rom.  14 :  6  it  is 
four  times  rendered  regard.  In  Col.  3  :  2  it  is  rendered,  set  your 
affection  on  things  above.  Elsewhere  we  read,  "  Let  us  mind  the 
same  thing  ;"  "  who  mind  earthly  things,"  etc.  Here  it  clearly  de- 
signates two  very  opposite  characters,  as  evinced  by  their  diverse 
preferences  ;  one  hotly  pursuing  carnal  things  ;  the  other  eagerly 
turning  to  spiritual  things. 

6.  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death  ;  bjit  to  be  spiritually  minded  is 
life  and  peace.  The  word  rendered  minded,  which  occurs  twice  in 
this  verse  is  a  noun,  the  same  rendered  mind  in  vs.  7,  27.  It  is 
cognate  to  the  verb  rendered  mind  in  v.  5.  It  embraces  the 
w^hole  moral  man,  mind,  will  and  affections.  To  have  these 
under  the  control  of  our  sinful  nature  is  death,  is  spiritual  death, 
Avhich,  unless  removed,  will  be  followed  by  eternal  death.  In  all 
cases  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,  Rom.  6  :  23.  But  to  have  the 
mind,  will  and  affections  set  on  spiritual  things  is  eternal  life  and 
the  peace  of  God  begun  in  the  soul,  giving  an  infallible  pledge  of 
eternal  life  and  undying  peace  in  the  heavenly  world.  Calvin 
thinks  this  minding  corresponds  to  the  word  imagination  as  used 
by  Moses,  Gen.  6:5;  8:21;  and  that  peace  is  equivalent  to  every 
kind  of  happiness.  It  does  not  materially  alter  the  sense  whether 
we  make  for  refer  to  v.  4  or  to  v.  5,  as  they  both  are  very  much  on 
the  same  subject ;  though  the  more  natural  connection  is  ivith  v. 


Ch.  VIII,  V.  7-]  THE  ROMANS.  375 

5.     The  aim  of  v.  6  is  to  show  the  fatal  end  of  sin  and  the  happy- 
issue  of  true  piety. 

7.  Because  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God :  for  it  is  not 
subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  he.  Sin  is  no  trifle,  no 
unconscious  aberration,  no  unfortunate  mistake.  O  no.  It  is 
wholly  contrary  to  all  that  is  lovely  and  righteous  in  the  charac- 
ter of  God.  Even  if  it  breaks  not  forth  in  crimes  to  be  punished 
by  the  judges,  yet  the  minding  of  the  flesh,  the  going  out  of  the 
heart  after  the  things  that  perish,  is  wicked  and  wholly  opposed  to 
the  divine  will,  law  and  nature.  It  is  enmity  against  God.  In  Gal. 
5  :  20  the  same  word  is  rendered  hatred ;  every  where  else,  enmity, 
as  in  Jas.  4:  4  "the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God." 
The  cognate  noun,  which  occurs  often,  is  always  rendered  enemy 
or  foe.  We  met  it  in  Rom.  5  :  10,  and  shall  meet  it  again  in 
chapters  XI.  and  XII.  The  language  of  the  apostle  is  very  strong. 
He  does  not  say  that  the  natural  mind  of  man  has  some  shyness, 
prejudice,  or  aversion  to  some  things  pertaining  to  God  ;  but  it  is 
enmity,  hostility,  against  God,  against  his  attributes,  against  his  will, 
his  government.  Nothing  is  more  contrary  to  any  other  thing, 
than  is  the  carnal  mind,  to  God.  Stuart :  "  It  is  inimical  to  God, 
or  (in  plain  terms)  hates  him,  dislikes  his  precepts,  his  character, 
and  his  ways."  Compare  John  15  ;  18,  19,  24,  25;  i  Cor.  2  :  14 ; 
Gal.  5:17.  It  w  not  subject  to  the  lazv  of  God.  It  does  not  consent 
to  the  law  that  it  is  good,  it  does  not  serve  the  law,  it  does  not  de- 
light in  the  law  of  God,  it  does  not  submit  to  the  law.  The  will  of 
the  carnal  mind  is  hostile  to  the  will  of  God.  Where  is  the  man, 
who,  without  the  Spirit,  ever  makes  it  his  business  to  know,  study 
and  practice  the  precepts  of  the  decalogue,  because  they  are  or- 
dained by  God.  What  wicked  man  feels  his  conscience  fully 
bound  by  that  code  ?  Where  he  is  outwardly  conformed  to  the 
letter  of  it,  it  is  not  because  he  loves  God,  or  has  reverently  sub- 
mitted to  his  authority.  This  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  such  in 
their  hearts  break  the  very  commandments  whose  letter  they  seem 
to  observe.  Neither  indeed  can  he.  On  opening  a  whole  class  of 
commentators  one  cannot  avoid  the  impression  that  they  find  this 
clause  inconvenient.  They  at  once  begin  to  complain  of  meta- 
physics. They  propose  to  take  broader  views  than  the  apostle. 
They  do  fairly  wriggle.  But  Paul  had  used  no  metaphysics ;  and 
the  interpreters,  who  follow  him  most  literally,  are  those  whose 
opinions  are  most  offensive  to  this  school.  The  great  and  plain 
fact  is  that  Paul  says  the  carnal  or  unrenewed  mind  cannot  be  sub- 
ject to  that  law  which  is  holy,  just  and  good.  There  is  no  dis- 
pute about  the  Greek  text.  There  is  no  doubt  concerning  the 
translation.     There  ought  to   be  no  doubt  concerning  the  doc- 


376  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  8-10. 

trine  taught.  It  is  never  said  that  men  ought  not  to  obey  the  law, 
but  that  unrenewed  men  cannot  submit  to  it.  The  next  verse 
asserts  the  same  thing  in  another  form. 

8.  So  then  they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God.  How  can 
they  please  him  when  they  cast  off  his  whole  law ;  when  they  are 
so  much  opposed  to  him  that  they  cannot  be  subject  to  his  au- 
thority ;  when  his  revealed  will  is  in  every  shape  offensive  to 
them  ?  They  cast  off  the  yoke  of  the  decalogue;  they  refuse  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God  made  known  in  his  providence ;  they 
will  not  wear  the  yoke  of  Jesus  Christ.  No  unregenerate  man 
with  the  heart  believes  in  Jesus  Christ,  nor  loves  the  precious 
Saviour.  How  then  can  he  please  God  ?  If  he  ploughs,  or  sows, 
or  reaps,  he  does  all  irrespective  of  God's  will  or  authority.  God's 
will,  precepts,  authority,  nature,  justice,  love,  mercy  and  holiness 
are  most  opposite  to  the  heart  and  will  of  him,  who  is  and  who 
walks  after  the  flesh.  All  this  is  the  fruit  of  that  sad  fall  of  our 
first  parent,  by  which  we  come  into  the  world,  children  of  wrath, 
Eph.  2  :  3.  The  want  of  original  righteousness  is  the  infallible 
sign  of  the  image  of  the  wicked  one.  Such  a  one  neither  loves, 
nor  fears,  nor  regards,  nor  trusts,  nor  obeys  God  so  as  is  his  due. 
And  this  is  true  of  every  man,  Avho  is  not  renewed  by  the  Holy 
Ghost;  he  does  not  please  God.  If  the  matter  of  the  act  is  right, 
the  manner  or  the  motive  is  Wrong. 

9.  But  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  dzvell  in  you.  Now  if  any  man  Jiave  not  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his.  Paul  had  in  vs.  i,  4,  5  stated  a  con- 
trast between  the  children  of  God  and  the  children  of  the  wicked 
one.  The  latter  were  after  the  flesh.  The  former  were  after  the 
Spirit.  In  vs.  7,  8  he  had  shown  why  and  how  a  carnal  mind  was 
death.  He  now  proceeds  to  show  the  blessedness  of  a  spiritual 
mind.  First,  he  asserts  that  all  men  are  not  in  the  flesh.  Some 
are  changed.  In  particular  he  admits  that  the  body  of  the 
church,  to  which  he  was  writing,  were,  in  the  judgment  of  charity, 
converted  people.  Ye  are  in  the  Spirit.  Secondly,  he  asserts 
that  permanent  effects  will  follow  a  saving  change  wrought  in  the 
soul.  The  "  Spirit  of  God  dwells  "  in  such.  Thirdly,  the  lack 
of  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  is  fatal  to  any  pretensions  to  a 
saving  change  of  heart,  or  to  a  safe  spiritual  state.  "  If  any  man 
have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his."  Fourthly,  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  The  terms  are  convertible. 
Perhaps  no  equally  brief  portion  of  scripture  presents  more 
weighty,  practical  truths,  clearly  stated  and  well  guarded. 

10.  And  if  Christ  be  iti  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of  sin ;  but 
the  Spirit  is  life  because  of  righteousness.      In  v.  9  he  spoke  of  the 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  lo.l  THE  ROMANS.  377 

Spirit  of  Christ  being  in  you  ;  here  he  speaks  of  Christ  being  in 
you.  Verse  9  explains  verse  10,  so  far  that  it  tells  us  how  Christ  x 
dwells  in  his  people,  viz.  by  his  Spirit.  This  sglves  what  would 
otherwise  be  to  us  a  painful  mystery  concerning  the  presence  of 
Christ  in  and  with  his  people.  Christ  dwells  in  us  by  his  Spirit. 
But  this  does  not  save  us  from  temporal  death.  Notwithstanding 
this  great  spiritual  renovation,  "the  body  is  dead  because  of  sin." 
Death  is  by  sin.  The  sins  of  believers  are  all  pardoned,  yet  be- 
lievers still  die.  How  is  this?  The  answers  are  many  and  solid. 
I.  If  we  had  no  light  on  the  subject  any  more  than  Abraham  had 
in  the  matter  of  offering  Isaac,  yet  it  would  be  no  great  thing  in 
us  to  trust  the  living  and  the  loving  Lord  that  it  was  all  right,  and 
wise  and  every  way  best  for  us  to  die.  2.  Our  Saviour  died.  Is 
it  not  right  that  we  should  be  made  conformable  to  his  death  ? 
Phil.  3  :  10.  How  could  we  otherwise  so  well  know  the  fellow- 
ship of  his  sufferings  ?  How  otherwise  could  we  so  fully  know  by 
personal  experience  the  power  of  his  resurrection  ?  3.  In  the 
death  of  believers  there  is  no  curse.  The  sting  of  death  is  sin  ; 
and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law  ;  but  thanks  be  to  God  who 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  i  Cor.  15  : 
56,  57.  4.  In  no  sense  essentially,  but  only  in  appearance,  does  the 
righteous  die  as  the  wicked  dieth.  The  wicked  is  driven  away  in 
his  wickedness.  The  righteous  is  taken  away  from  the  evil  to 
come.  He  shall  enter  into  peace :  they  shall  rest  in  their  beds, 
Pr.  14  :  32  ;  Isa.  57  ;  i,  2.  5.  The  body  of  the  believer  is  not  fit  for 
the  heavenly  state,  and  cannot  be  fit  for  it,  without  dying  and 
being  raised,  or  without  undergoing  a  change  equivalent  to  death 
and  the  resurrection.  It  is  now  in  corruption  ;  it  must  be  brought 
into  a  state  of  incorruption.  It  is  now  in  dishonor  ;  it  must  be  put 
into  a  state  to  fit  it  ior  glory,  It  is  now  full  of  weakness  ;  it  must  be 
filled  with  power.  It  is  now  a  natural  body  ;  to  be  fit  for  heaven, 
it  must  be  fashioned  anew  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  so  become  a 
spiritual  body,  i  Cor.  15  :  42-44.  6.  The  death  of  Christ  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  most  glorious  results  to  him — results  dependent  on 
his  death.  No  doubt  the  same  is  true  in  their  measure  of  his 
people,  John  12:24;  i  Cor.  15:36-38.  7.  When  a  beHever  dies 
there  is  a  real  and  rich  blessing  resting  upon  him.  "  Blessed  are 
the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth,"  Rev.  14  :  13.  8. 
Believers  shall  finally  and  fully  be  in  every  sense  delivered  from 
death.  "  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death,"  i  Cor.  1 5  : 
26.  9.  We  know  that  when  Christ  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him, 
for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is,  i  John  3  :  8.  Compare  2  Cor.  5  : 6,  8. 
The  Spirit  is  life,  that  is  the  new  nature  wrought  in  men  by  the  Spirit,  \ 
the  opposite  of  the  flesh.     Our  Lord  uses  the  word  Spirit  in  appli- 


378  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIIL,  v.  ii. 

cation  to  the  new  nature  imparted  by  him,  John  3  :  6.  This  new 
nature  is  not  dead  nor  dying,  it  is  living,  yea  it  is  life,  eternal  life 
begun  in  the  soul,  having  in  it  the  elements  of  an  imperishable  vi- 
tality, John  6  :  54.      All  the  saints  are  born  of  incorruptible  seed, 

1  Pet.  I  :  23.  Then  what  secures  beyond  all  doubt  the  perpetuity 
of  this  life  is  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  gave  it,  nourishes  it.  And 
all  this  is  so  because  of  righteousness.  Righteousness  may  mean 
either,  i.  the  rectitude  of  God,  by  which  he  is  faithful  to  all  his 
covenant  engagements ;  2.  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  wrought 
out  for  believers  and  imputed  to  them  when  they  believe,  thus  se- 
curing to  them  the  blessings  of  the  covenant  ordered  in  all  things 
and  sure  ;  or  3.  the  righteousness  wrought  in  the  souls  of  believ- 
ers, thus  quite  changing  their  natures,  and  conforming  them  to 
God.  Though  the  rectitude  of  God  is  always  to  be  regarded  as 
lying  at  the  foundation  of  his  engagements,  and  though  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  is  essential  to  the  covering  of  the  nakedness  of 
his  people,  yet  it  is  probable  that  the  prominent  idea  in  the  word 
righteousness  in  this  verse  is  newness  of  nature,  holiness  inwrought 
in  believers  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  producing  a  blessed  conformity  to 
the  whole  revealed  will  of  God  in  their  views,  tempers,  aims, 
thoughts,  words  and  deeds.  Thus  is  the  Spirit  life  because  of 
righteousness.  Other  expositions  of  this  verse  are  given  even  by 
sound  and  scholarly  commentators.  But  this  best  coincides  with 
the  context,  is  the  most  simple,  taking  the  terms  in  a  sense  ac- 
knowledged by  all  to  be  scriptural  and  common. 

1 1 .  But  if  the  Spirit  that  raided  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you, 
he  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal 
bodies.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  is  ascribed  first  to  his  own 
power,  John  2  :  19;   10 :  18;  then  to  the  power  of  the  Father,  Acts 

2  :  24,  32  ;  3  :  15,  26;  4  :  12  ;    5  :  30;    10  :40  and  often  ;  then  in  our 
^  verse  he  is  said  to  have  been  raised  by  the  Spirit.     Creation  was 

the  joint  work  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost ;  so  is  the  pro- 
vidential care  of  the  world ;  so  is  salvation ;  so  is  that  crowning 
work  of  salvation,  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and  glorification 
of  the  entire  person  of  the  believer.  Chrysostom  :  "  Whereso- 
ever one  person  of  the  Trinity  is,  there  the  whole  Trinity  is  pre- 
sent." Such  language  need  produce  no  confusion.  Jesus  says, 
"  my  Father  worketh  hitherto  and  I  work,"  John  5:17.  Compare 
John  10 :  37,  38.  The  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  makes  certain  the 
resurrection  of  believers  in  two  ways.  i.  His  presence  is  the 
pledge  and  proof  of  their  sonship  with  God.  He  has  begun  in  them 
a  great  and  good  work,  and  it  would  be  unworthy  of  him  to 
drop  it  in  the  midst  and  leave  it  unfinished.  We  read  of  the 
earnest  of  the  Spirit.     God  could  give  us  nothing  else  so  suita- 


Ch.  VIIL,  V.  I.]  THE  ROMANS.  379 

ble  and  so  satisfying  as  an  earnest.  2.  The  Spirit  has  the  energy 
to  raise  up  believers  and  is  already  in  them  as  a  power.  By 
that  power  the  body  of  Christ  was  raised  up.  By  the  same 
power  the  souls  of  believers  have  been  regenerated.  They  are 
born  of  the  Spirit,  John  3:5.  In  Eph.  i  :  19,  20  these  two  great 
works,  the  implanting  of  grace  and  the  raising  of  Christ  from 
the  dead  are  compared,  and  both  are  said  to  have  been  effected 
by  the  exceeding  greatness  of  God's  power,  etc.  Thus  the  resur- 
rection and  eternal  life  of  believers  is  made,  not  merely  probable, 
but  infallibly  certain.  One  can  but  regret  that  some  respecta- 
ble commentators  explain  this  verse  as  though  "  mortal  bodies  " 
meant  the  remains  of  sin,  or  the  fallen  natures  of  men, 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  It  is  both  pleasing  and  edifying  to  the  pious  to  notice  the 
connections  of  divine  truth.  Paul  closed  chapter  VII.  with  a 
declaration  of  the  sad  power  of  indwelling  sin.  He  begins  this 
by  stating  that  notwithstanding  inbred  corruption  the  justifica- 
tion of  the  believer  is  complete,  and  that  with  it  is  connected 
a  sanctification  that  even  now  prevails  to  the  government  of  the 
life  or  ivalk  of  the  justified.  The  scheme  of  salvation  is  a  golden 
chain  of  many  links.  Let  us  hold  fast  the  truth  in  its  connec- 
tions.    All  scripture  is  profitable  for  doctrine. 

2.  We  may  rest  assured  that  we  are  on  the  domain  of  error,  if 
we  in  any  way  divorce  justification  and  sanctification,  v.  i.  What 
God  hath  joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder.  It  is  as 
dangerous  to  rest  on  a  justification  unattended  with  holiness,  as  it 
is  to  rest  on  a  justification  that  has  our  works  for  its  basis. 

3.  Nor  can  we  easily  present  with  too  much  frequency  or  with 
too  great  simplicity  each  of  these  doctrines  in  its  scriptural  con- 
nections, V.  I.  We  need  not,  we  must  not  deny  the  reality  of  our 
need  of  a  free  pardon  and  a  gratuitous  acceptance,  nor  of  the  ab- 
solute necessity  of  a  thorough  cleansing  of  our  nature  in  renewal 
begun  in  regeneration  and  completed  in  the  work  of  the  Spirit. 
And  let  us  declare  how  these  inestimable  benefits  may  be  secured. 
They  are  to  be  had  in  Christ  Jesus.  His  mediation  has  made  all 
needed  provision.  It  has  fully  satisfied  justice  and  truth.  It  has 
secured  to  us  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  It  shall  finally  effect  a  com- 
plete deliverance  from  all  sin  and  from  all  the  effects  of  sin. 

4.  There  is  in  scripture  no  ground  for  the  doctrine  of  a  partial 
forgiveness  of  sins.  God  forgives  all  sin  or  none  at  all,  v.  i.  There 
is  no  condemnation  to  them  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus.  David  loudly 
calls  on  his  soul  to  bless  the  Lord,  '  who  forgiveth  all  thine  ini- 


380  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII,  vs.  1-5. 

quities/  Ps.  103  :  3.     To  forgive  all  but  one  in  a  thousand  would 
save  no  man's  soul. 

5.  It  is  in  vain  for  us  to  hope  for  any  saving  blessings  without 
a  vital  union  with  Christ.  We  must  be  in  him,  v.  i.  Out  of 
Christ  all  is  wrath  and  ruin  to  a  sinner ;  God  is  a  consuming  fire 
to  such  ;  their  sins  are  their  tyrants,  and  will  surely  deliver  them 
over  to  the  tormentors.  Our  union  with  Christ  is  not  personal 
but  mystical.  He  and  believers  are  not  one  as  his  human  and 
divine  natures  are  one  person.  But  he  and  believers  are  one  as 
the  stock  and  the  branches  are  one  vine,  as  the  head  and  the  mem- 
bers are  one  body.  From  him  his  people  derive  sap  and  nourish- 
ment, guidance  and  wisdom,  supplies  of  all  needed  spiritual 
things. 

6.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  tenor  of  one's  hfe,  his  course, 
his  way,  his  conversation,  his  walk,  vs.  1,4,  5.  The  course  of 
Enoch's  life  was  heavenly  and  divine.  He  walked  with  God.  A 
good  man  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  Ps.  1:1. 
This  tenor  decides  the  character.  It  was  the  habit  of  Judas  to 
steal.     It  was  not  the  habit  of  Peter  to  deny  his  master. 

7.  A  life  of  sin  and  a  life  of  holiness  are  alike  in  one  thing — 
they  are  active,  always  advancing.  Every  man  is  walking  after  the 
flesh  or  after  the  Spirit,  vs.  i ,  4.  Every  man  is  making  daily  at- 
tainments in  good  or  evil.  The  longer  he  lives,  the  better  or  the 
worse  man  he  is.  As  in  a  life  of  sin  those,  who  are  now  Christians, 
were  once  very  diligent  and  untiring,  now  that  they  have  turned 
to  the  Lord  they  ought  to  be  mightily  stirred  up  to  take  hold  on 
God  and  to  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  them. 
Nor  does  it  in  fact  repress  any  genuine  feeling  of  zeal  to  know 
that  our  justification  is  wholly  gratuitous,  or  that  our  sanctifica- 
tion  is  by  the  gospel,  not  by  the  law  ;  for  of  all  the  principles  of 
obedience  in  the  heart  of  sinful  man,  none  is  so  mighty  as  the  love 
of  gratitude  for  undeserved  kindness. 

8.  In  preaching  great  pains  should  be  taken  to  state  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  with  clearness  and  discrimination,  as  well  as 
in  their  connection,  v.  i.  If  glorious  privileges  are  preached,  let 
it  be  done  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  lead  to  antinomian  laxity.  This 
will  require  a  statement  of  the  awful  responsibilities,  under  which 
men  live  and  act.  Indiscriminate  comfort  to  all  classes  of  men  is 
as  unscriptural  as  indiscriminate  denunciation.  Say  ye  to  the 
righteous,  that  it  shall  be  well  with  him.  Wo  to  the  wicked,  it 
shall  be  ill  with  him,  Isa.  3  :  10,  11.  A  loose  mode  of  stating  truth 
does  it  great  injustice,  and  sometimes,  because  the  truth  is  mis- 
understood, has  the  same  effect  as  error. 

9.  No  two  things  are  more  opposed  than  flesh  and  Spirit,  vs.  i, 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  i-ii.]      THE  ROMANS.  381 

4,  5.  One  is  darkness  ;  the  other  is  light.  One  is  earthly,  sensual, 
devilish ;  the  other  is  holy,  godly,  heavenly.  One  is  folly ;  the 
other  is  wisdom.  One  is  death  ;  the  other  is  life  and  peace.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  One  is  sin,  which  wars  oil  God  and  good- 
ness, on  all  that  is  lovely  and  of  good  report,  on  all  that  is  sacred 
and  divine,  on  all  that  honors  God.  The  other  is  gospel  holiness, 
which,  abasing  itself  in  the  dust,  and  declaring  itself  deserving  of 
no  good  thing,  out  of  admiration  of  the  glorious  character  of  God 
and  out  of  gratitude  for  his  saving  mercies  in  Christ,  gladly  works 
and  suffers  for  him,  to  whom  all  is  due. 

10.  The  true  doctrine  of  the  divinity,  personality,  and  agency 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  man's  salvation  is  of  vital  importance,  vs. 
I,  4,  5,  6,  9-1 1.  Without  the  mediation  of  Christ  we  should  not 
be  in  a  more  hopeless  case  than  we  should  be  without  the  effectual 
working  and  mighty  energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Poor  deluded 
souls,  still  sunk  in  gross  ignorance  and  under  the  power  of  the 
wicked  one,  have  sometimes  brought  great  reproach  upon  this 
precious  doctrine  by  their  hypocritical  cant  and  ungodly  lives  ; 
but  what  doctrine  have  such  men  or  others  not  abused  ?  Let  us 
not  for  a  moment  yield  the  truth  because  some  pervert  it  and 
others  scoff  at  it.  It  is  freely  conceded  that  the  miraculous  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  abundantly  granted  at  the  first  planting  of 
churches,  have  ceased ;  but  his  ordinary  and  special  influences  in 
the  church  are  as  much  needed  as  ever.  The  promise  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  all  God's  people  is  one  of  the  vital  promises  of  the 
covenant  of  grace,  Isa.  44  :  3-5  ;  Ezek.  36  :  25-27.  Nor  have  we 
higher  authority  or  more  encouragement  to  seek  for  anything  than 
we  have  to  pray  for  large  measures  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Matt.  7:11; 
Luke  II  :  13  ;  John  4  :  10.  The  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  chief 
fruit  of  Christ's  undertaking.  Acts  2  :  33,  It  is  alike  a  fruit  of  his 
intercession,  John  14  :  16,  17.  The  fact  is,  we  are  powerless  for 
any  good,  unless  we  have  the  presence  and  aid  of  the  Spirit.  If 
there  have  been  fanatics  and  filthy  dreamers  in  the  world,  let  us 
not  turn  formalists,  and  renounce  the  unspeakable  blessing  of  the 
gift  of  the  Spirit.     Without  him  we  be  all  dead  men. 

11.  There  is  a  power  in  true  piety,  a  mighty  power.  It  is  a 
law,  V.  2.  It  is  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life.  If  anything  is  efficient, 
that  is.  No  greater  wonders  have  ever  been  manifested  in  this 
world  than  in  the  case  of  martyrs  and  confessors,  who  have  leaped 
for  joy  at  the  prospect  of  a  death  intended  to  be  made  horrible  by 
the  cruel  arts  of  persecutors.  The  best  men  now  in  this  world, 
were  once  darkness,  but  now  are  they  light  in  the  Lord  ;  once 
aliens  and  strangers,  but  now  brought  nigh  by  the  blood  and  Spirit 
of  Christ.     The  law  of  the  Spirit  must  be  prodigious  when  it  has 


382  EPIS  TLE    TO         [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  2,  3. 

already  weakened  and  shall  finally  abolish  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 
Chalmers :  "  It  is  like  the  awakening  of  man  to  a  new  moral  exist- 
ence, when  he  is  awakened  to  the  love  of  that  God  whom  before 
he  was  glad  to  forget,  and  of  whom  he  never  thought  but  as  a 
being  shrouded  in  unapproachable  majesty,  and  compassed  about 
with  the  jealousies  of  a  law  that  had  been  violated.  It  is  like  a  re- 
surrection from  the  grave,  when,  quickened  and  aroused  from  the 
deep  oblivion  of  nature,  man  enters  into  living  fellowship  with  his 
God  ;  and  he,  who  ere  now  had  been  regarded  with  terror  or 
utterly  disregarded,  hath  at  length  reclaimed  to  himself  all  our 
trust  and  all  our  tenderness."  If  there  is  power  anywhere  dis- 
played in  this  world,  it  is  in  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  happy 
God. 

^  12.  But  let  us  never  forget  that  all  the  vitality  and  power  of 
even  true  religion  is  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  v.  2.  If  he  shall  not 
take  of  the  things  of  Christ  and  show  them  unto  vis,  we  shall  never 
see  them  aright.  Chalmers :  "  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
too  much  neglected  in  practice.  It  is  not  adverted  to  that  all  ac- 
ceptable virtue  in  man  is  the  product  of  a  creating  energy,  that  is 
actually  put  forth  upon  him  ;  and  that  it  is  his  business  to  wrestle 
in  supplication  with  Heaven,  that  it  may  be  put  forth  upon  him." 
Jesus  Christ  taught  that  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  the  sum 
of  all  good  things.  Oh  that  all  his  people  acted  on  that  truth.  It 
is  only  by  the  Holy  Ghost  that  any  man  can  say  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord ;  or  that  he  can  see  in  Christ  anything  but  a  root  out  of  a 
dry  ground. 
>r  13.  Until  the  gospel  is  carried  to  the  heart  with  power  by  the 

Holy  Ghost,  it  is  amazing  in  what  undisturbed  possession  the 
strong  man  keeps  his  goods.     Tyrannical  despotisms,  when  fully 

'~~set  up,  are  the  most  quiet  governments  in  the  world.  They  open 
not  the  house  of  their  prisoners.  They  .silence  outcries  and  clamor 
by  measures  the  most  effectual.  Pass  through  a  country  thus  ruled 
and  you  shall  hardly  hear  a  complaint.  So  it  is  with  the  wicked. 
They  are  under  the  cruel  tyranny  of  the  devil.  Their  noblest 
faculties  are  loaded  with  the  chains  of  iniquity.  The  dungeons 
of  the  Bastile  exhibited  no  sights  so  mournful  as  those  revealed 
to  a  man,  when  he  first  fairly  sees  himself  a  prisoner  of  sin  and 
Satan,  a  man  wholly  after  the  flesh. 

14.  It  is  proof  of  amazing  madness  and  folly  that,  after  all  man 
has  done  and  God  has  taught,  men  will  still  fly  to  the  law  for  jus- 
tification and  sanctification.  The  law  is  zveak,  impotent  to  either 
of  these  ends,  v.  3.  Read  the  decalogue  through  and  you  shall 
find  not  one  word  of  mercy  for  the  guilty.  Do  and  live,  sin  and 
die,  is  all   it  says.      Calvin  :    "  It  is  absurd    to  measure  human 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  3-]  THE  ROMANS.  383 

strength  by  the  precepts  of  the  law ;  as  though  God  in  requiiing 
what  is  justly  due  had  regarded  what  and  how  much  we  are  able 
to  do."  The  law  never  demanded  more  than  was  holy,  just  and 
good.  It  can  demand  no  less.  The  gospel  is  not  an  apology  to 
man  for  having  given  him  the  law.  God  never  acts  more  right- 
eously than  in  demanding  perfect  obedience  to  the  moral  law  on 
pain  of  his  sore  displeasure — even  death  itself.  But  the  gospel 
does  suit  our  case.  It  is  not  weak.  It  is  mighty  through  God  to 
the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.  It  is  the  power  of  God  unto  sal- 
vation.    How  could  it  be  otherwise? 

15.  Its  author  is  God's  own  Son,  v.  3.  He  is  not  the  son  of  God 
as  Adam  was  and  as  the  angels  were,  by  creation ;  nor  as  Chris- 
tians are,  by  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  he  is  God's 
own  Son  by  an  etei-nal  generation.  He  is  the  brightness  of  the 
Father's  glory  and  the  express  image  of  his  person.  He  is  the 
only  begotten  Son  of  God,  John  i  :  18  ;  3  :  16.  He  often  called 
himself  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  whole  controversy  concerning 
his  sonship  and  divinity  ought  to  have  been  settled,  and  to  all  well 
taught  from  heaven  was  settled  by  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
See  above  comment  and  remarks  on  Rom.  i  :  4. 

16.  Paul  never  utters  a  doubt  respecting  the  fact  or  the  neces- 
sity of  the  incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ,  v.  3.  It  was  human  nature 
that  had  fallen,  and  was  to  be  redeemed.  It  was  right  that  the 
nature  which  sinned  should  bear  the  punishment  of  sin,  be  exalted 
to  honor  and  glory,  and  should  appear  for  us  in  heaven.  We 
needed  a  High  Priest,  who  should  not  only  be  equal  with  God, 
and  be  able  to  lay  his  hand  on  the  eternal  throne,  because  he  was 
the  Fellow  of  the  Father,  but  who  should  also  be  bone  of  our 
bone,  and  not  be  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren,  that  he  might  be  a 
merciful  High  Priest.  This  incarnation,  involving  so  profound 
humiliation  on  the  part  of  Christ,  is,  when  duly  considered,  very 
humbling  to  us.  It  was  designed  to  "  remind  us  that  righteous- 
ness by  no  means  dwells  in  us,  for  it  is  to  be  sought  from  him,  and 
that  men  in  vain  confide  in  their  own  merits,  who  become  not  just 
but  at  the  pleasure  of  another,  or  who  obtain  righteousness  from 
that  expiation  which  Christ  accomplished  in  his  own  flesh." 
Christ  took  our  nature,  its  innocent  infirmities,  our  place  under 
the  law,  our  load  of  guilt,  the  curse  due  to  us  ;  and  in  his  love  and 
mercy  he  gives  us  his  blessing,  his  righteousness,  his  Spirit,  his 
glory,  his  jt)y,  his  kingdom,  a  seat  with  him  on  his  throne.  It 
would  be  worse  than  swollen  bombast  to  say  these  things,  but  God 
has  taught  them  all  to  us. 

17.  Sin  is  condemned,  was  condemned  on  Calvary,  v.  3.  It 
was  condemned  and  punished  as  outlawry,  as  usurpation,  as  de- 


384  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  3. 

serving  God's  wrath  and  curse,  and  man's  abhorrence  and  detesta- 
tion for  ever,  Diodati :  "  God  has  as  it  were  by  his  sovereign 
decree  taken  away  all  command  over  behevers  from  sin,  has  cru- 
cified and  mortified  it  in  them,  whilst  they  live  in  this  animal  and 
corporeal  life.  He  has  done  this  in  the  flesh,  to  the  end  that  we 
may  not  doubt  of  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  which  are  destroyed 
in  our  proper  nature,  which  the  Son  of  God  has  taken  upon  him." 
Whatever  sin  is  or  does,  it  is  and  does  without  any  rightful  claim. 
Once  those,  who  are  now  believers,  were  held  as  lawful  captives ; 
but  all  who  accept  of  Christ,  are  no  longer  under  the  dominion  of 
its  guilt  or  of  its  power.  The  guilt  is  all  removed,  and  in  the 
matter  of  sanctification  they  have  made  by  the  grace  of  Christ  a 
blessed  beginning,  which  is  a  sure  pledge  of  final  and  complete 
victory. 

iS*.  How  clearly  in  all  the  scriptures  the  doctrine  of  a  sacrifice 
for  sin  is  so  taught  as  to  imply  its  absolute  necessity,  v.  3.  Indeed 
who  can  believe  that  God  would  have  sent  his  own  Son  to  endure 
any  pain  or  shame,  if  our  case  had  not  been  such  as  to  require  it  ? 
If  remission  without  the  shedding  of  blood  could  have  been  had, 
there  would  have  been  no  blood  shed.  Under  the  law  almost  all 
things  were  purged  with  blood  ;  not  that  God  regarded  as  of  any 
saving  efficacy  the  sacrifice  of  an  innocent  lamb,  but  he  thus  taught 
the  pious  to  look  away  from  all  human  merits  and  offerings  to  the 
one  great  sacrifice  on  Calvary.  Here  is  a  vital  matter.  Men 
may  be  saved  without  science,  without  literature,  without  wealth, 
without  civilization  ;  but  without  faith  in  the  atonement  of  Christ 
there  is  no  hope  of  future  blessedness.  "  If  ye  believe  not  that  I 
am  he,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins." 

19.  Men  are  not  saved  in  derogation  of  the  honor  of  God's 
government.  They  enter  not  paradise  trampling  on  the  holy 
sovereignty  of  the  Most  High.  The  righteousness  of  the  law  is 
fulfilled  in  them.  First  their  justifying  righteousness,  being  the 
spotless  obedience  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  is  without  any  defect.  No 
sinner,  however  guilty  and  terribly  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  lost 
condition  on  account  of  the  number  and  aggravation  of  his  sins, 
when  brought  to  rest  on  Christ  alone  for  salvation,  ever  found  any 
rent  in  his  seamless  robe,  any  spot  in  his  glorious  righteousness. 
How  could  he  ?  Omniscient  purity  itself  pronounced  it  faultless, 
and  so  released  Christ  from  all  further  humiliation  and  raised  him 
to  glory  and  honor  at  God's  right  hand.  The  Lord  Jesus  was 
made  under  the  law,  under  its  precept  for  obedience  and  under 
its  penalty  for  the  suffering  of  death,  that  he  might  redeem  them 
that  were  under  the  law  and  should  believe  on  him.  Then  the 
righteousness,  which  the  law  demands,  is  finally  and   perfectly 


Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  3-6.]        THE  ROMANS.  385 

wrought  in  the  souls  of  believers  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
This  work  is  begun  in  regeneration.  It  is  carried  on  by  the  sarae 
divine  power  until  in  glory  the  redeemed  soul  finds  itself  without 
spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing.  Believers  do  in  no  sense 
enter  heaven  in  derogation  of  law.  Men  are  not  saved  without 
righteousness,  both  justifying  and  sanctifying. 

20.  As  God  has  condemned  sin,  let  us  condemn  it  also,  v.  3. 
As  he  abhors  it,  so  let  us  abhor  it.  As  he  has  punished  it,  so  let 
us  mortify  it  and  crucify  it.  There  is  no  danger  of  excess  in 
our  hatred  of  sin.  It  is  horrible.  It  is  a  horrible  dishonor  to 
God,  a  horrible  defilement  of  the  soul,  a  horrible  torment  to 
him,  in  whom  it  reigns,  and  followed  by  torments  so  horrible, 
that  if  the  gayest  sinner  had  a  just  view  of  his  sad  state  and 
dismal  prospects  he  would  never  smile  again  unless  he  could 
be  brought  to  believe  in  Jesus.  Chalmers :  "  However  zealously 
the  righteousness  of  Christ  must  be  contended  for  as  the  alone 
plea  of  a  sinner's  acceptance,  yet  the  benefit  thereof  rests  upon 
none  save  those  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh  but  after  the 
Spirit.  Light  where  it  may,  it  must  carry  a  sanctifying  power 
with  it ;  and  you  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter,  if  you  are 
not  pressing  onward  in  grace  and  in  all  godliness.  It  is  not 
enough  that  upon  Christ  all  its  honors  have  been  amply  vindi- 
cated— upon  you  who  believe  in  Christ  all  its  virtues  must  be 
engraven."  All  ye  that  love  the  Lord  hate  iniquity.  If  you 
do  not  kill  sin,  it  will  kill  you.  If  you  do  not  crucify  it,  it  will 
torment  you  for  ever. 

21.  If  a  man  can  discover  the  bent  of  his  mind,  will  and  af- 
fections, he  can  know  whether  he  is  a  child  of  God,  or  of  the 
wicked  one.  If  he  minds  the  things  of  the  flesh,  he  is  a  wicked 
man  ;  if  he  minds  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  he  is  a  new  man,  v.  5. 
Old  things  have  passed  away.  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart  so 
is  he.  He,  whose  heart  goes  out  after  his  covetousness,  is  an 
idolater.  He,  whose  soul  followeth  hard  after  God,  is  regenerate. 
He,  who  studies  to  gratify  his  unholy  desires,  is  not  born  from  above. 
Evans :  "  The  man  is  as  the  mind  is.  The  mind  is  the  forge  of 
thoughts.  Which  way  do  the  thoughts  move  with  most  pleasure  ? 
On  w^hat  do  they  dwell  with  most  satisfaction  ?  Which  way  go 
the  projects  and  contrivances?"  What  kind  of  news  is  most  re- 
freshing, that  which  relates  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  or  that  which 
is  secular?  Are  you  eager  after  those  things  which  the  Gentiles 
seek  ?  Matt.  6  :  32.     Your  heart  is  where  your  treasure  is, 

22.  Death  must  attend  and  follow  a  carnal  mind,  v.  6.  It  can- 
not be  otherwise.  A  carnal  mind  is  always  at  war  with  the  very 
laws  of  our  being.     It  outrages  all  the  principles  conducive  to  our 


386  EPJSTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIIL,  v.  6. 

well-being.  It  never  rests  till  it  drags  the  soul  down  from  all  that 
is 'ennobling.  Even  here  it  is  a  death,  an  extinction  of  all  that 
should  lift  the  soul  above  low  and  sordid  things.  Chalmers : 
"  Such  a  death  is  not  merely  a  thing  of  negation,  but  a  thing  of 
positive  wretchedness.  For  with  the  want  of  all  that  is  sacred  or 
spiritual  about  him,  there  is  still  a  remainder  of  feeling  which 
makes  him  sensible  of  his  want — a  general  restlessness  of  the  soul, 
on  whose  capacities  there  has  been  inflicted  a  sore  mutilation." 
Wars  sometimes  close,  leaving  poor  mutilated  men  in  hospitals — 
men  who  have  neither  leg  nor  arm  left.  The  sight  of  them  often 
brings  tears  in  the  eyes  of  spectators.  Yet  such  may  walk  with 
God,  may  have  the  noblest  aspirations,  thoughts  and  hopes.  But 
a  poor  soul  under  the  sway  of  carnahty  is  a  body  without  a  spirit, 
a  mass  of  death,  still,  however,  responsible,  still  waxing  worse  and 
worse,  still  preparing  for  the  second"  death.  "  Woful  and  sad  is  the 
change  that  has  turned  a  friend  into  a  foe,  a  favorite  into  an  enemy, 
displaced  the  spiritual,  enthroned  the  sensual,  made  the  very 
imaginations  of  the  heart  only  evil,  and  that  continually,  and  clad 
with  carnality  sense,  affection,  desire,  and  all  the  powers  of  the 
soul." 

23.  Nor  can  it  be  but  that  life  and  peace  accompany  and  fol- 
low a  spiritual  mind,  v.  6.  It  is  impossible  that  the  good  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  should  work  in  us  anything  contrary  to  our  well- 
being.  A  spiritual  mind  is  life^  it  is  all  activity.  Its  energies 
are  drawn  forth  by  thoughts  of  time  misspent,  mercies  abused, 
kindness  insulted,  the  divine  glory  obscured  and  souls  perish- 
ing. This  life  was  bought  by  blood,  was  infused  by  the  Spirit, 
and  consists  of  the  noblest  thoughts,  emotions  and  principles. 
It  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  It  is  indeed  even  now 
eternal  life,  John  6 :  47.  Its  best  hopes  will  in  the  future  be  far 
more  than  realized.  This  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  But 
he  who  has  this  life  has  peace  also.  Carking  care  reigns  not  in 
him.  The  discords  of  the  people  agitate  him  not.  His  spirit  is 
calm  and  hushed  on  the  bosom  of  his  God.  His  conscience  ap- 
proves of  all  that  is  right  in  his  aims,  principles  and  hopes.  He 
has  peace  with  God,  and  peace  within,  and  peace  (at  least  in  his 
heart)  with  all  men.  Chalmers  in  his  lecture  on  this,  place  em- 
bodies a  fine  story  respecting  a  clerk  in  Calcutta,  who  gave  up  a 
fine  situation  that  he  might  devote  his  time  to  spreading  the  gos- 
pel among  the  heathen.  His  employer,  amazed  at  his  conduct, 
applied  to  Dr.  Carey  of  Serampore  for  an  explanation  of  so  re- 
markable a  procedure,  and  when  he  found  that  no  emoluments,  no 
honors,  no  pleasures  (that  suit  the  taste  of  the  carnal)  were  to  be 
secured,  his  amazement  was  surpassing.      The  secret    of   holy, 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  6.]  THE  ROMANS.  387 

heavenly  peace  was  unknown  to  him.  Hodge:  "God  has  made 
the  connection  between  sin  and  misery,  holiness  and  happiness, 
necessary  and  immutable.  .  .  The  divine  Spirit  is  a  well-spring 
within  of  joy  and  peace  to  all  who  are  sanctified.  In  itself  consid- 
ered, therefore,  moral  purity  is  essentially  connected  with  hap- 
piness, as  cause  and  effect."  It  must  be  so.  God  has  ordained  it. 
24.  No  wonder  men  must  be  born  again ;  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God.  No  wonder  men  are  distressed  for  their  sins 
of  heart,  so  soon  as  they  see  the  real  state  of  case  ;  for  the  car- 
nal mind  is  enmity  against  God.  No  wonder  God  has  set  the 
whole  of  his  nature  and  the  whole  course  of  his  providence  against 
sin  ;  for  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God.  No  wonder 
finally  impenitent  sinners  are  finally  lost ;  for  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God.  On  this  point  we  have  the  very  words  of 
inspiration,  expressed  in  terms  both  clear  and  various.  We  have 
also  great  facts  in  sacred  and  secular  history,  and  presented  to  our 
personal  observation,  such  as  these:  i.  Men  prove  their  hatred 
to  God  by  the  dislike  which  they  manifest  to  a  sound  knowledge 
of  him.  In  two  periods  of  the  history  of  the  world,  once  in  the 
family  of  Adam  and  once  in  the  family  of  Noah,  every  human 
being  on  earth  possessed  the  true  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 
But  because  men  held  the  truth  in  unrighteousness  and  did  not  like 
to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge  ;  ignorance,  superstition,  idolatry 
and  cruelty  soon  obtained  a  fearful  prevalence  and  hold  it  still. 
For  thousands  of  years  God  has  raised  up  great  companies  of 
faithful  and  able  witnesses  for  the  true  knowledge  of  himself,  and 
they  have  proclaimed  it  with  zeal.  And  yet  how  many  even  in 
Christian  lands  have  not  the  saving  knowledge  of  God.  This 
great  fact  cannot  be  accounted  for,  if  the  carnal  mind  is  not  enmity 
against  God.  2.  Men  evince  their  hostility  to  God  by  the  manner 
in  which  they  treat  his  name.  They  take  it  in  vain  with  mournful 
frequencv.  They  mingle  it  up  with  profane  oaths  and  horrid 
curses.  The  ungodly  often  use  his  names  and  titles  in  connection 
with  their  senseless  and  malignant  ribaldry,  or  with  their  wicked 
prejudices  or  religious  errors.  Millions  profane  his  name,  and 
when  reproved,  declare  that  they  do  it  without  being  aware  of 
the  fact.  The  name  of  no  pest  of  society,  no  scourge  of  mortals, 
is  so  often  used  in  scorn  or  contempt  as  is  the  name  of  the  loving 
and  glorious  God.  Does  not  this  prove  that  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God  ?  3.  Men  prove  their  enmity  to  God  by  their 
unwillingness  to  see  his  honor  advanced.  When  Joseph's  brethren 
saw  that  their  father  tenderly  loved  him,  they  hated  him,  and 
could  not  speak  peaceably  to  him.  Gen.  37  : 4.  And  when  his  pro- 
phetic dreams  told  of  his  coming  honors,  they  hated  him  yet  the 


388  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIIL,  v.  7. 

more  for  his  dreams  and  for  his  words  ;  and  they  envied  him,  Gen. 
37:8,  II.  They  were  hostile  to  him.  The  higher  he  rose,  the 
stronger  was  their  disHke  of  him.  So  sinners  are  pained  when  God 
is  honored.  "  When  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  saw  the  wonder- 
ful things  that  Jesus  did,  and  the  children  crying  in  the  temple,  and 
saying,  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David,  they  were  sore  displeased," 
•Matt.*2i  :  15.  Why?  Because  their  minds  were  enmity  against 
him.  4.  Men  evidence  their  hostility  to  God  by  their  opposition 
to  his  law  and  government.  Every  unrenewed  man*  on  earth  does 
daily,  willingly,  allowedly  break  the  spirit  of  the  moral  law  and 
every  precept  thereof  Where  is  the  man,  who  is  not  under 
grace,  who  loves  the  Sabbath,  as  a  day  of  sacred  rest,  holy  unto 
the  Lord  ?  Where  is  the  carnal  mind  that  hesitates  to  covet  what- 
ever it  desires  ?  5.  If  men  did  not  hate  God,  they  would  not  hate 
his  people  as  they  do.  A  child  of  God  knows  that  he  has  passed 
from  death  unto  life  because  he  loves  the  brethren.  But  from  the 
days  of  Cain  to  this  hour,  the  people  of  God  have  been  hated, 
hunted,  hounded,  misjudged,  misrepresented  and  murdered,  till 
the  earth  almost  everywhere  is  ready  to  disclose  her  blood.  Since 
Christ  ascended  to  glory,  fifty  millions  have  been  martyred  for 
their  professed  subjection  to  him.  6.  Men  hate  the  attributes  of 
God,  in  particular  such  as  are  mild  and  merciful.  The  pious 
everywhere  exult  in  God's  almightiness,  his  omniscience,  his  om- 
nipresence ;  but  the  wicked  have  no  hallelujahs  for  any  such  per- 
fections. The  cry  of  the  carnal  heart  everywhere  is  :  "  Cause  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel  to  cease  from  before  us,  "  Isa.  13:  11.  And 
when  God  displays  his  saving  mercy  and  rich  grace  in  the  salva- 
tion of  many  sinners,  how  does  the  carnal  mind  (unless  divinely 
restrained)  rise  up  in  opposition  to  so  glorious  a  work.  7.  The 
ingratitude  of  men  for  God's  mercies  (which  they  cannot  deny 
are  great  and  numerous)  shows  the  same  enmity.  Now  then  if 
any  man  would  have  true  piety  he  must  avail  himself  of  some 
means  of  slaying  this  enmity  ;  and  if  he  would  do  effectual  good 
to  the  souls  of  his  fellow-men,  he  must  not  disguise,  but  proclaim 
the  truth  that  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  and  must 
be  slain. 

25.  In  the  light  of  the  clear  teachings  of  scripture,  what  be- 
comes of  the  boasted  ability  of  men  to  keep  the  commandments? 
The  carnal  mind  is  not  even  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  in- 
deed can  be,  v.  7.  After  regeneration  Paul  says ;  "  I  know  that  in 
me  (that  is,  in  my  flesh)  dwelleth  no  good  thing,"  Rom.  7:18. 
How  can  a  man  turn  to  God,  when  no  good  thing  dwells  in  him  ? 
Compare  Gal.  5:17;  John  8  :  43  ;  Rom.  14  ;  23  ;  Heb.  11:6;  Eph. 
2:12  and  many  other  places.     Calvin  :  "  Paul  here  affirms,  in  ex- 


Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  8-IO.]      THE  ROMANS,  389 

press  words,  what  the  Sophists  who  carry  high  the  power  of  free- 
will, openly  detest."  Chalmers :  "  There  is  nothing  more  unde- 
niable, than  the  antipathy  of  nature  to  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the 
gospel."  He  then  at  length  applies  his  remark  to  the  great  matter 
of  the  utter  helplessness  of  men  to  save  themselves. 

26.  What  dismal  prospects  are  before  all  men,  who  from  the 
very  state  of  their  hearts  and  minds  cannot  please  God,  v.  8. 
Every  hope  built  on  human  merit  or  human  strength  is  delusive. 
Scott :  "  No  unregenerate  man  can  delight  in  God's  holy  law,  or 
be  subject  to  it ;  and  how  can  it  be  expected  that  God  should  be 
pleased  with  the  formal  services  of  enemies  and  rebels  ?  " 

27.  The  same  man  cannot  at  one  and  the  same  time  be  both  in 
the  fleshy  and  in  the  Spirit,  v.  9.  No  man  can  at  the  same  time 
work  righteousness  and  be  a  worker  of  iniquity.  There  is  no  pos- 
sible way  of  dissolving  the  connection  between  incurable  obstinacy 
and  death.  Nor  let  any  man  suppose  himself  safe  because  his  are 
the  sins  of  devils  and  not  of  beasts.  Spiritual  pride,  or  an  evil 
covetousness  are  as  fatal  as  debauchery  or  theft.  Chalmers  :  "  It 
is  not  necessary  that  you  mind  all  the  things  of  the  flesh  in  order 
to  constitute  you  a  carnal  man.  It  is  enough  to  fasten  this  char- 
acter upon  you,  that  you  have  given  yourself  over  to  the  indul- 
gence or  the  pursuit,  even  of  so  few  as  one  of  these  things." 

28.  In  good  men  God's  Spirit  dwells,  v.  9.  This  is  the  uniform 
doctrine  of  scripture,  i  Cor.  3:  16;  2  Cor.  6 :  16 ;  Eph.  2:22;  2 
Tim.  I  :  14,  compared  with  John  14:  16,  17,  26;  16:  7-1 1 ;  Gal.  4: 
6.  Calvin  :  "  The  reign  of  the  Spirit  is  the  abolition  of  the  flesh." 
Nothing  else  secures  that  great  end.  Evans :  "  To  be  Christ's,  to 
be  a  Christian  indeed,  one  of  his  children,  his  servants,  his  friends, 
in  union  with  him,  is  a  privilege  and  honor  which  many  pretend 
to,  that  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter.  None  are  his  but 
those  that  have  his  Spirit."  Without  the  Holy  Spirit  man  is  vain 
and  vile.  All  professions,  ^1  works,  all  mental  exercises  without 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  are  no  better  than  a  beautiful  corpse.  If  a 
man  is  without  the  Spirit  of  Christ  he  is  none  of  his,  has  no  saving 
interest  in  Christ,  is  not  like  him,  is  no  member  of  his  mystical 
body. 

29.  Let  us  acknowledge  the  justice  of  the  sentence  of  death 
upon  our  bodies,  v.  10.  They  are  dead,  that  is  they  are  dying,  are 
under  the  sentence  of  death,  are  liable  to  death  at  any  moment. 
This  should  not,  need  not  disturb  us.  Jesus  has  conquered  death. 
Though  death  is  naturally  the  king  of  terrors,  yet  Jesus  has  tri- 
umphed over  him  and  taught  his  people  to  do  the  same.  To  the 
believer  death  is  no  longer  a  judicial  infliction.  It  is  the  conse- 
crated way  to  his  Father's  house  on  high.     But  were  the  death 


390  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  VIIL,  v.  ii. 

of  believers  even  something  more  painful  and  terrible  than  it 
is,  the  resurrection  will  make  all  right!  Christ's  resurrection 
makes  sure  the  resurrection  of  all  who  are  his,  i  Cor.  15  :  20;  Col. 
1:18;  Rev.  1:5.  Christ  and  his  people  are  one.  All  that  sleep 
in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him.  The  resurrection  of  believers 
will  be  a  very  different  thing  from  that  of  the  wicked,  Luke  14 : 
14;  20:36. 

30.  Christian,  if  thou  hope  for  such  things,  possess  thy  vessel 
in  sanctification  and  honor,  i  Thess.  4  :  4.  Remember  that  if  any 
man  defile  the  temple  of  God,  him  will  God  destroy,  i  Cor.  3:17. 
Go  on.  Perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Lay  out  all 
your  strength  in  the  cause  of  your  Master.  Keep  back  nothing. 
Give  him  all.  « 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

VERSES  12-18. 

EXHORTATION  TO  HOLINESS.  THE  SPIRIT  OF 
ADOPTION.  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.  AFFLICTIONS 
NOT  FATAL. 


12  Therefore,    brethren,   we   are   debtors,   not   to   the   flesh,    to    live   after   the 
flesh. 

1 3  For  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall  die  :  but  if  ye  through  the  Spirit  do 
mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live, 

14  For    as    many   as    are    led    by    the    Spirit  of  God,    they    are    the    sons  of 
God. 

15  For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear;  but  ye  have 
received   the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father. 

16  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of 
God  : 

17  And  if  children,  then  heirs;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ;  if 
so  be  that  we  suffer  with  hira,  that  we  may  be  also  glorified  together. 

18  For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be 
compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us. 

H  O  THEREFORE,  brethren,  we  are  debtors,  not  to  the  flesh,  to 
-J-i^.  live  after  the  flesh.  Therefore  marks  an  inference  from  the 
ten  or  eleven  preceding  verses.  Debtors,  the  same  word  so  ren- 
dered in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  Matt.  6:12.  We  met  it  in  Rom. 
I  :  14,  on  which  see  above.  It  occurs  also  in  Rom.  15  :  27  where 
it  is  explained  as  expressing  an  obligation  of  duty.  So  here  the 
apostle  says,  We  are  under  the  strong  and  solemn  obligations  of 
duty,  but  they  bind  us  not  to  live  after  the  flesh.  Locke's  para- 
phrase is  very  good :  "  We  are  not  under  any  obligation  to  the 
flesh,  to  obey  the  lusts  of  it."  The  flesh  clearly  means  the  fallen 
depraved  nature  of  man.  See  above  on  Rom.  3  :  20.  Chrysostom 
says,  the  meaning  is  that  we  are  debtors  to  the  Spirit,  to  live  after 
the  Spirit.  This  is  no  doubt  so.  Pareus  says  Paul  did  not  state 
the  other  side,  "  because  it  was  so  evident."  It  is  a  figure  of  speech 
peculiar  to  no  one  language  to  say  less  than  one  means.     Paul 

(391) 


392  '     EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  .VIII.,  vs.  13,  14. 

uses  it  it  in  Rom.  1:16.  The  Apostle  of  the  circumcision  uses  it, 
I  Pet.  4:  3.  Tholuck:  "Where  there  is  an  ungodly  walk,  the 
blessing  which  is  the  fruit  of  the  redemption  cannot  be  taken 
in." 

13.  For  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall  die :  but  if  ye  through 
the  Spirit  do  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live.  The  three 
phrases,  walk  after  the  flesh,  vs.  i,  4,  are  after  the  flesh,  v.  5,  and 
live  after  the  flesh,  v.  13,  all  have  the  same  import,  and  designate 
an  unrenewed  man  leading  a  wicked  life.  In  this  clause  ye  shall 
die  is  the  opposite  of  ye  shall  live  in  the  next.  The  former  points 
to  the  second  death  ;  the  latter,  to  the  life  everlasting.  To  mortify 
is  not,  according  to  a  modern  use  of  the  word,  to  humble,  or  vex, 
but,  as  the  word  formerly  meant,  to  put  to  death.  In  v.  36  in  the 
passive  it  is  rendered,  we  are  killed.  To  mortify  the  deeds  of  the 
body  is  to  put  to  death  by  the  cross  of  Christ  the^workings  or  act- 
ings of  the  sinful  nature.  The  use  of  the  word  body  in  this  place 
has  given  the  chief  support  to  the  idea  that  in  v.  10  the  same  word 
means  the  mass  of  corruption  in  our  fallen  nature.  But  Paul  often 
uses  words  in  very  different  senses  in  the  same  context.  Besides, 
some  in  this  place  for  body  read  fesh  ;  so  the  Vulgate  and  Doway. 
Griesbach  admits  we  may  so  read  it.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to 
change  the  text.  The  sense  is  clear.  By  body  Beza  understands 
the  whole  man,  though  considered  as  unregenerate.  That  body 
is  used  in  the  sense  of  the  whole  man,  regenerate  or  unregenerate, 
according  to  the  connection  perhaps  none  will  deny,  see  Rom. 
12:1.  The  whole  verse  is  a  repetition  with  some  enlargement  of 
what  the  apostle  had  said  in  v.  6.  The  victory  to  be  gained  can 
be  had  only  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

14.  For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of 
God.  As  many,  literally  whosoever,  often  rendered  as  here,  see 
John  I  :  12  ;  Acts  2  :  39  ;  4  :  34;  Rom.  2  :  12  ;  6  :  3.  Are  led,  the 
same  verb  rendered  was  led  in  Luke  4:1;  Acts  8  :  32.  In  the 
active  form  we  have  it  in  Rom.  2  :  4.  The  goodness  of  God  lead- 
eth  thee  to  repentance.  It  is  a  very  suitable  word  to  describe  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on.  the  hearts  of  believers.  He  leads  them 
away  from  destruction.  He  guides  them  into  all  truth.  He  is  the 
unction  that  teacheth  them  all  things.  He  opens  the  blind  eyes. 
He  reveals  Christ  unto  them.  All  their  discoveries  of  the  nature 
of  sin  and  of  the  way  of  life  are  from  him.  .We  have  the  same 
precise  idea  presented  in  Gal.  5  :  18.  Chrysostom :  "He  would 
have  him  use  such  power  over  our  life  as  a  pilot  does  over  a  ship, 
or  a  charioteer  over  a  pair  of  horses."  In  previous  verses  of  this 
chapter  we  have  had  much  about  the  influence  of  the  Spirit.  Here 
he  is  said  to  lead  the  people  of  God.     It  is  only  thus  that  their  sal- 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  15-]  THE  ROMANS.  393 

vation  is  made  certain.  All,  who  are  thus  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God.  All  men  are  by  creation  the  sons  of 
God,  Acts  17  :  28,  29.  But  God's  people  are  his  children  by  a  new- 
creation  and  by  a  gracious  adoption.  Tholuck  :  "  At  the  bottom 
of  this  figure  [of  sonship]  Hes  this  profound  sense,  that  the  regen- 
.  erated  man,  by  virtue  of  his  direct  entrance  upon  the  life  of  God,  is 
really  become  of  divine  extraction,  and  a  being  after  his  own 
kind."  In  vs.  i,  4  Paul  had  spoken  of  believers  walking  after 
the  Spirit ;  in  v.  5  he  had  said  they  were  after  the  Spirit ;  in  v. 
9  he  had  said  they  were  in  the  Spirit;  in  v.  13  he  had  spoken 
of  their  mortifying  the  deeds  of  the  body  through  the  Spirit.  Here 
he  speaks  of  their  being  led  by  the  Spirit.  All  these  phrases 
taken  together  show  how  extensive  and  mighty  is  the  work  of  the 
Spirit  on  the  hearts  of  God's  people.  Stuart:  "That  a  special 
divine  influence  is  implied  in  their  being  led  would  seem  to  be 
plain."  Persons  thus  led  by  the  Holy  Ghost  are  real  Christians — 
they  are  the  sons  of  God.  The  sonship  of  believers  includes  moral 
likeness.  All  of  them  are  "partakers  of  the  divine  nature,"  2  Pet. 
I  :  4.  When  they  love  their  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  them, 
do  good  to  them  that  hate  them,  and  pray  for  them  who  despite- 
fuUy  use  them  and  persecute  them,  then  they  are  the  children  of 
their  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  Matt.  5  :  44,  45.  Godly  is  an  ab- 
breviation of  godlike.  If  we  are  not  like  God,  we  are  none  of  his. 
If  we  are  like  him,  he  will  never  deny  his  own  image  in  us.  Then 
sons  have  claims  for  care,  protection,  discipline,  and  the  privilege 
of  telling  their  sorrows  to  their  father  and  appealing  to  him  for  aid 
and  for  redress  of  all  their  grievances.  Nor  is  this  all.  Sons  are 
heirs.  They  are  heirs  at  law.  No  will  or  testament  is  necessary 
to  give  them  the  inheritance.  But  if  a  will  and  testament  be  made, 
leaving  all  things  to  them,  surely  none  can  longer  doubt  their  title. 
To  be  called  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Almighty  (2  Cor.  6:  18) 
is  to  have  the  strongest  terms  of  endearment  applied  to  us. 

15.  For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear  ;  but 
ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father. 
Stuart's  translation  is  expository  :  "  Ye  have  not  received  a  servile 
spirit,  that  ye  should  again  be  in  fear."  For  again  Tyndale,  Cran- 
mer  and  Genevan  have  any  more.  Before  the  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  spirit  of  servility  had  complete  possession.  When- 
ever men  without  right  views  of  the  Gospel  solemnly  think  of  God, 
their  hearts  are  full  of  terror.  In  regeneration  the  Holy  Spirit 
does  not  confirm  or  deepen  this  spirit  of  servility,  but  takes  it 
away.  If  it  returns  at  all,  it  is  only  when  men  fall  into  spiritual 
darkness,  or  declension,  and  lose  sight,  more  or  less,  of  the  lib- 
erty, wherewith  Christ  makes  his  people  free.     Thus  the  Galatians 


394  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  i6. 

erred*  and  suffered.  Just  so  far  as  men  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  he  is  to  them  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  and  they  in  their  hearts 
own  him  as  their  Father.  Abba  is  the  Syro-Chaldaic  word  for  Fa- 
ther. It  was  the  name,  by  which  a  devout  Hebrew  would  address 
God.  But  as  Paul  was  writing  to  the  Romans,  who  understood 
not  his  mother  tongue,  he  gives  the  Greek  also,  thus  translating 
Abba.  Theodoret  thinks  the  use  of  the  name  father  in  two  lan- 
guages gives  intensity.  Such  a  view  is  at  least  harmless.  Com- 
pare Mark  14:  36;  Gal.  4:  6.  But  it  seems  doubtful  whether  in 
any  case  more  than  a  translation  of  a  word  in  a  language  foreign 
to  that  in  which  the  evangelist  or  apostle  is  writing  was  intended. 
•Surely  the  idea  of  Calvin  that  the  two  words  point  to  the  indis- 
criminate offer  of  mercy  to  men  derives  no  countenance  from 
Mark  14:  36;  nor  from  our  verse,  where  Paul  is  addressing  Latins. 
Cry,  a  strong  word  well  translated.  In  their  devotions  God's 
children  cry,  cry  out.  Compare  Matt.  9:27;  Mark  9  :  24 ;  Luke  9  : 
39 ;  John  7:37;  Gal.  4:6;  Jas.  5  :  4,  and  many  other  places. 

16.  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are 
the  children  of  God.  The  pronoun  itself  \s  used  because  in  gender, 
number  and  person  it  agrees  with  the  word  rendered  Spirit.  But 
the  masculine  pronoun  is  also  applied  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  John 
14:  26;  15  :  26;  16:  8,  13,  14;  and  elsewhere.  So  that  the  scrip- 
ture clearly  teaches  that  the  Spirit  is  not  an  influence  but  a  per- 
son, of  whom  it  is  proper  to  say  he,  his,  him.  Several  things  the 
Spirit  of  God  certainly  effects  in  the  hearts  of  his  people.  He 
convinces  them  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment,  John  16: 
8-1 1.  He  reveals  to  them  the  way  of  salvation  by  a  Redeemer, 
John  15:  26;  16:  14;  Gal.  I  :  16.  He  works  in  them  all  the  Chris- 
tian graces.  Gal.  5  :  22,  23.  He  strengthens  all  the  good  principles 
which  he  implants,  Eph.  3  :  16;  Col.  i  :  11.  Having  done  all  this, 
it  would  be  marvellous  if  he  gave  to  the  soul  no  testimony  of  his 
presence  and  of  its  own  gracious  state.  Many,  perhaps  with  an 
unwise  curiosity,  ask  how  can  the  Spirit  testify  to  us  our  accept- 
ance with  God  ?  And  some  have  said  he  never  gives  his  witness 
except  through  the  word.  But  we  know  not  the  way  of  the  Spirit 
in  any  of  his  operations,  natural  or  spiritual,  Ecc.  11:5;  John  3  :  8. 
He  is  a  sovereign,  and  divides  his  gifts  severally  as  he  wills,  i  Cor. 
12  :  II.  To  deny  the  work  of  the  Spirit  because  we  know  not  the 
manner  of  it  is  as  unwise  as  to  deny  that  the  wind  blows  because 
we  cannot  explain  the  phenomena  attending  it.  It  is  freely  admit- 
ted that  God's  Spirit  honors  his  word  in  all  his  work  in  us,  and 
that  he  never  witnesses  contrary  to  his  word  ;  but  no  man  can 
prove  that  the  Holy  Spirit  does  not  directly  and  immediately  com- 
fort, enlighten  and  animate  the  people  of  God,  giving  them  good 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  17.]  THE  ROMANS.  395 

hopes,  bright  prospects  and  delightful  persuasions  of  their  interest 
in  Christ.  Experienced  Christians  know  that  he  does  wonderful 
things  for  them,  and  that  his  presence  converts  night  into  day, 
dungeons  into  palaces,  and  racks  and  tortures  into  harmless  things. 
This  witness  of  the  Spirit  is  not  by  voices  from  heaven,  nor  by 
dreams,  nor  by  senseless  impulses,  nor  by  a  fanatical  delight 
in  some  words  of  scripture  ;  but  by  his  testimony  concurring  with 
the  clear  and  honest  convictions  of  our  own  minds  and  hearts. 
The  Spirit,  by  whom  we  have  been  born  again,  shines  on  his  own 
blessed  work  within  us,  and  we  see  the  infallible  tokens  of  our 
newness  of  life.  True  this  doctrine  may  be  abused,  but  if  we  deny 
every  doctrine  that  is  abused,  we  shall  have  a  very  short  creed. 
Scott :  "  This  *  witness  of  the  Spirit'  is  borne  along  with  that  of  our 
own  consciences,  not  without  it,  nor  against  it ;  and  it  coincides 
with  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  scripture,  and  must  be 
proved  and  assayed  by  it."  God's  Spirit  never  contradicts  him- 
self, as  he  would  do,  if  he  were  to  persuade  a  bad  man  that  he  was 
a  child  of  God,  or  a  good  man  that  he  was  a  child  of  the  wicked 
one.  Such  a  persuasion  comes  from  the  father  of  lies.  If  the  fore- 
going be  not  true,  how  can  a  believer  ever  attain  to  assurance  of 
faith  or  of  hope?     Compare  i  John  5  :  10. 

17.  And  if  children,  then  heirs  ;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with 
Christ ;  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him,  that  we  may  also  be  glorified  ^ 
together.  On  heirs  and  heirship  see  above  on  Rom.  4:13,  14.  In- 
spired writers  often  represent  to  us  spiritual  blessings,  under  the 
figure  of  an  inheritance.  Gal.  3  :  29;  4:  i,  7,  30:  Eph.  3:6;  Tit. 
3:7:  Heb.  I  :  14 ;  6 :  17  ;  1 1  :  7  ;  Jas.  2  :  5  ;  i  Pet.  3:7;  Rev.  21:7; 
and  many  other  places.  Brown  of  Haddington  :  "  Saints  are  heirs 
of  the  promise  ;  heirs  of  righteousness  ;  heirs  of  salvation ;  heirs  of 
the  grace  of  life  ;  heirs  of  the  kingdom  ;  heirs  of  the  world,  heirs 
of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  They  inherit  the 
earth,  inherit  promises,  inherit  all  things."  In  considering  our 
heirship  we  may  regard  God  as  our  Father  giving  us  our  inherit- 
ance incorruptible,  undefiled  and  unfading  through  Christ,  or  we 
may  consider  Christ  as  our  elder  brother,  dying  and  by  will  and 
testament  making  us  his  heirs,  Heb.  9:  11-21.  In  our  verse  we 
are  represented  as  inheriting  from  God  through  and  with  Christ. 
See  Matt.  25  :  21  ;  Luke  22  :  30;  Rev.  3  :  21.  There  is  no  better 
title  than  that  by  inheritance.  A  large  part  of  the  wealth,  power 
and  honors  of  the  world  are  or  have  been  held  by  inheritance. 
But  joint  heirship  with  Christ  implies  a  participation  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  his  sufferings.  This  thought  is  often  presented  in  scrip- 
ture, Phil.  3  :  10;  2  Tim.  2  :  12.  This  is  always  an  attendant  upon 
our  being  called  to  the  fellowship  of  God'3  Son. 


396  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  i8,  12 

18.  For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are.  not 
worthy  to  be  compared  zvith  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us. 
Reckon,  count,  regard,  compute,  estimate,  Wiclif:  deem;  Tyn- 
dale  and  Cranmer  :  suppose  ;  Rheims  :  think  ;  Stuart :  count  ; 
Peshito  and  Doway  :  reckon.  What  tlie  sifferings  of  this  present  time 
were  may  be  learned  from  this  epistle  itself,  even  from  this  chapter, 
vs.  35-39.  Compare  2  Cor.  4  :  8-10;  6:4-10;  11  123-30.  These 
sufferings  are  not  meet  to  be  compared  zvitJi  the  glory  that  shall  be 
revealed  in  us  or  unto  us.  They  cannot  be  compared  in  point  of 
duration.  The  suffering  is  for  a  season,  a  moment,  a  little  mo- 
ment ;  the  glory  shall  be  enduring,  shall  outlive  the  sun,  shall  last 
world  without  end.  Then  the  glory  is  absolutely  unspeakable. 
Tholuck  quotes  R.  Jacob  as  saying :  "  One  hour's  refreshment  in 
the  world  to  come  is  better  than  the  whole  of  life  on  this  side  the 
grave."  Lazarus  had  not  been  in  Abraham's  bosom  for  a  moment 
till  all  painful  impression  of  his  earthly  sufferings  was  gone  for 
ever.  Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  it  shall  not  be  so 
always.  The  verb  be  revealed  is  cognate  to  the  noun  from  which 
the  last  book  of  scripture  takes  its  name.  For  revealed,  several 
of  the  old  versions  have  showed  ;  Peshito :  developed.  To  us  is 
perhaps  better  than  in  us,  yet  the  latter  rendering  gives  a  good 
sense,  coincident  with  the  teachings  of  other  scriptures,  Eph. 
3  :  10 ;  2  Thess.  i  :  10.  Christians  will  be  vessels  of  honor,  fitted 
for  the  Master's  use. 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  We  live  and  act  under  solemn  and  awful  responsibilities,  v. 
12.  Nothing  can  release  us  from  their  binding  force.  Go  where 
we  may,  do  what  we  will,  we  are  debtors ;  we  are  under  obliga- 
tions of  duty.  The  gospel  does  not  release  us  from  them  ;  it  does 
not  relax  them  ;  it  rather  makes  them  the  more  solemn  and  tender. 
No  obligations  are  stronger  than  those  which  have  the  sanctions 
of  gratitude  supperadded  to  those  of  authority  and  excellent 
majesty. 

2.  None  of  our  obligations  are  to  wrong,  v.  12.  Liberty  to  sin 
has  never  been  granted  to  any  creature.  Of  two  natural  evils  we 
may  choose  the  least.  Of  two  moral  evils  we  may  choo-se  neither. 
Nor  is  an  upright  man  ever  so  situated  by  providence  that  he 
must  violate  the  law  of  his  being.  In  every  temptation  there  is 
provided  a  way  of  escape,  i  Cor.  10:  13. 

3.  Particular  duties  devolve  on  particular  persons,  as  the  aged, 
the  young,  parents,  children,  husbands,  wives,  teachers,  taught, 
strong  and  weak  ;  but  a  large  class  of  duties  rest  on  all  classes  of 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  I3-I5-]      THE  ROMANS.  397 

Christians,  such  as  resisting  the  flesh,  advancing  in  holiness,  glori- 
fying God  in  our  bodies  and  spirits  which  are  his.  We  are  in 
duty  solemnly  bound  to  deny  all  ungodliness  and  wordly  lusts  and 
to  live  soberly,  righteously  and  godly  in  this  present  evil  world. 
Nor  can  high  station  in  any  wise  exempt  us  from  our  duty  in  any- 
thing. Paul  was  an  apostle,  yet  includes  himself  among  the 
debtors.  Chalmers  :  "  There  cannot  be  a  more  gross  misunder- 
standing of  the  gospel  economy,  than  that  it  is  destitute  of  as 
plain  and  direct  and  intelligible  sanctions  against  moral  evil,  as 
those  which  were  devised  for  upholding  the  legal  economy." 
Scott :  "  All  that  we  owe  to  the  flesh,  is  a  holy  revenge  for  the 
injuries  already  done,  and  the  hindrances  already  given  us ;  and 
instead  of  rendering  our  state  doubtful,  by  living  after  it  in  any 
degree,  we  should,  by  the  Spirit,  continually  endeavor,  more  and 
more  entirely,  to  mortify  it,  and  repress  all  its  actings." 

4.  The  gospel  is  as  powerless  as  the  law  to  save  him  who  lives 
in  sin  and  loves  to  have  it  so,  v.  13.  Christ  is  not  the  minister  of 
sin.  He,  who  would  make  him  so,  grossly  wrests  the  scriptures. 
It  never  was  more  true  than  it  is  under  the  full  blaze  of  gospel 
light,  that  if  men  live  after  the  flesh,  they  shall  die.  Men  may 
loudly  boast  of  free  grace  and  of  their  reliance  on  redemption ; 
but  he,  who  perfects  not  holiness,  accepts  not  the  atonement. 
Calvin  :  "  There  is  no  confidence  in  God,  where  there  is  no  love 
of  righteousness."  "  Without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord" 
is  the  evangelical  rule,  from  which  there  is  no  departure. 

5.  But  in  order  to  any  approved  conformity  to  God  we  must 
be  partakers  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  vs.  13,  15.  Chrysostom  :  "  There  is 
no  way  of  mortifying  the  deeds  of  wickedness  save  through  the 
Spirit."  He  alone  is  able  to  subdue  us  unto  righteousness.  Good 
motives  are  not  wanting  ;  but  they  are  found  powerless,  where  the 

_Holy  Ghost  does  not  operate.  Chalmers  :  "  If  the  Holy  Ghost 
incfeed  be  the  agent  of  mortifying  the  deeds  of  the  body,  then  he 
will  not  select  a  few  of  our  carnal  tendencies  for  extermination 
by  his  poAver  ;  but  he  will  enter  into  hostility  with  all  of  them — 
He  will  check  the  sensuality  of  our  nature,  and  he  will  mortify  its 
pride,  and  he  will  check  its  impetuous  anger,  and  he  will  wean  it 
from  its  now  clinging  avarice."  In  his  blessed  operations  the 
Spirit  directs  his  energies  against  master  sins  and  parent  sins.  Of 
these  none  is  more  formidable  than  unbehef  To  this  he  turns  our 
attention  and  against  this  he  directs  his  power  from  the  first,  nor 
does  he  ever  cease  to  assault  it  till  it  is  slain,  John  16 : 9.  All 
good  men  have  not  equal  degrees  of  light,  of  faith,  or  of  holiness. 
But  they  are  habitually  advancing  in  holiness,  unless  they  are  in 
a  state  of  spiritual  declension.     >fo  Christian  is  satisfied  with  any 


398  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  13. 

attainments  he  has  made,  until  he  awakes  in  God's  likeness.  The 
best  of  mere  men  receive  the  Spirit  by  measure.  Blessed  is  he, 
who  is  filled  with  the  Spirit,  and  who  constantly  cries  for  an  in- 
crease of  faith.  But  if  one  is  sensual,  having  not  the  Spirit, 
he  is  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins,  and  is  no  habitation  of  God. 
He  that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  Spirit. 

6.  It  is  possible  to  mortify  sin,  v.  13.  It  can  be  done.  It 
must  be  done.  Unless  it  is  done,  iniquity  will  be  our  ruin.  True, 
this  cannot  be  done  in  human  strength,  or  by  human  endeavors, 
unaided  by  divine  grace.  It  is  God  that  works  in  us  both  to  will 
and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure,  Phil.  2:13.  If  we  shall  ever  be 
saved,  it  must  be  by  our  God  fulfilling  all  the  good  pleasure  of 
his  goodness,  and  the  work  of  faith  with  power,  2  Thess.  i  :  11. 
If  our  faith  is  ever  to  give  us  the  victory,  it  must  be  a  faith  which 
is  of  the  operation  of  God,  Col.  2  :  12.  This  is  the  ancient  behef 
and  joy  of  the  saints :  "  Lord,  thou  wilt  ordain  peace  for  us :  for 
thou  also  hast  wrought  all  our  works  in  us,"  Isa.  26:  12.  This 
work  of  putting  sin  to  death  in  believers  is  very  diverse  from 
those  checks  to  reigning  wickedness  which  sometimes  appear  to 
be  given  by  the  wicked.  Their  warfare  with  sin  is  conducted  in 
a  feeble  way,  by  arraying  one  sin  against  another,  as  covetousness 
against  intemperance ;  by  drawing  motives  from  earthly  con- 
siderations, as  a  regard  to  public  opinion  ;  or  by  the  remorse  of 
conscience ;  or  by  an  appeal  to  the  natural  sense  of  justice  or 
amiability  ;  or  to  avoid  some  kind  of  temporal  trouble.  They 
never  do  actually  make  war  on  sin  as  such.  They  often  resolve 
on  some  amendment ;  but  their  purposes  relying  on  human 
strength  and  wisdom  readily  yield  to  strong  temptation.  The 
great  defects  of  their  endeavors  are  these  :  i.  they  are  not  directed 
against  all  sin ;  2.  they  are  not  really  hearty  and  determined  ;  3. 
they  are  in  human  strength,  without  the  Spirit  ;  4.  they  .are 
occasional  or  fitful,  not  steady  and  persevering.  Their  goodness 
is  like  the  morning  cloud  and  the  early  dew. 

7.  The  mortification,  to  which  we  are  called,  is  not  will-worship, 
nor  voluntary  humility,  nor  neglecting  the  wants  and  necessities  of 
the  body.  Col.  2  :  18,  23 ;  but  it  consists  in  warring  against  the  sin- 
ful actings  of  our  corrupt  nature.     Chrysostom  ;  "  You  see  that  it 

.  is  not  the  essence  of  the  body  whereof  he  is  discoursing,  but  the 
deeds  of  the  flesh.  .  .  What  sort  of  deeds  then  does  he  mean  us 
to  mortify  ?  Those  which  tend  toward  wickedness,  those  which 
go  after  vice,  which  there  is  no  other  way  of  mortifying  save 
through  the  Spirit." 

8.  Holy  men  shall  be  saved,  yot  for  the  merit  of  their  holiness, 
but  because  they  are  prepared  unto  glory.     Yes,  they  shall  live. 


Ch.  VIII,  vs.  14,  I5-]    THE  ROMANS.  399 

V.  1 3  ;  live  before  God,  live  in  eternal  glory,  enjoying  the  life  ever- 
lasting, and  none  others  shall.  As  death  is  the  sum  of  all  penal 
misery,  so  life  is  the  sum  of  all  good  things  to  the  redeemed.  , 

9.  Let  us  never  forget  our  dependence  on  the  Spirit  of  God  ~^ 
for  guidance  and  support,  v.  14.     And  let  us  not  perplex  ourselves 
with  questions  to  no  profit.     Chalmers :  "  His  work  is  visible,  but 
his  working  is  not  so.     It  is  not  of  his  operation  that  we  are  con- 
scious, but  of  the  result  of  that  operation."     If  we  but  see  in  us 

a  godlike  character,  if  the  Christian  graces  flourish  in  our  hearts, 
if  we  hate  sin  more  and  more,  if  we  hunger  and  thirstf  after  right- 
eousness, we  may  infallibly  know  that  we  are  the  subjects  of  the 
Spirit's  operation.  The  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  first  for 
illumination.  It  was  after  they  were  illuminated,  that  the  Hebrews 
endured  a  great  fight  of  affliction,  Heb.  10  :  32.  Had  the  affliction 
come  first,  they  would  not  have  been  ready  for  it.  Men  are  never 
brought  savingly  to  trust  in  Christ,  till  the  eyes  of  their  under- 
standing are  enlightened  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  Eph. 
I  :  13,  18.  This  enlightening  shows  us  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 
It  embraces  so  much  truth  as  is  necessary  to  our  salvation  ;  in  par- 
ticular it  embraces  the  essential  truths  respecting  the  person,  work 
and  glory  of  Christ,  as  a  Redeemer.  Then  the  Spirit  purifies  the 
hearts  of  believers  by  the  truth,  John  17:  17;  and  is  in  them  a 
well-spring  of  spiritual  good  and  virtue  springing  up  into  ever- 
lasting life,  John  4  :  14.  He  is  the  author  of  every  Christian  grace. 
Gal.  5  ;  22,  23.  It  is  by  the  Spirit  that  sin  is  subdued,  v.  13.  It  is  by 
the  same  Spirit  that  we  have  any  humble  and  good  hope  through ' 
grace,  v.  15.  He  is  the  great  author  of  all  right  prayer,  v.  26. 
Without  him  we  can  do  notTiing.  To  him  let  us  therefore  look, 
and  whatever  of  temporal  good  we  may  fail  to  pray  for,  iet  us  not 
fail  to  ask  for  la^^ge  measures  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Luke  11  :  13. 

10.  It  seems  impossible  for  us  fairly  to  avoid  the  doctrine  of  7" 
the  special  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  doctrine  of  special 
grace,  v.  14.  Stuart,  who  often  seems  to  have  difficulties  concern- 
ing the  doctrines  of  grace,  on  this  verse  admits  the  truth  in  a  very 
pleasant  and  unanswerable  way  :  "  If  nothing  but  the  simple  means 
of  moral  suasion  is  employed  in  guiding  the  children  of  God,  how 
do  they  differ  from  others,  who  enjoy  the  same  means?  If  you 
say,  '  The  difference  is  that  the  former  obey  the  suasion,  while  the 
latter  rr.yz>/ it ;'  I  answer:  The  fact  is  true;  but  then  it  does  not 
reach  the  point  of  difficulty.  How  comes  the  one  to  obey  the  sua- 
sion, and  the  other  to  resist  it?  .  .  .  What  was  the  efficient  cause 
why  one  obeys  and  the  other  disobeys  ?  The  passage  before  us 
(v.  14,)  ascribes  it  to  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God."  If  he 
operated  on  all  equally  and  sufficiently  with  his  almighty  energies, 


409  EPISTLE    TO    [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  14,  15. 

all  would  surely  embrace  Christ.  But  some  resist  to  the  last,  hav- 
ing not  the  Spirit.  It  looks  like  base  ingratitude  in  one,  who  re- 
ceives special  mercies  not  to  say  so,  openly,  unequivocally  and  on 
all  fit  occasions. 

11.  The  pious  need  not  fear  any  reproach  or  dishonor  to  which 
men  may  subject  them  here.  They  are  the  sons  of  God,  who  is  a 
great  king,  and  that  is  honor  enough,  v.  14.  The  poorest,  feeblest, 
most  despised  child  of  God  is  more  honorable  than  the  greatest, 
most  famous  and  powerful  man  of  the  world,  who  has  not  the  love 
of  Christ  in  his  heart.  All  this  will  soon  be  confessed  by  all  men 
and  all  angels. 

12.  The  spirit  of  bondage,  the  principle  of  tormenting  fear, 
could  never  make  men  better,  could  never  produce  happy  effects, 
V.  15.  It  never  did  so.  Chalmers:  "This  spirit  of  bondage, 
which  is  unto  fear,  can  only  be  exchanged  for  the  Spirit  of  adop- 
tion, by  our  believing  the  gospel.  Every  legal  attempt  to  extri- 
cate ourselves  from  the  misery  of  the  former  spirit,  will  only 
aggravate  it  the  more."  This  is  true.  Jesus  Christ  meets  all  the 
wants  of  the  poor  trembling,  helpless  soul.  Oh  that  men  would 
flee  to  Christ.  Haldane  :  "  All  who  are  not  dead  to  the  law,  and 
know  of  no  way  to  escape  divine  wrath  but  by  obeying  it,  must 
be  under  the  spirit  of  bondage.  For  so  far  from  fulfilling  the  de- 
mands of  the  law,  they  fail  in  satisfying  themselves."  There  is  no 
way  for  a  sinful  man  ever  to  engage  with  alacrity  in  God's  service, 
except  through  Jesus  Christ,  John  14  :  6.  Anything  that  leads  or 
drives  a  sinner  out  of  himself  and  away  from  the  law  as  a  means 
of  salvation  is  an  unspeakable  mercy. 

13.  By  how  rich  a  variety  of  appropriate  terms  and  phrases 
God  haa  conveyed  to  us  an  idea  of  the  certainty  of  his  people 
sharing  in  his  everlasting  favor  and  blessings.  H^re  we  have  the 
matter  illustrated  by  adoption,  v.  15.  This  was  no  doubt  well  un- 
derstood, as  a  civil  regulation,  by  those  to  whom  Paul  wrote. 
Adoption  was  known  in  Roman  law  and  carried  with  it  all  the 
legal  advantages  of  a  birthright  to  honor  and  wealth.  Haldane  : 
"  Adoption  is  not  a  work  of  grace  in  us,  but  an  act  of  God's  grace 
without  us.  It  is  taking  those  who  were  by  nature  children  of 
wrath  from  the  family  of  Satan,  to  which  they  originally  belonged, 
into  the  family  of  God."  Oftentimes  adoption,  as  a  civil  institu- 
tion, led  to  misery,  the  parties  not  being  congenial.  But  that  no 
such  unhappiness  may  arise  in  the  case  of  his  children,  the  Lord 
sends  into  their  hearts  the  spirit  of  adoption.  Crying,  Abba,  Father. 
This  makes  all  delightful.  Chrysostom  :  "  Since  it  is  not  all  chil- 
dren that  are  heirs,  the  Apostle  shews  that  we  are  both  children 
and  heirs ;  next,  as  it  is  not  all  heirs  that  are  heirs  to  any  great 


Ch.  VUL,  vs.  i6,  17.]     THE  ROMANS.  401 

amount,  he  shews  that  we  have  this  point  with  us  too,  as  we  are 
heirs  of  God.  Again,  since  it  were  possible  to  be  God's  heirs, 
but  in  no  sense  Joint  heirs  with  the  Only-begotten,  he  shews  that 
we  have  this  also."  Was  there  ever  such  heirship  ?  Was  there 
ever  such  adoption  ?  Let  not  the  saints  grieve  at  their  present 
low  estate,  Gal.  4:1,2.     Ere  long  all  will  come  right. 

14.  We  must  hold  fast  the  doctrine  of  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  v. 

16.  It  is  a  sheet  anchor  of  Christian  consolation.  There  are  three 
that  bear  record  [or  witness]  in  heaven,  the  Father,  the  Word,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  there  are  three  that  bear  witness  [or  record] 
in  earth,  the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the  blood ;  and  these  three 
agree  in  one.  Without  this  doctrine  how  can  we  know  that  we 
are  of  the  truth  ?  Hodge  :  "  Assurance  of  hope  is  not  fanatical, 
but  is  an  attainment  which  every  Christian  should  make.  If  the 
witness  of  men  is  received,  the  witness  of  God  is  greater."  Are 
not  the  heirs  of  life  sealed  with  the  spirit  of  pro'mise?"  Calvin  : 
"  The  import  of  the  whole  is  this — '  All  those  are  the  sons  of  God 
who  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  all  the  sons  of  God  are  heirs 
of  eternal  life ;  then  all  who  are  led  by  God's  Spirit  ought  to  feel 
assured  of  eternal  life."  Olshausen:  "The  [Roman]  Catholic 
Church,  with  which  all  sects  that  proceed  from  Pelagian  princi- 
ples agree,  deters  from  the  certainty  of  the  state  of  grace,  and  de- 
sires uncertainty  towards  God.  Such  uncertainty  of  hearts  is  then 
a  convenient  means  to  keep  men  in  the  leading-strings  of  the 
priesthood  or  ambitious  founders  of  sects ;  for  since  they  are  not 
allowed  to  have  any  certainty  themselves  respecting  their  relation 
to  God,  they  can  only  rest  upon  the  judgments  of  their  leaders 
about  it,  who  thus  rule  souls  with  absolute  dominion ;  the  true 
evangelic  doctrine  makes  free  from  such  slavery  to  man." 

15.  What  Christians  are,  they  are  by  the  grace  of  God  ;  and 
all  the  grace  of  God  to  sinners  is  by  and  through  Jesus  Christ,  v. 

17.  If  Christians  are  heirs  of  God,  it  is  only  because  they  are 
joint  heirs  with  Christ.  Were  it  possible  that  their  relation  to 
him  could  be  dissolved,  all  their  pleasing  expectations  of  an  in- 
heritance undefiled  would  perish  forever.  Severed  from  Christ, 
the  best  man  would  be  a  withered  branch,  fit  only  to  be  burned. 

16.  United  to  Christ  all  is  well  with  believers.  They  shall  be 
glorified  together  with  him,  v.  17.  What  that  means  we  cannot 
now  tell.  Inspiration  itself  admits  that  mortals  cannot  compre- 
hend so  glorious  a  theme,  John  3:12.  "  Beloved,  now  are  we  the 
sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be :  but  we 
know  that  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him  ;  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is,"  i  John  3  :  2. 

17.  Let  not  the  people  of  God  be  dismayed  at  the  prospect  of 

26 


402  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  VIII.,  V.  i8. 

suffering-,  nor  even  be  startled  when  it  is  foretold.  What  are  all 
the  sufferings  of  this  life  compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  soon 
be  revealed  in  all  the  sons  of  God  ?  So  far  from  afflictions 
proving  that  a  believer  is  not  in  favor  with  God,  the  opposite  is 
most  true.  "As  many  as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and  chasten."  "He 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth."  Even  in  this  life  the 
testimony  of  all  the  humble  is,  "  It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have 
been  afflicted."  "  Before  I  was  afflicted,  I  went  astray  ;  but  now 
have  I  kept  thy  word."  O  how  does  sanctified  affliction  strip 
earth  of  its  delusive  charms,  write  vanity  of  vanities  on  all  that 
perishes  with  the  using,  bring  down  high  looks  and  proud  imag- 
inations, and  make  the  devout  long  for  their  home  in  the  skies, 
where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest ! 
There  is  a  general,  perhaps  a  universal  impression  among  Chris- 
tians of  any  considerable  experience  that  they  could  not  have 
made  even  their  present  attainments,  inconsiderable  as  they  may 
be,  without  the  chastisements  which  have  come  upon  them.  It  is 
common  for  them  to  sing, 

/  bless  thee  for  all,  but  most  for  the  severe. 


OHAPTEB  VIII. 

VERSES  19-23. 

THE    CREATURE    SUBJECT   TO   VANITY.       REDEMP- 
TION COMING. 

19  For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  sons  of  God. 

20  For  the  creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of 
him  who  hath  subjected  the  same  in  hope  ; 

21  Because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  cor- 
ruption into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

22  For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  to- 
gether until  now. 

23  And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  which  have  the  first  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit, 
the  redemption  of  our  body. 

THE  history  of  interpretation  shows  great  diversity  attending- 
the  exposition  of  this  passage.  Stuart  enumerates  as  many 
as  eleven  different  explanations  of  the  word  creature  found  in  these 
verses.  A  more  recent  writer  has  added  a  twelfth.  Yet  two 
things  may  properly  be  said:  i.  Several  of  these  expositions  are 
wild  and  fanciful,  and  deserve  no  extended  consideration.  Stuart 
himself  regards  a  number  of  them  as  "too  improbable  to  need  dis- 
cussion." 2.  The  great  mass  of  sound  and  sober  expositors  are 
perhaps  as  united  in  their  exposition  of  this  as  of  any  other  portion 
of  scripture,  in  understanding  which  there  is  any  considerable 
difficulty.  And  it  is  pleasant  to  see  how  opinions  seem  to  be  set- 
tling down  more  and  more  in  the  right  direction.  In  v.  18  the 
apostle  had  stated  that  great  glory  was  to  be  revealed  in  God's 
people.  He  now  proceeds  to  notice  an  apparent  discouragement 
to  such  an  expectation,  arising  from  the  vanity  to  which  the  crea- 
ture was  subjected. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  interpretation  turns  upon  the 
meaning  given  to  the  word  thrice  ren*dered  creature,  and  once, 

('403) 


404 


EPIS  TLE    TO      [Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  19-23. 


creation  in  these  verses.  To  the  EngHsh  reader  the  difficulty  is 
rather  increased  by  rendering  the  same  word  in  the  same  connec- 
tion both  creature  and  creation,  although  in  each  case  the  word 
clearly  has  precisely  the  same  meaning.  Both  Bretschneider  and 
Robinson  state  that  the  word  sometimes  means  the  act  df  creating, 
and  both  properly  cite  Rom.  i  :  20  in  proof.  Bretschneider  also 
cites  Mark.  10  :  6;  13  :  19;  2  Pet.  3=41"  proof  of  the  same  thing. 
In  each  of  those  places  we  have  the  phrase— from  the  beginning 
of  the  creation — which  may  mean  from  the  beginning  of  the  exist- 
ence of  created  things  or  from  the  time  when  God  began  to  make 
them.  So  that  these  verses  are  not  cited  by  Robinson  in  proof 
that  the  word  means  the  act  of  creating.  Again  the  word  some- 
times means  anything  created,  the  creature,  the  product  of  creat- 
ive power.  Clearly  this  is  its  meaning  in  Rom.  1:25;  8  :  39 ; 
"  They  worshipped  and  served  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator ;" 
"  Nor  any  other  creature  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love 
of  God."  It  has  the  same  meaning  in  Col.  1:15;  Heb.  4:13.  In 
Heb.  9:11  the  same  word  is  rendered  building  in  contrast  with  the 
tabernacle  or  temple.  In  i  Pet.  2  :  13  it  is  rendered  ordinance  oi 
man.  This  gives  a  good  sense  and  is  generally  accepted,  but 
Stuart  prefers  to  read  every  human  being,  or  every  man.  In  Rev. 
3  :  14  Christ  is  called  the  beginning  [or  head]  of  the  creation  of 
God.  This  includes  all  worlds — all  creatures.  When  preaching 
is  spoken  of  the  word  is  limited  to  mankind,  Mark  16  :  15  ;  Col. 
I  :  23  ;  "  Preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature  ;"  "  The  gospel  was 
preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under  heaven."  Again,  the 
word  new  is  put  before  it,  as  in  2  Cor.  5  :  17  ;  Gal.  6  :  15  ;  "If  any 
man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  •"  "  In  Christ  Jesus  neither 
circumcision  nor  uncircumcision  availeth  anything  but  a  new  crea- 
ture." Here  netv  creature  is  equivalent  to  regeneration  or  the  prod- 
uct of  regeneration.  Again,  we  have  the  word  wliole  or  every  put 
with  creature,  Mark  16  :  15 ;  Rom.  8  :  23  ;  "  Preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature  /'  "  We  know  that  the  whole  creation  [or  all  the  crea- 
tion] groaneth."  From  all  this  it  is  evident  that  the  word  with  or 
without  qualifying  adjectives  is  used  to  denote  men  indiscrimin- 
ately. Christians,  the  universe,  anything  made,  the  irrational  crea- 
tion, any  result  of  creative  power. 

Without  paying  attention  to  wild  and  fanciful  notions  not 
worthy  of  consideration,  it  may  be  stated  that  in  these  verses  the 
word  creature  cannot  mean  the  universe  ;  for  the  best,  the  heavenly 
part  of  the  universe,  has  never  been  subject  to  vanity,  and  never 
groans  nor  is  in  pain.  It  does  not  need  any  deliverance  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  but  already  enjoys  the  liberty  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God.    It  is  manifest  therefore  that  all  creation  is  not  spoken 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  19-23.]    THE  ROMANS.  405 

of.  Heaven  is  excepted.  The  same  line  of  remark  excludes  the 
angels.  Nor  can  it  mean  the  fallen  angels.  They  are  not  waiting 
in  hope,  nor  shall  they  be  delivered  into  the  liberty  of  God's  sons. 
Nor  can  the  creature  mean  Christians,  for:  i.  Though  they  are 
called  new  creatures,  they  are  never  denominated  simply  creatures  ; 

2.  They  are  expressly  spoken  of  by  themselves  in  contrast  with 
the  creature,  v.  22  :  "  And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  which 
have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  etc.  Nor  can  the  creature  mean 
the  world  of  mankind  taken  indiscriminately.  For  i.  men  gener- 
ally are  eager  after  wealth,  and  honor,  and  pleasure,  but  it  is  not 
true  that  they  earnestly  expect  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God ;  2.  nor  is  it  true  that  men  were  made  subject  to  vanity  not 
willingly.  What  is  more  clear  from  God's  word  than  that  wicked 
men  willingly  stay  away  from  Christ  and  are  willingly  ignorant  of 
the  truths  of  the  gospel  ?  John  5  :  40;  2  Pet.  3:5.  John  Newton  : 
"  It  is  so  far  from  being  the  concurrent  desire  of  all  mankind,  or 
indeed  the  desire  of  any  single  person,  to  obtain  freedom  from  the 
bondage  of  sin,  that  we  are  naturally  pleased  with  it,  and  yield  a 
wilUng  subjection  to  it."     All  the  wicked  sin  freely,  and  willingly. 

3.  Nor  is  it  true  that  mankind  indiscriminately  shall  be  "  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption."  It  is  only  those  who  believe 
with  the  heart  "on  the  Lord  Jesus  and  love  him,  that  shall  have 
"the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God."  These  objec- 
tions are  not  fanciful,  nor  frivolous.  They  are  drawn  from  these 
verses  themselves.  One  can  but  wonder  therefore  to  find  Locke 
paraphrasing  them  and  applying  them  to  "  the  whole  race  of  man- 
kind ;"  and  Macknight,  to  "mankind"  and  "all  mankind;"  and 
Whitby,  to  "  all  the  world  ;"  and  Stuart,  to  "  unconverted  men  in 
general,"  or  "  mankind  in  general." 

The  only  other  exposition,  which  claims  attention,  and  which 
has  not  been  virtually  or  formally  excluded  by  the  foregoing  re- 
marks, is  that  by  the  creature  we  shall  understand  the  irrational 
creation,  whether  animate  or  inanimate.  This  is  very  different 
from  that  exposition  which  confines  the  word  creature  to  brutes. 
That  would  very  much  limit  the  thought,  and  impair  the  beauty 
of  the  matter  here  represented.  In  applying  it  to  the  irrational 
creation  it  is  of  course  necessary  to  suppose  a  bold  use  of  that 
figure  of  speech  called  Personification.  That  this  is  a  lawful 
mode  of  speaking  none  will  deny.  The  Bible  abounds  in  it.  Some 
have  made  large  collections  of  such  places.  If  any  wish  fully  to 
satisfy  their  minds,  let  them  examine  even  a  few  of  the  following 
passages,  Gen.  3  :  17  ;  "  Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake ;"  Gen. 
4:11;  Lev.  26  :  3-8  ;.  Ps.  19  :  1-4 ;  77  :  16 ;  97  :  4,  5  ;  98  :  4,  7,  8  ; 
114  :  3-6;  Isa.   I   :  2,   11;  4  :  6-8;  24  :  4-7;   55  :  12  ;  Jer.   12  :  4; 


4o6  EPIS  TL  E    TO       [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  19-23. 

Hab.  3  :  10 ;  Luke  19  :  40.  That  the  Bible  employs  this  figure, 
and  in  its  boldest  forms  is  therefore  undeniable.  Ammon  thinks 
for  the  plain,  didactic  style  of  Paul,  personification  here  would  be 
too  sublime  ;  and  Stuart  thinks  it  would  be  an  instance  of  the  use 
of  that  figure  even  beyond  what  we  find  in  Hebrew  poetry.  An 
examination  of  half  the  places  just  pointed  out  will  show  that  there 
is  here  nothing  beyond  the  style  of  several  of  the  prophets.  Nor 
do  other  parts  of  this  epistle,  or  even  of  this  chapter  make  the  im- 
pression that  the  apostle  is  employing  a  style  at  all  free  from 
figures.  He  has  already  personified  sin,  death,  the  law  and  the 
carnal  mind.  The  seventh  and  eighth  chapters  abound  in  very 
bold  figures.  All  this  only  proves  that  he  may  be  using  personifi- 
cation, not  that  he  is  employing  it.  But  that  there  is  nothing  ex- 
travagant in  so  understanding  the  apostle  will  be  admitted  when 
it  is  known  that  Chrysostom,  Theodoret,  Theophylact,  Jerome, 
Ambrose,  Beausobre,  Luther,  Calvin,  Ferme,  Brown,  John  New- 
ton, Doddridge,  Rosenmuller,  Koppe,  Flatt,  Tholuck,  Scott,  Pre- 
sident Hopkins,  Hodge,  Haldane  and  others  have  so  explained  the 
passage.  Some  of  these  give  to  the  figure  a  more  comprehensive 
scope  than  others,  but  all  agree  that  we  have  here  personification. 
Chrysostom  :  "  His  discourse  becomes  more  emphatic  and  he  per- 
sonifies this  whole  world  as  the  prophets  also  do,  when  they  intro- 
duce the  floods  clapping  their  hands,  and  little  hills  leaping,  and 
mountains  skipping."  Calvin  :  "■  I  understand  the  passage  to  have 
this  meaning — that  there  is  no  element  and  no  part  of  the  world, 
which,  being  touched,  as  it  were,  with  a  sense  of  its  present  miser)^, 
does  not  intensely  hope  for  a  resurrection."  Brown :  "  In  these 
verses  he  brings  in  the  creature,  that  is,  the  fabric  of  the  world, 
heaven  and  earth,  and  the  rest  of  the  insensible  and  irrational  crea- 
tures, and  makes  use  of  them  in  a  figurative  manner,  and  speaketh 
of  them  in  borrowed  expressions,  that  hereby  he  might  incite  be- 
lievers the  more,  both  to  expect  certainly  that  glory  which  is  to 
be  revealed,  and  to  wait  for  it  patiently  under  crosses."  Many 
others  might  be  cited  to  the  same  effect.  These  quotations  are 
made  not  to  prove  a  personification  here,  but  to  show  the  exact 
conception  in  the  minds  of  this  class  of  expositors.  Whether  this 
mode  of  explaining  these  verses  is  correct  or  not  can  only  appear 
by  this  method  suiting  the  whole  passage,  and  by  no  other  method 
suiting  it  at  all,  or  so  well.  It  has  already  been  shown  by  reference 
to  many  parts  of  scripture  that  the  irrational  creation  has  suffered 
from  sin.  Man's  poverty  and  covetousness  and  cruelty  make  many 
brutes  wretched.  The  fourth  commandment  forbids  overworking 
beasts  of  burden  and  of  draft.  The  wisest  of  mere  men  says,  "  A 
righteous  man  regardeth  the  life  of  his  beast,"  Pr.  12  :  10.     There 


Ch.  VIII,  V.  19-]  THE  ROMANS.  407 

are  many,  who  are  cruel  to  brutes.  And  the  earth  itself  is  cursed, 
bringing  forth  briers  and  thorns  and  noxious  weeds  instead  of 
precious  grains  and  fruits  as  it  did  before  sin  entered.  Compare 
Gen.  2  :  5,  6;  3  :  17-19.  There  is  then  nothing  unnatural  or  un- 
usual in  the  conception  of  the  apostle  here,  if  he  does  represent 
the  whole  world  as  affected  by  sin.  Nor  does  the  apostle  say,  nor 
do  other  scriptures  teach  that  the  marks  of  sin  and  the  tokens  of 
wrath  shall  ever  be  found  on  the  face  of  nature  or  in  irrational 
creatures.  Far  from  it.  Verses  19,  20,  21  and  23  teach  just  the 
contrary.  Some  of  these  thoughts  will  present  themselves  in  new 
forms,  and  others  kindred  to  them  will  arise  as  we  proceed  in  the 
exposition. 

19.  For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  man- 
ifestation of  the  sons  of  God.  Earnest  expectatiojt,  in  the  Greek  one 
word,  here  only  and  in  Phil,  i  :  20,  well  rendered  there  as  here. 
T)mdale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  have  fervent  desire.  Chrysos- 
tom  :  "  Earnest  expectation  implies  expecting  intensely."  Owen 
of  Oxford  :  "An  intent  and  earnest  expectation,  expressing  itself 
by  putting  forth  the  head,  and  looking  round  about  with  earnest- 
ness and  diligence."  John  Newton  :  "  The  word  is  very  emphat- 
ical ;  it  imports  a  raising  up  or  thrusting  forward  the  head,  as 
persons  who  are  in  suspense  for  the  return  of  a  messenger,  or  the 
issue  of  some  interesting  event."  Waiteth,  found  also  in  vs.  23,  25 
and  always  rendered  as  here  or  look  for.  Calvin  :  "  The  expression, 
expectation  expects,  or  waits  for,  though  somewhat  unusual,  yet  has 
a  most  suitable  meaning ;  for  he  meant  to  intimate,  that  all  crea- 
tures, seized  with  great  anxiety,  and  held  in  suspense  with  great 
desire,  look  for  that  day  which  shall  openly  exhibit  the  glory  of 
the  children  of  God."  The  word  rendered  manifestation  is  the 
same  as  the  name  of  the  last  book  of  scripture,  and  in  Rom.  2:5; 
16:  25  is  rendered  revelation.  We  had  the  cognate  verb  in  v.  18. 
Throughout  this  epistle  it  is  rendered  revealed.  This  verse  natu- 
rally suggests  I  John  3:2,"  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God, 
and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be :  but  we  know  that 
when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him  ;  for  we  shall  see  him 
as  he  is."  At  present  things  are  not  right ;  the  good  are  depressed  ; 
bad  men  are  exalted ;  Lazarus  is  a  beggar ;  Dives  fares  sumptu- 
ously every  day  ;  Naboth  is  slain  ;  Ahab  holds  the  vineyard  ;  from 
the  way  men  fare,  it  is  impossible  to  tell  who  is  a  saint  and  who  is 
a  sinner  ;  one  event  happeneth  to  all  ahke  ;  or,  if  there  is  any  dif- 
ference, the  vile  often  seem  to  have  the  advantage :  they  flourish 
like  a  green  bay  tree ;  they  have  more  than  heart  could  wish  ; 
their  eyes  stand  out  with  fatness ;  virtue  is  unrequited  ;  vice  is 
rampant.     But  it  shall  not  be  so  always ;  God  has  so  purposed  ; 


4o8  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  VIIL,  v.  20. 

righteousness  so  requires ;  nature  would  lift  up  her  hands  in  hor- 
ror at  the  thought  of  this  state  of  things  being  perpetual.  The 
creature  expects  that  a  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  things 
will  be  adjusted,  and  all  shall  discern  between  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked,  between  him  that  serveth  God  and  him  that  serveth 
him  not. 

20.  For  the  creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but 
by  reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the  same  in  hope.  Peshito  :  For 
the  creation  was  subjected  to  vanity,  not  by  its  own  choice,  but 
because  of  him  who  hath  subjected  it,  etc.  Was  made  subject  and 
hath  subjected  are  different  forms  of  the  same  verb.  We  met  it  in 
Rom.  8  :  7  with  a  negative,  is  not  subject ;  in  Rom.  10:  2  it  is  with 
a  negative  rendered  have  not  submitted ;  and  in  Rom  13:1  Let 
every  soul  be  subject.  The  subjection  may  be  reluctant  or  volun- 
tary, the  context  determining  that  matter.  In  this  case  it  was  not 
ivillingly,  that  is  it  was  by  constraint.  See  i  Pet.  5  :  2.  This  subjec- 
tion was  to  vanity,  a  word  with  its  cognates  uniformly  rendered. 
See  Eph,  4 :  17 ;  2  Pet.  2:18.  The  life  of  a  wicked  man  is  called 
a  vain  conversation,  i  Pet.  i  :  18.  When  one  with  special  care  ex- 
amines the  scriptures  on  this  point  he  is  surprised  to  find  how 
much  is  said  of  the  vanity  of  an  earthly  existence  even  in  man, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  some  dominion  over  the  creatures.  Pages 
might  be  filled  with  lamentations  of  both  good  and  bad  men  over 
the  utter  vanity  of  all  human  pursuits.  The  words  of  Ethan  the 
Ezrahite  and  of  Solomon  can  never  be  forgotten.  "  Wherefore 
hast  thou  made  all  men  in  vain?"  and  "Vanity  of  vanities;  all  is 
vanity,"  Ps.  89  :  47  ;  Ecc.  1:2.  If  man,  with  all  his  foresight,  sa- 
gacity and  contrivance,  and  living  under  a  mediatorial  system — 
a  scheme  of  grace — is  still  so  subject  to  vanity,  how  wretched 
must  be  the  existence  of  the  lower  orders  of  animals  ?  So  foul  has 
been  human  wickedness  that  on  one  occasion  the  sun  literally  hid 
his  face  and  refused  to  behold  the  atrocity.  The  stars  once  felt 
such  sympathy  with  the  right  and  such  abhorrence  of  the  wrong, 
that  they  fought  against  Sisera,  Luke  23  :  44;  Judges  5  :  20.  Yea 
the  earth  has  quaked  and  the  rocks  have  rent  at  the  vileness  of 
man,  Matt.  27:  51.  The  creature  feels  insulted  and  abused,  de- 
graded and  wretched  by  being  subjected  to  witness  such  sights, 
bear  such  monsters  of  wickedness  and  groan  under  such  wanton 
wrongs.  By  him  that  hafh  subjected  some  have  understood  Satan, 
the  tempter  of  our  first  parents ;  others,  Adam  our  federal  head, 
whose  disobedience  brought  down  the  curse ;  and  others,  Nero 
who  ruled  in  great  cruelty  for  awhile.  But  the  better  and  more 
common  opinion  is  that  we  are  to  understand  the  Lord  himself. 
John  Newton  :  "  God,  the  righteous  judge,  subjected  the  creature 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  21.]  THE  ROMANS.  409 

to  vanity,  as  the  just  consequence  and  desert  of  man's  disobedi- 
ence. But  he  has  subjected  it  in  hope ;  with  a  reserve  in  favor  of 
his  own  people,  by  which,  though  they  are  liable  to  trouble,  they 
are  secured  from  the  penal  desert  of  sin,  and  the  vanity  of  the 
creature  is  by  his  wisdom  overruled  to  wise  and  gracious  pur- 
poses. The  earth,  and  all  in  it,  was  made  for  the  sake  of  man :  for 
his  sin  it  was  cursed,  and  afterwards  destroyed  by  water ;  and  sin 
at  last  shall  set  it  on  fire.  But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  ap- 
pointed a  people  to  himself  out  of  the  fallen  race  :  for  their  sakes, 
and  as  a  theatre  whereon  to  display  the  wonders  of  his  providence 
and  grace,  it  was  renewed  after  the  flood  and  still  continues ;  but 
not  in  its  original  state :  there  are  marks  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  of 
God's  displeasure  against  it  wherever  we  turn  our  eyes."  But 
this  state  of  things  shall  not  last  always.  There  is  hope  of  deliver- 
ance. That  deliverance  shall  surely  come.  The  subjection  to 
vanity  is  not  everlasting.  Some  make  the  words  "  by  him  who 
hath  subjected  it"  parenthetical,  and  connect  the  words  "  in  hope" 
with  what  comes  after.  There  is  no  objection  to  this  change ;  but 
the  sense  is  much  the  same  either  way.  This  hope,  which  animates, 
is  a  hope  that  cannot  fail. 

2 1 .  Because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from,  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  cJiildren  of  God. 
The  sun,  moon  and  stars  shall  not  always  be  compelled  to  look 
down  on  a  world  offering  hourly  insults  to  their  Maker.  The 
earth  shall  cease  to  groan  in  the  whole  line  of  her  longitude 
under  the  burden  of  man's  sins.  The  winds  shall  not  always  be 
liable  to  be  called  on  to  waft  vessels  on  errands  of  piracy  and 
of  blood.  Wicked  men  shall  not  always  wantonly  wield  their 
weapons  against  innocent  beasts,  and  birds,  and  fishes ;  guilt  shall 
be  driven  from  the  earth ;  death  and  hell  shall  be  cast  into  the 
lake  of  fire  ;  there  shall  be  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.  There  shall  be  no  more  curse.  Sin  and 
Satan  shall  no  longer  seduce  ;  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee 
away.  Calvin  :  "  All  creatures,  according  to  their  nature,  shall  be 
participators  of  a  better  condition."  Guyse  ;  "  While  we  observe 
the  present  unnatural  situation  of  the  sensitive  and  inanimate  parts 
of  the  world,  we  seem  to  see  them  looking  forward  in  hope,  that 
they  also,  at  the  restitution  of  all  things  (Acts  3:21),  shall  be  de- 
livered from  all  the  oppression  and  confusion,  which,  by  the  sin 
of  man,  they  have  been  subjected  to ;  and  that  they  shall  be  re- 
stored to  their  primitive  liberty  and  order."  Man,  as  the  head  of 
creation  in  this  world,  led  the  way  to  sin,  and  miser)\  As  the  re- 
deemed of  the  Lord,  pious  men  shall  lead  the  way  to  peace,  and 
love,  and  joy.     Their  perfect  liberty,  wondrous  enlargement  and 


4IO  EPISTLE    TO     [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  2?.,  23. 

glorious  rest  shall  bring  to  an  end  the  curse  that  has  fallen  on  the 
world,  its  fabric,  and  its  creatures.  Some  think  that  corruption 
in  this  verse  and  vanity  in  the  preceding  verse  mean  the  same 
thing,  and  are  synonymous  with  sin.  Such  an  opinion  may  be 
harmless  in  the  minds  of  some :  and  no  doubt  each  of  those  words 
does  sometimes  point  directly  to  sin,  i  Pet.  i  :  18;  2  Pet.  2  :  19. 
But  generally  vanity  seems  rather  to  denote  the  unprofitableness 
and  unsatisfactory  nature  of  a  thing  or  of  a  course  of  conduct  than 
its  guilt  or  its  depravity.  Corruption  also  often  points  to  the  fruits 
and  consequences  of  sin  rather  than  to  sin  itself,  Gal,  6  :  8  ;  i  Cor. 
15  :  42,  50.  The  creature  has  not  been  made  sinful,  but  it  sees  and 
feels,  in  its  measure,  many  of  the  sad  effects  of  sin,  as  vanity,  cor- 
ruption and  death.     In  due  time  it  shall  feel  them  no  longer. 

22.  For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together  until  now.  The  force  of  we  know^  says  Stuart,  is, 
"  No  one  can  have  any  doubt,  we  are  all  assured,  no  one  will  call 
in  question."  Whole  creation,  all  the  creation,  or  every  creature. 
Groaneth  together,  found  here  only  in  the  New  Testament,  well 
translated.  Travaileth  in  pain  together,  one  word  in  Greek  found 
here  only  and  well  rendered.  This  verse  repeats  in  other  words 
what  had  been  said  before.  Calvin  says  the  similitude  here  used 
"  shows  that  the  groaning  of  which  he  speaks  will  not  be  in  vain 
and  without  effect ;  for  it  will  at  length  bring  forth  a  joyful  and 
blessed  fruit."  Together  is  involved  in  both  the  verbs  of  this 
verse,  and  may  mean  that  one  part  of  creation  sympathizes  with 
other  parts,  or  that  all  creation  sympathizes  with  the  children  of 
God.  The  former  is  better  sustained  by  the  grammar.  But 
either  idea  is  sustained  by  scripture  usage.  Job  5  :  24 ;  Jer.  44  :  44 ; 
Amos  5  :  19  ;  Mark  16 :  18  ;  Acts  28  : 4-6.  The  pain  and  sorrow 
are  until  now,  from  the  fall  of  man  to  this  time.  It  will  last  till  the 
"manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God." 

23.  Ajtd  not  only  they  [the  whole  creation],  but  ourselves  also, 
which  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  with- 
in ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body. 
Ourselves  and  we  ourselves,  the  Lord's  regenerated  people,  proven 
to  be  on  their  way  to  everlasting  happiness  by  the  fact  that  they 
have  the  Spirit,  who  is  the  pledge  of  salvation.  Owen  of  Oxford  : 
"  The  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit  must  be  either  what  he  first  work- 
eth  in  us,  or  all  his  fruits  in  us  with  respect  unto  the  full  harvest 
that  is  to  come  ;  or  the  Spirit  himself,  as  the  beginning  and  pledge 
of  future  glory.  And  the  latter  of  these  is  intended  in  this  place." 
See  Rom.  1 1  :  16 ;  16:5;  i  Cor.  1 5  :  20,  23  ;  16:15;  Jas.  i  :  1 8  ;  Rev. 
14:4.  These  are  the  only  places  in  the  New  Testament  where  the 
word  rendered  first  fruits  occurs.     But  the  idea  of  first  fruits  was 


Ch.  VIII,  V.  23.]  THE  ROMANS.  411 

very  familiar  to  the  Jewish  mind.     That  the  first  fruits  were  re-^ 
garded  as  a  sample  and  pledge  of  the  harvest  seems  certain.     So 
the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  us  is  a  pledge  of  the  glorious  inherit- 
ance above.     This  is  taught  not  only  by  the  term  first  fruits,  but 

by  another  word,  a  commercial  term  borrowed  from  the  Pheni- 
cians,  which  means  pledge,  and  is  always  rendered  earnest.  Twice 
do  we  read  of  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit,  and  once  he  is  said  to  be 
the  earnest  of  our  inheritance,  2  Cor.  i  :  22  ;  5:5;  Eph.  i  :  14.  No 
voice  from  heaven,  no  vision  of  angels  could  so  clearly  declare 
and  determine  our  title  to  heaven  and  our  being  in  a  coui'se  of 
preparation  for  it  as  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  That 
earnest  is  infallible.  Yet  those  who  have  it  ^o  groan,  groan  with- 
in themselves.  The  same  word  is  so  rendered  on  the  same  sub- 
ject in  2  Cor.  5:2;  in  Mark  7  :  34  it  is  rendered  sighed.  Stuart's 
paraphrase  is :  "  We  suppress  the  rising  sigh  ;  we  bow  with  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God  which  afflicts  us  ;  we  receive  his  chas- 
tisement as  children ;  our  frail  nature  feels  it,  and  we  sigh  or 
groan  inwardly ;  but  no  murmuring  word  escapes  us ;  we  sup- 
press the  outward  demonstration  of  pain,  lest  we  should  even 
seem  to  complain."  Waiting  for  the  adoption,  expecting  it.  Adop- 
tion, always  so  rendered,  Rom.  8:15;  9:4;  Gal.  4:5;  Eph.  i  :  5. 
Redemption,  always  so  rendered  but  once,  Heb.  11  :  35,  where  it  is 
deliverance.  Adoption  is  richer,  and  comprehends  more  than  re- 
demption of  the  body.  Hodge :  "The  latter  event  is  to  be  coinci- 
dent with  the  former,  and  is  included  in  it,  as  one  of  its  prominent 
parts.  Both  expressions  therefore  designate  the  same  perio.d."  In 
the  manuscript  discourse  of  the  lamented  Hoge  already  referred 
to  are  these  pleasing  sentences :  ''  Among  the  Romans  there  were 
two  kinds  of  adoption  into  families  of  the  great — p'rivate  and  pub- 
lic. The  Christian  has  already  been  received  into  the  family  of 
God.  He  is  a  child.  But  he  is  yet  in  obscurity.  His  character 
is  often  mJstaken — his  sonship  doubted — his  title  denied.  But  the 
Spirit  of  adoption  still  abides  in  his  heart.  He  calls  God  his 
Father,  and  waits  with  longing  heart  for  his  clear  manifestation, 
among  all  the  sons  of  God — his  holy  brethren — amid  the  glories 
of  his  Father's  throne.  His  adoption  is,  indeed,  three-fold.  In  the 
eternal  purpose  of  God  he  was  chosen  to  be  a  Son ; — in  time  he 
is  sealed  as  the  peculiar  treasure  of  God,  unto  the  day  of  redemp- 
tion ;  and  shall  finally  be  welcomed,  with  great  rejoicing,  to  his 
Father's  house.  That  it  is  this  future,  public  and  glorious  adop- 
tion that  is  here  referred  to  is  clear  from  the  very  words  of  the 
apostle — '  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  the 
body.'  The  resurrection  of  the  body,  which  is  but  part  of  the  be- 
liever's adoption,  is  yet,  here,  called  his  adoption,  because  it  is  the 


412  EPIS  TLE    TO         [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  19-23. 

last  crowning  act,  which  renders  it  complete  and  illustrious.  His 
body  has  long  lain  in  corruption.  It  has  been  buried  in  the  grave 
as  unworthy  of  entrance  with  him  into  his  Father's  house.  But 
now  it  is  raised  incorruptible,  and  fashioned  to  the  likeness  of 
Christ's  glorious  body  :  and  now,  body  and  soul,  both  bought 
with  blood  by  the  Eternal  Son — both  washed  and  glorified  by  the 
Eternal  Spirit— both  accepted  and  openly  acknowledged  by  the 
Father — enter  together,  inseparably  united,  the  New  Jerusalem — 
the  palace  of  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords." 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  Let  not  God's  people  be  dejected  at  their  present  obscurity, 
V.  19.  It  is  all  right.  The  Saviour  himself  was  not  recognized 
by  the  great  mass  of  men  in  his  day.  John  Newton  :  "  The  sons 
of  God  are  now  hidden,  unknown,  unnoticed,  and  misrepresented 
for  the  most  part.  Their  life  is  in  many  respects  hidden  from  them- 
selves, and  their  privileges  altogether  hidden  from  the  world.  But 
ere  long  they  will  be  manifested,  their  God  will  openly  acknowl- 
edge them  ;  every  cloud  by  which  they  are  now  obscured  shall  be 
removed,  and  they  shall  shine  like  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
Father." 

2.  While  a  real  sense  of  the  vanity  of  earthly  things  without 
any  just  views  of  the  truths  of  religion  will  make  no  man  better, 
yet  where  men  are  duly  enlightened  concerning  spiritual  things, 
it  is  a  great  matter  to  be  assured  of  the  unsatisfying  nature  of  all 
things  that  perish,  v.  20.  Let  every  good  man  remember  how 
short  his  time  is,  and  how  perishable  are  all  things  below  the  skies. 
Every  thing  is  subject  to  vanity  and  the  bondage  of  corruption. 
"  Surely  our  fathers  have  inherited  lies,  vanity,  and  things  where- 
in there  is  no  profit,"  Jer.  16  :  19.  Can  anything  be  more  foolish 
than  to  set  our  hearts  on  the  things  that  perish,  expecting  from 
them  solid  blessedness  ?  One  thus  explains  such  conduct :  "  It  is 
because  they  are  estranged  from  God,  have  no  sense  of  his  excel- 
lency, no  regard  for  his  glory,  no  knowledge  of  their  own  proper 
good.  Fire  and  hail,  wind  and  storm  fulfil  the  word  of  God, 
though  poor  mortals  dare  to  disobey." 

3.  How  necessary  is  divine  revelation,  vs.  19-23.  Who  can  solve 
the  mystery  of  nature  ?  The  heathen  have  seen  it  and  deplored 
it.  Philosophy  and  human  wit  cast  no  light  on  the  subject.  None 
have  cried  out  with  more  eloquence  on  this  subject  than  Voltaire 
himself:  "  Who  can,  without  horror,  consider  the  whole  world  as 
an  empire  of  destruction  ?  It  abounds  with  wonders  ;  it  abounds 
also  with  victims.     It  is  a  vast  field  of  carnage  and  contagion. 


Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  2C^25.]     THE  ROMANS.  413 

Every  species  is  without  pity  pursued  and  torn  to  pieces  through 
the  air  and  earth  and  water.  In  man  there  is  more  wretchedness 
than  in  all  the  other  animals  put  together."  Much  more  does  he 
say  to  the  same  effect,  yet  not  one  ray  of  light  does  he  cast  on  the 
subject,  but  concludes  his  dreadful  picture  with  these  sullen  words: 
"  /  ivish  I  had  never  been  bornr  Great  masses  of  men  have  for 
ages  been  sunk  in  idolatry.  The  creatures  given  to  man  for  his 
good  and  God's  glory  are  perverted  to  purposes  of  vanity  and 
shame ;  and  until  the  Bible  comes  and  says,  '  Death  entered  by 
sin,'  we  get  no  light  whatever.  If  the  creation  groans  under  bond- 
age, man's  offences  against  his  Maker  are  in  Scripture  assigned  as 
the  cause.  This  scripture  explains  the  great  mystery  of  physical 
evil.  Hume:  "The  whole  is  a  riddle,  an  enigma,  an  inexplicable 
mystery.  Doubt,  uncertainty,  suspense  of  judgment  appear  the 
result  of  our  most  accurate  scrutiny  concerning  this  subject." 
But  if  the  creature  is  made  subject  to  vanity  and  brought  under 
the  bondage  of  corruption,  and  made  to  groan  and  travail  in  pain 
on  account  of  human  guilt,  the  whole  is  plain  enough.  Hoge : 
"  Physical  evil  is  the  dark  expression  of  the  wrath  of  a  holy  God  against 
sin." 

4.  Well  may  it  reconcile  good  men  to  an  humble  lot,  and  lead 
them  lightly  to  esteem  the  honors,  pleasures  and  riches  of  earth  to 
remember  that  God  gives  these  things  chiefly  to  his  enemies, 
V.  25.  John  Newton:  "The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness 
thereof;  yet  the  chief  parts  and  possessions  of  it  are  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  hate  him  ;  yea,  his  enemies  employ  his  creatures 
against  his  own  friends." 

5.  But  things  shall  not  be  thus  always.  Better  days  are  coming. 
The  creature  is  subjected  in  hope,  v.  20.  Chrysostom  :  "  If  the 
creation  which  was  made  entirely  for  thee  is  in  hope,  much  more 
oughtest  thou  to  be,  through  whom  the  creation  is  to  come  to  the 
enjoyment  of  all  these  good  things."  Yes,  glory  be  to  God,  the 
night  is  far  spent.     The  day  is  at  hand  :  and  SUCH  A  DAY ! 

6.  Sin  is  indeed  an  inconceivably  dreadful  evil,  vs.  20-22.  Cal- 
vin :  "  It  is  indeed  meet  for  us  to  consider  what  a  dreadful  curse 
we  fiave  deserved,  since  all  created  things  in  themselves  blame- 
less, both  on  earth  and  in  the  visible  heaven  undergo  punishment 
for  our  sins  ;  for  it  has  not  happened  through  their  own  fault,  that 
they  are  liable  to  corruption.  Thus  the  condemnation  of  man- 
kind is  imprinted  on  the  heavens,  and  on  the  earth,  and  on  all  crea- 
tures." Haldane  :  "  It  would  be  derogatory  to  the  glory  of  God 
to  suppose  that  his  works  are  now  in  the  same  condition  in  which 
they  were  at  first  formed,  or  that  they  will  always  continue  as  at 
present.  .  .  The  righteous  judge   who  subjected  them  to  vanity 


414  EPISTLE    TO     [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  20-22. 

in  consequence  of  the  disobedience  of  man  has  made  provision 
for  their  final  restoration. 

7.  How  very  blind,  stupid  and  insensible  are  the  great  mass  of 
ungodly  men,  who  seem  to  live  without  any  just  conception  of 
the  evil  of  sin,  or  of  the  intolerable  miseries  inseparably  con- 
nected with  it.  The  irrational  creature  feels  the  effects  of  sin 
and  groans,  vs.  20-22.  But  poor,  hardened,  depraved  men,  ex- 
cept when  under  some  sore  judgment,  or  some  unusual  visita- 
tions of  compunction,  lament  but  little  their  fallen  state  or  de- 
plorable guilt. 

8..  If  irrational  creatures  are  already  subjected  to  vanity  and 
corruption  for  the  sin  of  man,  let  us  beware  how  we  needlessly 
add  to  the  wretchedness  of  dumb  brutes  by  overwork,  by  indulg- 
ing passion  towards  them,  or  by  denying  them  needed  care,  vs. 
19-22.  No  wise  man  would  be  willing  to  be  in  the  power  of  one 
who  would  be  cruel  to  a  brute.  God  once  gave  a  tongue  to  an 
ass  to  reprove  the  madness  of  a  prophet. 

9.  The  children  of  God  shall  yet  have  a  glorious  liberty,  v.  21. 
The  chains  of  bondage  shall  be  broken.  We  know  in  fact  very 
little  respecting  the  particulars  of  that  great  change.  Our  knowl- 
is  rather  negative  than  positive.  But  when  a  God  of  all  and 
infinite  perfections  addresses  himself  to  the  business  of  emancipat- 
ing, exalting  and  glorifying  any  of  his  creatures,  we  know  there 
can  be  no  failure.  The  very  pangs  of  creation  in  sympathy  with 
the  sons  of  God  demonstrate  that  some  glorious  renovation  shall 
take  place — a  restitution  every  way  worthy  of  God,  its  glorious 
Author.  Calvin  :  "  The  excellency  of  our  glory  is  of  such  im- 
portance, even  to  the  very  elements,  which  are  destitute  of  mind 
and  reason,  that  they  turn  with  a  certain  kind  of  desire  for  it." 
Nor  shall  that  desire  be  disappointed.  Hodge  :  "  The  future  glory 
of  the  saints  must  be  inconceivably  great,  if  the  whole  creation, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  groans  and  longs  for  its  mani- 
festation." 

10.  If  these  things  are  so,  ought  not  Christians  to  look  with 
the  tenderest  concern  on  the  nations  that  know  not  God  and  are 
ignorant  of  the  gospel  of  his  Son  ?  Have  Christians  no  pity  ? 
Are  their  compassions  all  gone  ?  Dare  they  any  longer  keep 
among  themselves  the  great  mystery  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and 
do  nothing  for  the  nations  that  sit  in  the  region  and  shadow  of 
death  ?  "  Where  no  vision  is,  the  people  perish."  We  cannot 
plead  the  want  of  authority ;  for  there  stands  our  great  commis- 
sion :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature." 

1 1 .  Let  no  professed  follower  of  Christ  sink  down  into  inertness 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  23.]  THE  ROMANS.  415 

and  inaction,  but  let  him  do  his  duty  and  patiently  wait  for  the  result, 
V.  23.  Stuart :  "  Let  them  not  regard  the  present  world  as  their 
home.  It  is  not  the  Canaan  in  which  they  are  to  rest.  They 
must  '  seek  a  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker 
is  God.'  Then  the  agitated  breast,  the  heaving  sigh,  the  groaning 
within  will  no  more  annoy  or  distress  them.  Let  not  the  child  of 
God  complain,  then,  that  his  final  reward  is  not  anticipated  and 
distributed  to  him  here,  in  the  present  world,  while  he  is  in  a  state 
of  trial.  He  must  wait  until  he  comes  to  the  goal,  before  he  can 
wear  the  crown  of  a  victor  in  the  race.  He  must  defer  his  ex- 
pected laurels  until  the  combat  is  over.  Then  he  shall  receive  a 
crown  of  glory  which  fadeth  not  away." 

12.  Surely  if  no  other  chapter  in  the  Scriptures  declared  it, 
this  abundantly  shows  the  great  importance  of  the  true  doctrine 
concerning  the  nature,  personality  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  v. 
23.  Without  him  we  can  do  nothing.  All  solid  peace,  all  holy 
joy,  all  personal  righteousness  are  obtained  in  and  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  christian  graces  are  indispensable  to  christian 
character  and  comfort.  Nothing  of  more  value  does  God  ever 
bestow  on  men  in  this  world  than  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  that  lacks  this  has  no  earnest  from  God  that  he  shall  ever 
be  saved.  How  else  can  the  poor,  carnal  soul  of  man  be  raised 
above  the  vanities  of  this  world,  or  made  to  long  for  heavenly 
glory  ?  And  unless  one  does  this,  how  does  he  differ  from  the 
merest  wordling  ?  The  children  of  the  kingdom  love  to  think 
of  the  kingdom,  speak  of  the  kingdom,  and  hasten  into  the 
kingdom.  But  if  they  do  these  things  they  do  them  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

13.  Let  us  be  very  careful  not  to  murmur  or  cry  out  in  an 
unchristian  temper,  'My  Lord  delayeth  his  coming;'  but  quietly 
wait  for  his  salvation,  v.  23.  We  may  groan  under  our  burdens  ; 
we  may  lament  indwelling  sin  and  our  infirmities  of  soul,  body 
and  spirit.  But  still  let  us  '  look  for  that  blessed  hope,  even 
the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God  our  Saviour.' 

14.  It  is  impossible  to  administer  to  others  or  take  to  our- 
selves the  full  consolations  of  the  Gospel  without  a  clear  view 
and  a  strong  faith  concerning  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  v.  23. 
Indeed  if  that  doctrine  be  surrendered,  we  have  no  gospel.  Paul 
himself  admits  as  much :  "  If  Christ  be  not  raised  your  faith  is 
vain  ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins,"  i  Cor.  15:17.  To  what  can  you 
point  the  poor,  afflicted,  dying  child  of  God,  if  you  cannot  show 
him  a  life  beyond  the  tomb?  Calvin:  "The  sacrifice  of  the 
death  of  Christ  would  be  in  vain  and  fruitless,  except  its  fruit 
appeared  in  our  heavenly  renovation."      Glory  be  to  God,  there 


4i6  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  23. 

is  a  *  resurrection  of  life,'  '  a  resurrection  of  the  just,'  in  which 
death  shall  be  swallowed  up  in  victory,  when  Christ  shall  fulfil  his 
promise  made  to  the  evangelical  prophet :  "  Thy  dead  men  shall 
live,  together  with  my  dead  body  shall  they  arise.  Awake  and 
sing,  ye  that  dwell  in  dust :  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs  and 
the  earth  shall  cast  out  the  dead."  Then  indeed  the  countless 
throng  before  the  throne  may  exultingly  shout,  "  O  death,  where 
is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?"  Brown  :  "  Though 
now  our  bodies  be  subject  to  much  misery,  pain,  sickness  and  the 
like,  and  must  at  length  corrupt  and  rot  away  so  that  after  our 
death  worms  shall  destroy  them,  Job.  19  :  26 ;  yet  these  very  bodies 
of  ours  shall  be  fully  delivered  in  the  great  day  from  all  sin  and 
misery,  death  and  corruption,  and  that  by  virtue  of  the  death  and 
purchase  of  Christ."  Wonderful  change  !  Wonderful  grace,  that 
shall  produce  it. 

15.  O  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  in  the  saints  at  last,  v.  23. 
Here  through  Christ  they  receive  remission  of  sins,  the  accept- 
ance of  their  persons,  the  renewal  of  their  hearts  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  considerable  measures  of  grace  to  sustain,  to  restrain  and 
to  comfort  them  ;  indeed  they  have  all  the  graces  of  the  Spirit  in 
some  measure  in  their  hearts.  But  these  things  are  the  mere 
pledges  and  earnests  of  what  shall  be.  Eye  hath  not  seen,  ear 
hath  not  heard,  the  heart  of  man  hath  not  conceived  the  things 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him. 

16.  Will  not  the  reader,  who  is  yet  without  hope  and  without 
God  in  the  world,  listen  to  a  kindly  word  of  exhortation  drawn 
from  this  theme  ?  Poor,  dying  man,  shall  the  whole  creation 
groan  for  thee  and  for  thy  sin,  and  wilt  not  thou  groan  also  ? 
Listen  to  the  words  of  one  from  whom  already  a  paragraph  and 
several  sentences  have  been  quoted.  Hoge :  "  For  the  careless 
sinner  this  subject  has  a  rebuke  and  a  warning. 

"  A  rebuke  :  You  are  told  that  nature  has  been  and  is  cursed  by 
your  existence.  To  it  you  are  an  oppressor  and  a  defiler ;  a 
burden  and  a  loathing.  The  air  is  polluted  by  your  words,  the 
light  by  your  deeds  of  shame,  yea,  all  the  elements  by  your  cor- 
ruption, ingratitude,  effrontery,  rebellion.  You  will  not  praise 
God,  as  the  high  priest  of  nature,  and  the  stones  are  ready  to  cry 
out !  Yours  is  a  deeper  bondage,  but  while  creation  struggles 
and  travails,  you  are  careless  and  indifferent.  Aye,  you  cling  to 
your  chain,  you  sport  yourself  with  your  own  deceivings,  you  act 
as  if  there  was  music  in  the  groans  of  creation.  This  is  the 
rebuke. 

"  A  warning  :  It  cannot  be  always  so.  Guilt  cannot  triumph 
for  ever.     Innocence  will  be  made  victorious,  though  it  be  but  the 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  23.]  THE  ROMANS.  417 

innocence  of  mute,  irrational  nature.  If  you  will  not  submit  your 
heart  to  the  tide  of  influence  pouring  up  from  struggling  creation, 
it  will  be  a  power  to  overwhelm  you.  What  elements  of  terror 
and  wrath  are  around  you,  within  you,  beneath  you,  above  you ! 
How  has  God  hedged  and  hampered  you !  How  he  thwarts 
you  !  How  does  violated  nature  sometimes  recoil  against  you ! 
How  puny  is  man,  and  how  powerful  is  God !  Who  knoweth  the 
power  of  his  anger  ?  Man  is  an  insect,  caught  by  some  terrible 
enginery,  whirled  around  and  borne  on ;  yet  he  plays  and  is 
proud  ;  he  sins  and  perishes."  O  sinner,  turn  and  live  !  If  you 
die  in  your  iniquities,  the  sighs  of  earth  will  be  followed  by  sighs 
in  hell,  and  the  groans  of  earth  by  the  screams  of  the  damned. 


27 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

VERSES    24.-30. 

DELIVERANCE  IS  SURE  TO  COME.  LET  US  WAIT. 
THE  SPIRIT  HELPS  US,  ESPECIALLY  IN  PRAYER. 
ALL  IS  WORKING  WELL  BY  A  PLAN  WHICH  IN- 
VOLVES THE  GLORY  OF  CHRIST. 

24  For  we  are  saved  by  hope  :  but  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope  :  for  what  a 
man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for  ? 

25  But  if  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not  then  do  we  with  patience  wait 
for  it. 

26  Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities :  for  we  know  not  what  we 
should  pray  for  as  we  ought:  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with 
groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered. 

27  And  he  that  searcheth  the  hearts  knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit, 
because  he  maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the  will  of  God. 

28  And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God, 
to  them  who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose. 

29  For  whom  he  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the 
image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  firstborn  among  many  brethren, 

30  Moreover,  whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also  called  :  and  whom  he 
calkd,  them  he  also  justified:   and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified. 

(~)  /j  FOR  we  are  saved  by  Jiope  :  but  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope : 
jLJ  JL.,  for  zvhat  a  man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for?  Wiclif, 
Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan,  Rheims,  Doway,  Chrysostom,  Dodd- 
ridge, and  others  read  the  verse  as  the  authorized  version — by 
hope.  But  Coverdale  and  Peshito  read,  in  hope.  Calvin  explains 
it  as  if  it  read,  in  hope.  Bp.  Hall's  paraphrase  is,  in  assured  hope, 
we  are  saved ;  Locke's,  we  have  hitherto  been  saved  but  in  hope 
and  expectation  ;  Macknight's,  we  are  saved  only  in  hope ;  Stuart's 
translation  is,  we  are  saved  [only]  in  hope  ;  Conybeare  and  How- 
son's,  our  salvation  lies  in  hope.  Scott's  comment  is,  *'  True  be- 
lievers are  saved  '  by '  or  in  *  hope ; '  they  have  been  actually 
brought  into  a  state  of  safety ;  but  their  comfort  consists  '  in 
hope,'  rather  than  fruition."  It  is  true  Grotius  says,  "  we  have  not 
(418) 


Ch.  VIIL,  V.  24.]  THE  ROMANS.  419 

eternal  salvation  as  yet,  but  we  hope  for  it."  Yet  it  will  not  do  to 
say  that  believers  have  not  eternal  life,  even  here.  Our  Saviour 
expressly  said,  "  Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  I  shall  give 
him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall 
be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life  ;"  "  He 
that  beheveth  on  me  hath  everlasting  life;"  "Whoso  eateth  my 
flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life."  John  4 :  14;  6 :  47, 
54.  His  bosom  friend  says  :  "  Whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is  a 
murderer :  and  ye  know  that  no  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abid- 
ing in  him,"  i  John  3:15.  If  eternal  life  is  not  possessed  here, 
then  what  is  here  said  of  the  murderer  is  as  true  of  the  believer. 
Is  not  the  believer  as  fully  pardoned  and  accepted  as  he  ever  shall 
be  ?  The  first  verse  of  this  chapter  says,  There  is  no  condemna- 
tion on  him.  To  others  Paul  says :  "  But  ye  are  washed,  but 
ye  are  sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,"  i  Cor.  6:  11.  There  are 
many  passages  parallel  to  these.  Our  verse  itself  is  at  war  with 
such  an  idea.  The  verb  literally  rendered  is.  We  were  saved  and 
not  we  are  saved,  meaning  that  when  they  were  converted,  they 
were  saved.  If  any  object  and  say  that  believers  have  not  yet  got 
their  crown  of  glory,  the  answer  is,  that  is  so,  but  they  have  as 
indefeisible  a  title  to  it  as  they  ever  shall  have.  Rev.  22  :  14.  If  it 
be  said,  that  our  bodies  must  yet  die,  and  lie  in  the  grave  and 
be  raised  before  all  the  blessings  of  salvation  will  be  actually  in 
our  possession,  the  reply  is,  that  is  true,  but  is  any  one  prepared 
to  say  that  the  penitent  thief,  and  Paul,  and  Stephen,  and  Peter 
are  not  saved,  and  will  not  be  saved  till  after  the  resurrection  ? 
for  their  bodies  are  still  in  the  dust.  If  any  say  with  Tholuck 
that  faith  is  the  instrument  whereby  we  receive  salvation,  that  is 
true  also  ;  but  can  any  one  prove,  or  will  any  good  man  attempt 
to  show  that  because  faith  is  the  bond  that  unites  believers  to 
Christ,  therefore  the  Christian  grace  of  hope  bears  no  important 
part  in  accomplishing  man's  salvation  ?  If  so,  let  him  read  his 
Bible  with  a  little  care  and  candor,  and  he  will  change  his  mind. 
The  fact  is  that  hope  is  as  necessary  as  faith.  Leighton :  "  The 
difference  of  these  two  graces,  faith  and  Jiope,  is  so  small,  that  the 
one  is  often  taken  for  the  other  in  scripture  ;  it  is  but  a  different 
aspect  of  the  same  confidence,  faith  apprehending  the  infallible 
truth  of  those  divine  promises  of  which  hope  doth  assuredly  expect 
the  accomplishment,  and  that  is  their  truth  ;  so  that  this  immediate- 
ly results  from  the  other.  This  is  the  anchor  fixed  within  the  veil 
which  keeps  the  soul  firm  against  all  the  tossings  on  these  swelling 
seas,  and  the  winds  and  tempests  that  arise  upon  them.  The 
firmest  thing  in  this  inferior  world  is  a  believing  soul."    And  what 


420  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  VIII,  vs.  25,  26. 

is  faith  but  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen?  Heb.  11  :  i.  Is  it  then  going  too  far  to  invite 
men  to  believe  that  salvation  is  a  blessing  received  and  enjoyed 
in  this  life,  and  that  hope  is  an  important  means  of  effecting  it? 
If  any  say  that  great  things  are  to  be  done  for  the  saved,  in  the 
future,  that  is  gloriously  true,  and  ever  will  be ;  but  it  does  not 
prove  that  great  things  in  the  way  of  actual  salvation  are  not  done 
in  this  world  for  all  that  hope  in  God's  mercy.  But  hope  that  is 
seen  is  not  hope.  The  word  hope,  as  found  in  this  clause,  may  be 
taken  in  the  concrete — for  the  object  of  hope.  Then  the  sense 
would  be  that  things,  which  if  future  might  be  objects  of  hope, 
are  not  so  when  we  behold  them  at  hand.  Or  if  we  take  the  word 
in  the  abstract,  then  Guyse  gives  the  sense  :  "  Hope  of  things  that 
are  already  enjoyed,  is  not  properly  speaking,  hope,  which  is  a 
comfortable  persuasion  of  some  future  good."  The  explanation 
offered  by  some  is  that  the  word  seen  in  this  place  means  enjoyed, 
and  they  refer  to  Matt.  5:8;  John  3  :  36,  in  proof.  But  the  word 
rendered  seen  in  this  place  is  not  the  same  as  in  those  places  cited. 
Calvin  says,  Paul  means  simply  to  teach  us,  that  since  hope  re- 
gards some  future  and  not  present  good  it  can  never  be  connected 
with  what  we  have  in  possession.  For  zvhat  a  man  seeth,  ivJiy  doth 
he  yet  hope  for  ?  This  is  very  much  a  repetition  of  what  he  had 
already  said.  One  may  impatiently  expect  a  messenger,  but  when 
he  arrives,  whether  he  bring  good  or  bad  tidings,  we  cease  to  look 
for  him. 

25.  But  if  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not,  then  do  we  with  patience 
wait  for  it.  It  is  good  that  a  man  should  both  hope  and  quietly 
wait  for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  Lam.  3  :  26.  As  in  our  verse, 
so  here  and  in  many  other  places,  hoping  and  patient  waiting  are 
connected.  Were  this  not  so,  waiting  would  be  turned  into  the  sul- 
lenness  of  despair,  or  entirely  given  up  in  a  vain  attempt  to  find 
satisfaction  in  things  that  perish.  An  examination  of  the  Old 
Testament  scriptures  and  especially  of  the  devotional  parts  thereof 
will  satisfy  any  one  that  patient  waiting  is  in  God's  esteem  a  great 
grace,  indispensable  to  the  comfort  of  the  poor,  suffering  child  of 
God.  And  as  all  christians  under  the  Gospel,  especially  in  early 
times,  experienced  the  sorest  tribulations  which  malice  and  cru- 
elty could  bring  upon  them,  this  exercise  was  of  paramount  im- 
portance. Calvin  :  "  When  we  console  ourselves  with  the  hope  of 
a  better  condition,  the  feeling  of  our  present  miseries  is  softened 
and  mitigated." 

26.  Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpetJi  our  infirmities :  for  we  know 
not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  zve  ought :  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh 
intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered.     The  word 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  26.]  THE  ROMANS.  421 

rendered  helpeth  is  very  strong-,  and  might  be  rendered  helpeth 
together.  Calvin  renders  it,  co-assists,  and  Beza,  lifts  up  together. 
Schleusner :  "  It  means  to  succor  those  whose  strength  is  unequal 
to  carry  their  burden  alone."  It  is  found  in  but  one  other  place, 
Luke  10 :  40,  where  Martha  petitions  Christ  to  bid  Mary  that  she 
help  me.  This  is  the  precise  idea  in  this  place.  Infirinities,  com- 
monly so  rendered,  a  few  times  weakness,  once  sickness,  and  once 
diseases.  In  i  Tim.  5  :  23,  it  refers  to  bodily  infirmities  alone.  In 
Matt.  8  :  17  and  Heb.  4:  15,  it  means  such  infirmities  of  our  na- 
ture as  were  innocent  and  could  be  borne  by  the  Holy  Saviour. 
It  is  the  word  used  by  Paul  when  he  saj^s,  I  glory  in  my  infirmi- 
ties, and  I  take  pleasure  in  infirmities,  2  Cor.  12:9,  10.  The  in- 
firmities of  the  Christian  are  many.  They  are  bodily  and  mental. 
They  are  natural  and  spiritual.  His  understanding  is  feeble  and 
greatly  needs  enlightening.  His  graces  are  weak  and  constantly 
require  strengthening.  Paul  now  mentions  a  particular  weakness 
in  relation  to  prayer:  We  knozv  not  what  ive  should  pray  for  as  we 
ought.  We  are  so  'ignorant,  forgetful,  or  unbelieving,  that  we 
know  not  what  to  ask  for,  or  how  to  ask  for  any  thing  in  a  proper 
manner,  and  with  proper  affections.'  This  indeed  is  a  sad  case,  a 
terrible  infirmity.  Left  to  ourselves,  what  could  Ave  do  ?  In  a 
thousand  respects,  a  good,  though  imperfect  man  may  be  in  doubt 
both  as  to  the  matter  and  manner  of  prayer.  Hodge  :  "  We  can- 
not tell  what  is  really  best  for  us.  Heathen  philosophers  gave  this 
as  a  reason  why  men  ought  not  to  pray !"  No  doubt  the  wicked 
one  often  tempts  good  men  to  restrain  prayer  because  of  their  un- 
certainty whether  it  is  best  or  not  to  ask  for  a  given  thing.  But 
God  leaves  not  his  children  alone  in  their  trials.  The  Spirit  itself 
comes  to  our  relief  Maketh  intercession  for,  a  word  found  nowhere 
else  in  the  New  Testament,  though  its  leading  compound  is  found 
in  vs.  27,  34  of  this  chapter  and  rendered  maketh  intercession.  It 
is  also  found  elsewhere.  This  word  differs  from  that  in  bavins'  a 
prefix,  which  may  be  rendered  abundantly.  He  not  only  pleads 
God's  cause  with  us,  but  pleads  our  cause  with  God,  by  awaken- 
ing proper  desires  within  us  and  teaching  us  to  pray  as  John  could 
not  teach  his  disciples.  Thus  he  becomes  to  us  what  the  prophet 
calls  him,  "  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplications,"  Zech.  12  :  10. 
He  does  his  work  effectually.  The  prayer  he  indites  is  inwrought 
in  the  soul  of  believers,  and  so  it  is  "  with  groanings  which  cannot 
be  uttered,"  or  which  are  not  uttered,  for  the  Greek  may  be  ren- 
dered either  way.  Thus  when  Hannah  prayed,  her  pious  soul 
was  mightily  stirred,  yet  she  spake  in  her  heart;  only  her  lips 
moved,  but  her  voice  was  not  heard  :  therefore  Eli  thought  she 
had  been  drunken,  and  so  charged  it  upon  her.     But  she  answered 


422  EPIS  TLE    TO      [Ch.  VIII,  vs.  27,  28. 

and  said,  "  No,  my  lord,  I  am  a  woman  of  a  sorrowful  spirit :  I 
have  drunk  neither  wine  nor  strong  drink,  but  have  poured  out 
my  soul  before  the  Lord.  Count  not  thine  handmaid  for  a  daugh- 
ter of  Belial ;  for  out  of  the  abundance  of  my  complaint  and  grief 
have  I  spoken  hitherto,"  i  Sam.  i  :  13-16.  Thus  David  prayed  in 
broken  sentences  :  "  O  Lord,  how  long  ?"  The  same  good  man 
said :  "  Lord,  all  my  desire  is  before  thee,  and  my  groaning  is  not 
hid  from  thee,"  Ps.  38:9;  thus  showing  that  praying  and  groan- 
ing have  long  been  associated. 

27.  And  he  that  searchctJi  the  hearts  knozveth  zvhat  is  the  mind  of 
the  Spirit,  because  he  makcth  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to 
the  will  of  God.  The  particle  rendered  ajid  is  more  commonly 
rendered  but,  and  should  be  so  here.  He  that  searcheth  the  hearts 
is  a  periphrasis  for  God,  and  may  be  applied  to  either  person  of 
the  Trinity,  i  Chron.  28:9;  i  Cor.  2:  10;  Rev.  2:  23.  Here  it 
seems  to  have  special  reference  to  the  Father,  as  receiving  the  pe- 
titions indited  by  the  Spirit,  but  then  they  are  all  offered  through 
Christ.  We  sigh,  we  groan,  '  but  though  we  are  not  able  to  speak 
these  desires,  they  are  not  concealed  from  God,'  nor  is  he  at  a  loss 
to  know  what  they  mean.  Knozveth,  has  perfect  intelligence  and 
understanding,  a  word  used  ver}^  often  and  rendered  as  here,  also 
see,  behold,  be  sure,  perceive,  &c..  Matt.  2:  16;  13:  14;  Luke  19: 
41  ;  I  Cor.  2:11,  etc.  It  is  not  the  word  knozv,  which  we  use  in 
the  sense  of  approve,  allow,  recognize  as  friends.  Matt.  7  :  23  ;  Rom. 
7  :  15  ;  2  Tim.  2  :  19.  Although  the  zvord  does  not  teach  it,  yet  the 
very  nature  of  God  and  the  relations  of  the  persons  in  the  God- 
head make  it  certain  that  every  petition  indited  by  the  Spirit  is 
approved  in  heaven,  because  he  maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  God,  literally  according  to  God,  i.  e.  according 
to  the  plan  arranged  by  God  for  man's  salvation,  according  to  his 
will,  according  to  his  nature,  his  grace  and  mercy,  his  wisdom  and 
sufficiency.  Compare  John  14:  13;  i  John  3  :  22  ;  5  :  14.  God's 
Spirit  never  stirs  up  in  us  approved  desires  for  any  thing,  that  we 
do  not  receive  it,  or  something  better ;  often  the  very  thing  itself 
and  much  more  besides,  i  Kings  3  :  1 1-14 ;  Mai.  3:10;  Matt.  6:33; 
2  Cor.  12:  8-10. 

28.  And  we  knozv  that  all  tilings  zvork  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called  according  to  his 
purpose.  Know,  the  same  word  so  rendered  in  v.  26,  we  are 
sure,  we  perceive  ;  it  is  clear  to  us.  It  is  made  sure  to 
believers  in  many  ways.  i.  God's  gracious  design  is  to  that 
effect,  Isa.  48  :  10;  Heb.  12  :  10.  2.  The  experience  of  child- 
hood under  parental  discipline  teaches  the  same  lesson,  Heb. 
12  :  10.     3.  God  may  let  a  reprobate  go  through  life  with  com- 


Ch.  VIII,  V.  28.]  THE  ROMANS.  423 

paratively  little  trial,  but  he  loves  his  own  children  too  well  to 
exempt  them  from  affliction,  Luke  16  :  25  ;  Heb.  12  :  7,  8  ;  Rev, 
3  :  19.  4.  The  recorded  experience  of  good  men  confirms  this 
truth,  Ps.  119  :  d'j,  71.  5.  Every  child  of  God,  who  has  made  any 
progress  in  the  divine  life,  knows  the  same  thing  by  his  own  blessed 
experience.  He  has  found  things  the  most  cross  to  his  plans 
turning  to  his  advantage.  If  adverse  and  afflictive  occurrences 
produce  happy  results,  so  also  doubtless  do  the  mercies  of  God 
manifested  in  the  common  events  of  life,  in  remarkable  providences, 
and  in  the  wise  and  holy  arrangements  and  provisions  of  the  entire 
plan  of  salvation.  So  that  all  things,  that  is,  all  things  relating  to 
the  matter  in  hand,  work  together.  We  have  the  same  verb  in  Mark 
16  :  20,  "The  Lord  xvorking  zvith  them;"  in  i  Cor.  16:  16,  "Every 
one  that  helpethwith  us."  The  cognate  noun  is  rendered  helpers, 
work-fellows,  fellow-laborers,  fellow-helpers,  2  Cor.  i :  24 ;  Rom. 
16  :  21  ;  Phil.  4 :  3;  3  John  8.  All  things  co-operate  with  each 
other,  yes  and  with  God  too,  i  Cor.  3:912  Cor.  6:1.  The  re- 
sult cannot  be  doubtful.  Who  is  he  that  Avill  harm  you,  if  ye  be 
followers  of  that  which  is  good?  i  Pet.  3  :  13.  They  work 
together  for  good,  nolrfor  evil,  not  for  any  doubtful  nor  for  a  mere 
negative  result.  TYv^  good  resulting  is  of  three  kinds :  i.  To  the 
christian  himself.  He  thus  becomes  a  partaker  of  God's  holiness, 
Heb.  12  :  10;  his  temper  thus  becomes  sweet,  gentle,  subdued,  Ps. 
131  :2;  affliction  weans  him  from  the  world  and  makes  him  long 
for  heaven,  Phil,  i  :  23  ;  he  is  thus  assured  of  his  being  in  Christ, 
when  he  has  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  Phil.  3  :  10  ;  he  thus 
learns  the  certainty  of  his  final  and  eternal  triumph,  2  Tim.  2  :  12  ; 
Rev.  3:  21  ;  Luke  6  :  22,  23  and  parallel  passages.  2.  To  others 
who  see  or  hear  of  the  meekness,  patience,  constancy  and  thank- 
fulness of  a  christian,  the  example  is  truly  edifying,  Jas.  5  :  10  ;  i 
Pet.  2:12;  3  :  2,  3  ;  4:2.  3.  By  all  the  exemplary  suffering  of  his 
people  God  is  glorified,  and  if  he  is  glorified,  all  is  well,  cost  what 
it  may  to  us.  Matt.  5  :  16;  John  15:8.  But  all  this  occurs,  not  to 
the  proud,  hardened  and  unbelieving,  but  only  to  real  christians, 
to  them  that  love  God.  Calvin :  "  In  the  love  of  God  he  includes 
the  whole  of  religion,  as  on  it  depends  the  whole  practice  of  right- 
eousness." When  it  can  truly  be  said  of  a  man  that  he  has  not 
the  love  of  God  in  him,  we  know  that  he  has  no  piety,  and  no 
good  hope  through  grace,  John  5  :  42.  When  true  piety  takes 
complete  possession  of  all  the  soul,  then  is  the  love  of  God  per- 
fected, I  John  2:5.  Nor  can  any  one  ever  prove  that  he  loves 
God,  unless  he  has  pity  on  the  poor  and  keeps  God's  command- 
ments, I  John  3:17;  5:3.  All  who  love  God  are  also  the  called 
according  to  his  purpose.     On  the  word  called  s&q  above  on  Rom.  i  : 


424  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  29. 

I,  6,  7.  It  means  not  merely  invited,  but  effectually  called;  and 
that  not  according  to  one's  own  will,  counsel  or  merit,  Isa.  48  :  1 1  ; 
Ezek.  36 :  22,  32  ;  Rom.  9:16;  but  according  to  and  in  fulfilment 
of  God's  purpose.  From  other  parts  of  scripture  it  appears  that 
this  purpose  is  i.  according  to  election,  Rom.  9:11;  2.  that  it  will 
surely  be  executed,  Rom.  9:11;  Eph.  i  :  11  ;  3.  that  it  is  eternal, 
Eph.  3:11;  2  Tim.  1:9;  4.  that  it  is  all  in  and  by  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,  Eph.  3:11;  5.  that  it  is  wholly  gracious,  2  Tim.  i  :  9.  Adam 
Clarke  explains  it  as  meaning  "  affectionate  purpose,"  and  after- 
wards a  "  gracious  purpose."  No  doubt  it  is  very  pitiful,  kind, 
benevolent,  else  it  could  not  result  in  salvation  to  such  sinners  as 
we  are. 

29.  For  tvJiom  lie  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  first-born  among 
many  brctJircn.  Eorekneiv,  the  same  word  occurs  in  Rom.  11:2, 
"  God  hath  not  cast  away  his  people  which  he  foreknew ;  and  in  i 
Pet.  I  :  20,  where  the  apostle  speaking  of  Christ  says,  "  Who 
verily  w?is  foreordained  hQiore  the  foundation  of  the  world."  The 
coarnate  noun  occurs  twice,  and  is  both  times  rendered  foreknow- 
ledge.  Acts  2  :  23  ;  i  Pet.  i  :  2.  Three  ideas  are  connected  with 
foreknowledge.  One  is  prescience,  simple  intelligence  of  the  future. 
That  God  possesses  this  prescience  the  scriptures  do  surely  teach : 
"  Known  unto  God  are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world,"  Acts  15  :  18.  Compare  Isa.  41  :  22,  23  ;  44  :  7  ;  46  :  9,  10. 
Simon  Peter  said  to  Jesus,  "Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things," 
John  21  :  17  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Spirit. 
Does  not  every  devout  man  adore  God  as  knowing  the  end  from 
the  beginning  ?  Isa.  46  :  10.  The  second  idea  connected  with  fore- 
knowledge is  that  of  foreordination.  So  our  translation  gives  it 
in  I  Pet.  I  :  20.  So  it  must  be  understood  in  several  places.  So 
Clarke  explains  it  on  Acts  2  :  23,  "  Him  being  delivered  by  the 
determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken, 
and  with  wicked  hands  have  crucified  and  slain."  He  explains 
the  "  determinate  counsel"  as  "  that  counsel  of  God  which  defined 
the  time,  place  and  circumstance,  according  to  his  foreknow- 
ledge, which  always  saw  what  was  the  most  proper  time  and 
place  for  the  manifestation  and  crucifixion  of  his  Son  ;  so 
that  there  was  nothing  casual  in  these  things,  God  having  deter- 
mined that  the  salvation  of  a  lost  world  should  be  brought  about 
in  this  way  :  and  neither  the  Jews  nor  Romans  had  any  power 
here,  but  what  was  given  them  from  above."  The  third  idea  con- 
nected with  foreknowledge  is  that  of  foreknowing  as  friends, 
choosing  beforehand,  selecting  of  old,  setting  his  love  on  them. 
According  to  the  scriptures  the  conversion  of  men  and  all  that 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  29-]  THE  ROMANS.  425 

flows  from  it  are  owing  to  the  everlasting  love  set  upon  them.  So 
God  himself  says  :  "  I  have  loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love  : 
therefore  with  loving  kindness  have  I  drawn  thee,"  Jer.  31:3.  So 
taught  the  beloved  disciple  :  "  We  love  him  because  he  first  loved 
us,"  I  John  4 :  19.  Indeed  this  is  the  doctrine  of  scripture  from 
the  days  of  Moses.  See  Deut.  7  :  7-9;  10:  15  ;  33  :  3.  Compare 
Hos.  1 1  :  I  ;  Mai.  i  :  2.  Concerning  this  foreknowledge  of  God 
the  scriptures  clearly  show  i.  That  it  is  eternal,  not  of  modern 
date,  Jer.  31:3;  Eph.  3:11;  i  Pet.  i  :  20.  2.  That  it  is  unchange- 
able, not  unsettled,  not  mutable,  not  contingent,  even  when  it 
relates  to  things  contingent  to  us,  Isa.  46  :  10;  Mai.  3:6;  Rom. 
9:11.  3.  That  it  is  wholly  gracious  and  sovereign,  there  being 
nothing  in  us  to  merit  God's  favor,  Rom.  9:11.  4.  That  it  results 
in  the  conversion  of  all  who  are  embraced  in  its  grasp,  Acts  13  :  48. 
5.  That  it  will  assuredly  compass  the  sanctification  of  all  the 
elect,  2  Thess.  2:13;  Rom,  8 :  29.  6.  That  it  is  all  wholly  to  the 
honor  and  glory  of  God,  Eph.  i  :  3-6.  Well,  whom  he  did  fore- 
know, he  also  did  predestinate.  The  verb  rendered  predestinate  is 
in  sacred  history  thus  rendered  :  "  Of  a  truth  against  thy  holy 
child  Jesus,  whom  thou  hast  anointed,  both  Herod,  and  Pontius 
Pilate,  with  the  Gentiles  and  the  people  of  Israel,  were  gathered 
together,  for  to  do  whatsoever  thy  hand  and  thy  counsel  determined 
before  to  be  done.  Acts  4  :  27,  28.  To  determine  before  and  to  pre- 
destinate are  the  same  thing.  It  is  the  same  Greek  word  in  both 
cases.  Other  scriptures  tell  us  that  God's  ordination  is  of  the  great- 
est antiquity  :  "  We  speak  the  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery,  even  the 
hidden  wisdom  which  God  ordained  before  the  world  unto  our 
glory,"  I  Cor.  2  :  7.  The  word  rendered  ordained  x^iht,  same  every- 
where else  rendered  predestinated,  or  determined  before.  Then 
again  Paul  say  :  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  heavenly 
places  in  Christ  Jesus :  according  as  he  hath  chosen  us  in  him, 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy  and 
without  blame  before  him  in  love  ;  having  predestinated  us  unto 
the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ  to  himself,  according 
to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  will  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of 
his  grace,  wherein  he  hath  made  us  accepted  in  the  Beloved," 
Eph.  I  :  3-6.  This  passage  is  more  full  on  the  subject  of  pre- 
destination than  any  we  have  in  the  Bible,  i.  It  declares  that 
as  predestination  is  revealed  in  scripture  it  is  matter  of  praise 
and  thanksgiving,  "  Blessed  be  God,"  etc.  2.  It  teaches  that  all 
spiritual  blessings  coming  to  us  are  connected  with  this  purpose  of 
God.  3.  It  shows  that  election  and  predestination  are  united  in 
the  same  scheme  of  grace.     4.  Election  is  from  eternity  and  con- 


426  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  30. 

sequently  predestination  must  have  as  great  an  antiquity.  5. 
Election  is  unto  holiness  and  aims  at  making  men  without  blame  : 
of  course,  predestination  can  have  no  less  glorious  aim.  6.  Pre- 
destination is  unto  adoption,  of  course  is  friendly  to  salvation. 
7.  Predestination  is  not  from  an3'thing  in  us  but  wholly  according 
to  the  good  pleasure  of  the  divine  will.  8.  Both  election  and 
predestination  are  honorable  to  God — "  to  the  praise  of  the  glory 
of  his  grace."  Our  verse  says  that  those  whom  God  chose  he 
predestinated  to  be  conformed  [or  fashioned]  to  the  image  of  his 
Son.  It  is  unto  holiness.  This  all  tends  to  the  glory  of  Christ, 
that  he  might  be  the  first-bor^t  aniong  many  brethren.  First-born  and 
first  begotten  in  the  New  Testament  are  translations  of  the  same 
word,  which  occurs  nine  times.  The  cognate  noun  is  rendered 
birthright,  Heb.  12  :  16.  No  doubt  the  reference  is  to  the  rights  of 
primogeniture,  and  points  out  the  pre-eminence  which  the  Saviour 
has  over  all  the  sons  of  men  redeemed  by  his  blood.  In  Col.  1:18 
it  is  said  "  he  is  the  beginning  [head],  the  first-born  from  the  dead, 
that  in  all  things  he  might  have  the  pre-eminence."  If  Christ 
brings  no  sons  unto  glory,  he  can  have  no  reward,  no  pre-eminence, 
no  brethren  among  whom  he  would  be  the  first  born. 

30.  Moreover,  whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also  called :  and 
whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified :  and  whom  he  justified,  them  he 
also  glorified.  The  preterite  form  of  the  verb  does  not  teach  that 
all  the  elect  are  yet  glorified,  or  justified,  or  even  called.  It 
simply  declares  that  election  and  predestination  are  in  every  case 
and  ever  shall  be  followed  by  effectual  calling,  pardon,  accep- 
tance and  glory.  This  form  of  the  verb  may  be  after  the  Hebrew, 
and  indicate  the  certainty  of  the  things  declared.  The  preterite 
is  the  usual  form  of  prediction.  That  the  calling  here  spoken  of 
is  not  a  mere  invitation  to  the  gospel  feast,  but  an  effectual  per- 
suasion and  enabling  of  the  soul  to  embrace  Christ  is  clear  from 
the  connection  and  from  the  ordinary  use  of  the  word.  See  above 
on  V.  28.  Justified  is  no  doubt  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  in  which  it 
is  generally  used  in  this  epistle,  the  receiving  of  gratuitous  impu- 
tation of  righteousness.  Glorified  points  to  the  blessed  state,  Avhere 
the  redeemed  have  all  and  boundless  blessings,  being  made  per- 
fect in  holiness  and  happiness  for  ever. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  We  are  saved!  v.  24.  Are  not  these  amazing  words? 
Saved,  from  wrath,  and  guilt,  and  sin,  its  pollution  and  its  power ; 
saved  by  an  almighty  hand  and  by  amazing  grace  ;  saved  when 
the  most  just  and  terrible  destruction  was  impending ;  saved  when 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  24-26.]    THE  ROMANS.  ^27 

others  no  more  guilty  were  left  in  their  blindness  and  hardness  of 
heart.  Nor  is  this  salvation  all  future,  but  it  is  in  all  its  great  ele- 
ments a  present  salvation,  so  that  while  some  texts  say  that  the  be- 
lievers shall  be  saved,  our  verse  says,  we  are  saved.  If  we  put  the 
emphasis  on  the .  first  word,  the  sense  is  no  less  striking,  we  are 
saved  ;  we,  who  merit  no  good  thing ;  we,  who  are  by  nature  the 
children  of  wrath  even  as  others  ;  we,  who  were  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins,  we,  yes  even  we  are  saved !  Surely  our  song  will  ever 
be  of  salvation  ! 

2.  And  we  are  saved  by  hope,  v.  24.  Despair  may  work  some 
prodigy  of  a  feat,  but  despair  never  did  any  great  work.  Nor  did 
despondency  ever  raise  a  crop,  or  make  a  scholar,  or  achieve  a 
wonder.  A  hopeless  man  is  a  heartless  man.  What  is  a  Christian 
soldier  in  the  wars  of  the  Lamb  without  the  helmet  of  the  hope 
of  salvation  ?  i  Thess.  5  :  8.  Without  it  will  he  not  be  ashamed 
and  flee  in  battle  ?  When  did  God  ever  send  any  one  on  a  mis- 
sion of  mercy,  or  of  duty  until  he  had  first  begotten  him  again 
unto  a  lively  hope  ?  i  Pet.  i  :  3.  True,  hope's  treasures  are  above,  . 
but  its  duties  are  all  below.  The  fruition  is  in  the  future,  but  the 
glad  expectation  is  in  the  present.  Take  from  any  good  man  the 
successes  and  the  victories  he  has  achieved  by  hope,  and  what  has 
he  left?  Owen  of  Oxford:  "The  height  of  the  actings  of  all 
grace  issues  in  a  well-grounded  hope  ;  nor  can  it  rise  any  higher." 

3.  Thus  may  we  attain  to  that  great  grace  patient  waiting  on 
God  and  for  God,  v.  25.  Much  is  said  of  it  in  both  Testaments. 
It  is  illustrated  by  a  reference  to  the  farmer,  who  hath  long  pa- 
tience and  waiteth  for  the  precious  fruits  of  the  earth ;  to  the 
watchman  who  waits  and  longs  for  the  day ;  to  the  hireling  who 
toils  on  in  hope  as  he  sees  the  shadows  lengthening  and  is  per- 
suaded his  toils  will  end  as  the  light  of  day  disappears.  Parens : 
"  Patience  is  needful  for  three  reasons — the  good  expected  is  ab- 
sent— there  is  delay,  and  many  difficulties  intervene." 

4.  How  dare  men  undertake  any  great  thing,  particularly  any  ^ 
thing  in  the  form  of  a  spiritual  enterprize  without  seeking  the 
special  aid  of  God's  Holy  Spirit?  v.  26.  He  is  the  author  of  all 
saving  illumination,  of  all  spiritual  renewals  and  revivings,  of  all 
holy  triumphs  and  victories,  Without  him  we  can  win  no  battle, 
bear  no  burden,  conquer  no  evil  habit,  make  no  progress  in  the 

divine   life.     He   helpeth  our  infirmities.      Good  old   Rutherford . 

caught  the  true  spirit  of  the  scripture  when  he  said  of  his  affliction  : 

"  Jesus  and  I  will  bear  it."  The  blessed  Saviour  by  his  Spirit  car- 
ries the  heavy  end  of  every  cross.  God  leaves  our  infirmities,  but 
he  helps  them.  He  makes  us  conscious  of  our  weakness,  but  he 
holds  us  up.      Left   to  ^ourselves  our  prayers  are  poor  and  un- 


428  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  24-26. 

worthy,  like  those  mentioned  in  Hos.  7  :  14,  "  They  have  not  cried 
unto  me  with  their  heart,  when  they  howled  upon  their  beds." 
We  can  do  nothing-  to  purpose  without  help  from  heaven.  But  the 
help  we  need  in  nowise  sets  aside  our  free  agency.  God  deals 
with  us  as  with  rational  creatures.  We  must  bear  our  burdens, 
but  we  do  not  bear  them  alone.  Brown :  "  Albeit  the  saints  of 
God  cannot  stand  if  they  be  left  to  themselves,  but  will  certainly 
succumb  and  faint  in  the  day  of  adversity,  but  must  be  helped 
and  assisted  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  yet  this  assistance  and  aid 
yielded  by  the  Spirit  doth  not  make  them  mere  stocks  and  stones, 
nor  loose  them  from  a  patient  suffering  of  the  same." 

'^  5.  The  aid  of  the  Spirit  in  prayer  is  specially  and  continually 
necessary  to  two  great  ends ;  first,  to  preserve  us  from  asking  for 
that  which  we  ought  not,  and  secondly,  to  enable  us  to  ask  in  a 
right  manner  for  that,  which  we  ought  to  ask  for.     The  latter  is 

■^ommonly  considered  much  the  more  difficult,  but  the  former 
cannot  be  done  without  divine  assistance.  The  scripture  gives  us 
examples  of  even  good  men  making  sad  mistakes  in  asking  what 
was  wholly  contrary  to  God's  will,  Job  6  :  8,  9  ;  Jonah  4:3;  Mark 
10  :  38  ;  2  Cor.  12:8.  The  Holy  Spirit  not  only  pleads  God's 
cause  within  us,  but  pleads  our  cause  with  God  by  putting  right 
thoughts  and  tempers  within  us.  How  he  does  these  things  we 
may  not  be  able  to  explain.  That  he  does  them  for  us  all  God's 
people  know.  Tholuck  and  others  quote  a  beautiful  sentence  from 
St.  Martin  on  this  subject :  ''  As  the  mother  does  to  the  child,  so 
does  the  Holy  Spirit  repeat  before  us  the  supplications,  which  we 
must  seek  to  lisp  after  him."  Yet  even  this  does  but  faintly  pre- 
sent the  truth  ;  for  "  we  know  not  the  way  of  the  Spirit."  Leigh- 
ton  :  "  The  work  of  the  Spirit  is  in  exciting  the  heart  at  times  of 
prayer,  to  break  forth  in  ardent  desires  to  God,  whatsoever  the 
words  be,  whether  new  or  old,  yea,  possibly  without  words ;  and 
then  most  powerful  when  it  zvords  it  least,  but  vents  in  sighs  and 
groans  that  cannot  be  expressed.  Our  Lord  understands  the  lan- 
guage of  these  perfectly,  and  likes  it  best ;  he  knows  and  approves 
the  meaning  of  his  own  Spirit ;  he  looks  not  to  the  outward  ap- 
pearance, the  shell  of  words,  as  men  do."  Chalmers :  "  Let  us 
cease  to  wonder,  that  prayer  should  appear  among  the  foremost 
indications  of  the  Spirit  of  God  being  at  work  with  us ;  or  that  it 
takes  the  precedency  of  other  blessings,  or  that  it  has  happened  so 
frequently  in  the  church,  that  a  season  of  supplication  went  before 
the  season  either  of  a  gracious  deliverance  or  of  a  gracious  revival." 
Bp.  Hall :  "  The  Spirit  of  God  aids  us  by  his  gracious  work  in  us  ; 
stirring  up  our  drowsy  and  dull  hearts  to  make  powerful  supplica- 
tions to  God,  with  sighs  and  groans  that  cannot  be  expressed." 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  26,  2/.]    THE  ROMANS.  429 

In  prayer  the  state  of  the  heart  is  everything.  A  heart  without 
words  may  bring  down  the  blessing,  Ex.  14  :  15.  Moses  had  not  ut- 
tered one  audible  word.     But  words  without  the  heart  God  abhors. 

6.  Let  us  not  be  afraid  of  being  too  much  moved  in  prayer, 
V.  26.  The  scripture  warrants  great  earnestness  and  longings  of 
soul.  It  condemns  neither  sighing,  nor  crying,  nor  groaning, 
Ezek.  9:4;  Ps.  12  :  5  ;  Luke  18:7;  Ex.  6:5;  Ps.  33  :  9 ;  102  :  20. 
Our  prayers  must  move  us  else  they  will  not  move  God.  Poor 
Hezekiah  seems  to  have  been  moved  to  behaviour  hardly  becom- 
ing, yet  in  the  main  his  heart  was  right  and  God  heard  and  saved 
him  :  "  Like  a  crane  or  a  swallow,  so  did  I  chatter :  I  did  mourn 
as  a  dove  :  mine  eyes  fail  with  looking  upward  :  O  Lord,  I  am 
oppressed  ;  undertake  for  me,"  Isa.  38  14.  But  no  groanings  are 
more  pleasing  to  God,  than  those  which  are  too  big  for  utterance. 
Tholuck  :  "  Silent  prayers,  like  silent  grief  itself,  are  wont  to  be 
the  deepest." 

7.  The  subtilty  of  Satan  in  tempting  the  people  of  God  is  often 
very  great.  He  says,  How  can  groans  which  are  not  understood 
profit  any  one  or  bring  aid  to  our  infirmities  ?  v.  26.  The  correct 
answer  is.  They  are  understood  both  by  God's  people  and  by  God 
himself.  Hannah  knew  full  well  what  it  was  that  lay  as  a  mighty 
burden  on  her  heart.  She  never  acted  more  intelligently  in  her  life 
than  then.  And  does  not  the  Most  High  know  our  downsitting^ 
and  our  uprising,  and  understand  our  thoughts  afar  off?  Ps.  139  :  2. 
So  that  the  temptation  is  hardly  specious  ;  at  least  it  has  no  solid 
foundation. 

8.  Indeed  it  would  be  most  wonderful  if  God  understood  not 
or  approved  not  the  petitions  indited  by  his  own  Spirit,  for  he 
searcheth  the  hearts,  and  he  searcheth  all  things,  v.  27.  Accord- 
ingly it  is  truly  said  :  "  He  will  fulfil  the  desire  of  them  that  fear 
him,"  Ps.  145  :  19.  "The  prayer  of  the  upright  is  his  delight," 
Pr.  15:8.  For  good  cause  the  people  of  God  have  confidence  in 
him  as  one  that  hears  and  answers  prayer.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise  ?  Every  one  of  them  has  been  to  the  throne  of  grace 
with  a  burden  of  sin  on  his  conscience  sinking  him  into  the  depths 
of  wo,  and  has  found  mercy.  He  went  guilty  ;  he  came  away 
pardoned.  He  went  crying  for  mercy  ;  he  came  away  glorifying 
God.  All  things  are  naked  and  opened  unto  the  eyes  of  him,  with 
whom  we  have  to  do.  Brown  :  "  The  omniscience  of  God,  and 
his  perfect  knowledge  of  everything  within  our  hearts,  as  it  should 
teach  us  to  address  him  alone  in  prayer,  because  he  only  is  able  to 
hear  ;  so  it  should  strengthen  our  faith  and  hope  of  a  hearing  of 
our  desires  and  groans,  when  we  cannot  get  words  to  express  our 
mind  to  God." 


430  EPIS  TLE    TO       [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  27,  28. 

9.  It  is  impossible  that  the  people  of  God  should  perish,  v.  27. 
They  have  God  for  their  Father.  They  have  a  glorious  Advocate 
and  Intercessor  above.  They  have  a  blessed  Comforter  and  In- 
tercessor within.  The  Holy  Spirit  takes  not  the  office  of  the  in- 
terceding High  Priest  above.  But  he  takes  of  the  things  of  Christ 
and  shows  them  to  us,  and  stirs  us  up  to  prayer  and  effort.  Au- 
gustine :  "  The  divine  Spirit  does  not  groan  or  intercede  in  and 
by  himself,  as  God  and  belonging  to  the  Trinity  ;  but  he  inter- 
cedes by  his  influence  upon  us,  and  by  leading  us  to  aspirations 
which  language  cannot  express."  Chalmers  :  "  The  Saviour  in- 
tercedes for  us  in  heaven.  The  Spirit  intercedes  for  us  in  our 
own  breast.  The  one  intercession  is  pure  and  altogether  unmixed 
with  the  dross  of  earthliness.  The  other  passes  through  a  corrupt 
medium,  and  finds  its  way  among  the  adverse  impediments  of  an 
earthly  nature  ;  and  by  the  time  that  it  cometh  forth  in  expression, 
has  had  to  encounter  the  elements  of  darkness  and  of  carnality 
that  are  within  us."  Here  atoning  blood  comes  in,  and  our 
imperfect  prayers  are  perfumed  with  the  incense  in  the  censer 
of  the  great  High  Priest  above,  and  so  meet  with  divine  accep- 
tance. 

10.  Are  our  prayers  in  the  main  right,  and  for  things  agreeable 
to  God's  will  ?  V.  27.  Or  are  we  like  those  described  by  the 
Apostle  ?  "  Ye  lust  and  have  not :  ye  kill,  and  desire  to  have,  and 
cannot  obtain  :  ye  fight  and  war,  yet  ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask 
not.  Ye  ask,  and  receive  not ;  because  ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may 
consume  it  upon  your  lusts,"  James  4:2,  3.  There  are  many 
hindrances  to  the  success  of  prayer.  Let  us  guard  against  them 
all.  It  is  possible,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  any  man  spends  too 
large  a  portion  of  his  time  and  energy  in  scrutinizing  his  own 
motives,  or  in  keeping  his  own  heart ;  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues 
of  life. 

11.  Great  lessons  are  learned  in  the  school  of  affliction,  v.  28. 
Amazing  results  are  brought  about  by  causes,  all  of  which  seemed 
adverse.  Anything  is  good  for  a  good  man  that  strips  the  world 
of  its  charms,  that  abases  his  pride,  that  teaches  him  the  meaning 
of  Scripture,  that  exercises  his  faith  and  patience,  and  that  makes 
him  love  and  long  for  his  home  in  the  heavens. 

12.  Let  us  not  be  cast  down  if  we  see  not  one  thing  producing 
all  the  good  effects  we  could  desire.  God  may  add  a  second,  a 
third,  a  tenth  or  a  hundredth,  in  order  to  finish  his  work.  The 
Bible  does  not  say  that  each  thing  works  separately,  but  that  all 
things  work  together,  v.  28.  Two  of  the  bitterest  substances 
known  in  nature,  when  chemically  combined,  make  a  very  sweet 
product. 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  28.]  THE  ROMANS.  431 

13.  Are  you  a  child  of  sorrow?  Are  you  perplexed  ?  Are  you 
cast  down  ?  Verse  28  covers  all  your  case.  Not  a  point  is  omitted. 
Chrysostom  :  "  The  Lord  employs  adversity  itself  in  advancing 
the  glory  of  those  who  are  beset  with  snares,  which  is  much 
greater  than  it  would  be  to  hinder  adversity  from  coming  at  all. 
.  .  .  For  should  even  tribulation,  or  poverty,  or  imprisonment,  or 
famines,  or  deaths,  or  anything  else  whatsoever  come  upon  us, 
God  is  able  to  change  all  these  things  into  the  opposite."  Dodd- 
ridge gives  us  a  sentence  from  Plato,  shewing  that  to  considerate 
heathen,  some  benefit  seemed  to  arise  from  some  forms  of  adversi- 
ty :  "  Whether  a  righteous  man  be  in  poverty,  sickness,  or  any 
other  calamity,  we  must  conclude  that  it  will  turn  to  his  advan- 
tage, either  in  life  or  death."  How  necessary  therefore  is  the  doc- 
trine of  a  particular  and  special  Providence.  Chalmers  :  "  Is  not 
the  historical  fact,  that  what  is  most  minute  often  gives  rise  to 
what  is  most  momentous,  an  argument  for  the  theological  doctrine 
of  a  Providence  that  reaches  even  to  the  slightest  and  most  un- 
noticeable  vanities  ? "  But  we  are  not  left  to  mere  logic  even 
though  it  be  sound.  Revelation  says,  that  the  very  hairs  of  your 
head  are  all  numbered  ;  that  the  lot  which  is  cast  into  the  lap  is 
wholly  disposed  of  by  the  Lord  ;  and  that  not  a  sparrow  falls  to 
the  ground  without  his  notice. 

14.  If  none  can  legitimately  draw  comfort  from  the  leading 
truths  of  this  chapter,  and  particularly  from  verse  28,  unless 
they  love  God,  how  important  it  is  to  know  what  are  the  iiv 
fallible  signs  of  that  holy  affection.  Nor  do  we  search  the  scrip- 
tures in  vain.  The  love  that  God  demands  must  be  sincere, 
not  feigned,  not  in  pretence ;  it  must  be  supreme,  putting  Jeho- 
vah before  and  above  all  others  ;  it  must  regard  all  God's  char- 
acter, laws  and  judgments  ;  it  must  be  stable,  not  fitful.  He 
who  loves  God  will  love  God's  children,  God's  house,  God's 
worship  and  all  his  ordinances.  Haldane :  "  Love  to  God  is 
given  as  a  peculiar  characteristic  of  a  Christian.  It  imports  that 
all  believers  love  God,  and  that  none  but  believers  love  him. 
Philosophers,  falsely  so  called,  and  men  of  various  descriptions, 
may  boast  of  loving  God,  but  the  decision  of  God  himself  is, 
that  to  love  him  is  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  a  Christian. 
No  man  can  love  God  till  he  hath  shined  into  his  heart  to  give 
him  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  his  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is,  therefore,  only  through  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ 
that  we  can  love  God." 

15.  Masters  of  logic  delight  to  give  us  specimens  of  strong 
reasoning ;  but  where  will  any  find  more  irrefragable  argument 
than  in  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Gospel  ?     Was  there  ever 


432 


EPISTLE    TO     [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  28-30. 


a  more  glorious  form  of  reasoning  than  that  found  in  vs.  28-30? 
Bishop  Hall :  "  There  is  a  strong  and  indissoluble  chain  of  mercy 
and  grace  in  God  towards  his  elect,  the  links  whereof  can  never 
be  either  broken  or  severed."  We  have  first  the  glorious,  eter- 
nal purpose  of  God ;  then  we  have  his  sure,  infallible  foreknowl- 
edge; then  his  adorable  predestination  of  a  conformity  to  the 
image  of  his  Son;  then  that  blessed  effectual  calling,  the  same 
as  a  spiritual  regeneration;  united  with  this,  is  always  an  ir- 
reversible justification ;  and  following  all  is  everlasting  glorifica- 
tion with  God  in  heaven.  Let  us  not  stand  and  cavil  at  these 
blessed  truths,  but  rather  like  our  Saviour,  adoringly  say,  '  I 
thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  because  thou 
hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  re- 
vealed them  unto  babes ;  even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good 
in  thy  sight.'  Or  let  us,  like  Paul,  admiringly  say,  '  O  the 
depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God,* 
etc.  Let  none  be  offended  at  such  themes.  Chalmers :  "  There 
is  an  ambition  on  the  part  of  some  to  be  wise  above  that  which 
is  written  ;  but  that  is  no  reason  why,  in  avoiding  this,  we  should 
not  attempt  at  least  to  be  wise  up  to  that  which  is  written."  It  is 
not  prudence,  it  is  not  modesty,  it  is  not  humility,  it  is  something 
bad  which  makes  us  hesitate  to  receive  implicitly  all  the  truths 
which  God  has  revealed  in  his  word.  At  first  view,  they  may 
seem  to  contradict  other  truths  of  Scripture  ;  but  let  us  believe 
all  that  God  has  spoken.  Very  often  an  annunciation  ma}^  flatly 
contradict  our  preconceived  opinions  and  firmest  prejudices  ;  but 
that  only  shows  that  God  is  wiser  than  man. 

15.  Could  the  doctrine  of  God's  foreknowledge,  as  it  has  been 
explained  in  the  comment  on  these  verses,  be  more  clearly  taught 
than  it  is  ?  v.  29.  We  have  the  very  words  foreknow  and  foreknowl- 
edge. No  notice  is  given  us  that  they  are  to  be  taken  in  any  but 
their  usual  sense.  To  get  rid  of  it,  even  great  and  good  men  have 
made  such  assertions  as  these:  i.  That  with  God  nothing  is  past 
and  nothing  is  future ;  but  that  he  lives  in  an  eternal  now.  It  is 
indeed  true  that  the  past  and  the  future  are  in  no  sense  hid  or 
absent  from  God's  omniscience.  In  that  sense,  they  are  both  for- 
ever present  with  him.  But  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  eternal 
now ;  for  now  is  a  very  small  point  in  duration,  and  has  no  such 
connection  with  the  past  and  the  future  as  at  all  to  embrace  them. 
It  surely  is  wiser  simply  to  say,  God  inhabiteth  eternity  than  to 
say  that  he  merely  exists  now,  although  you  precede  it  with  the 
adjunct  eternal.  This  is  confounding  terms.  2.  Another  endeavor 
has  been  made  to  set  aside  the  clear  teaching  of  the  scripture  by 
saying  that  in  the  divine  mind,  there  is  a  distinction  between  things 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  29-]  THE  ROMANS.  433 

certain  and  things  contingent.  Suppose  we  admit  that  to  us 
many  things  are  contingent  in  the  sense  that  they  depend  upon 
other  things  outside  of  themselves,  this  cannot  make  them  uncer- 
tain to  the  divine  mind.  On  how  many  contingencies  depended 
the  death  of  Jesus  Christ !  Judas,  Pilate,  Herod,  Caiaphas,  the 
fidelity  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  the  malignity  of  the  witnesses,  the 
diabolical  malice  of  the  chief  priests,  and  the  violence  of  the 
populace  were  all  necessary  to  compass  that  great  event  in  the 
counsels  of  God.  And  yet  what  good  man  would  dare  to  say 
that  that  event  in  all  its  attendant  circumstances  was  not  minutely 
foretold?  Nor  could  the  Scripture  be  broken.  And  what  is  a 
prophecy  but  a  purpose  of  God  made  known?  3.  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke  has  shocked  the  reverence  of  the  Christian  world  by  inti- 
mating a  possibility,  perhaps  a  probability  that  God  does  not 
know  all  things,  though  he  might  know  them  if  he  chose.  His 
language  is :  "  As  God's  omnipotence  implies  his  power  to  do  all 
things ;  so  God's  omniscience  implies  his  power  to  know  all  things  ; 
but  we  must  take  heed  that  we  meddle  not  with  the  infinite  free 
agency  of  this  Eternal  Being.  Though  God  can  do  all  things,  he 
docs  not  all  things.  Infinite  judgment  directs  the  operations  of 
his  power,  so  that  though  he  can,  yet  he  does  not  do  all  things,  but 
only  such  things  as  are  proper  to  be  done.  .  .  I  conclude  that  God, 
although  omniscient,  is  not  obliged  in  consequence  of  this  to  know 
all  tJiat  he  can  knoiv ;  no  more  than  he  is  obliged,  because  he  is 
omnipotent  to  do  all  that  he  can  doT  But  does  omniscience  consist 
in  mere  capability  of  knowing  all  things  ?  Surely  the  Bible  em- 
ploys no  such  language.  It  says  expressly,  "  Known  unto  God 
are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning."  But  it  nowhere  says  that 
God  has  done  all  things  that  could  be  done.  Besides  knowledge 
is  not  a  matter  of  choice.  Can  any  man  at  will  forget  his  mother 
tongue  ?  Can  any  man  classify  all  he  knows,  and  say  henceforth 
I  will  know  this  and  that ;  but  the  greater  part  I  have  known,  I 
will  know  no  more  forever?  Charnock:  "Seeing  God  knows 
things  possible  in  his  power,  and  things  future  in  his  will,  if  his 
power  and  resolves  were  from  eternity,  his  knowledge  must  be  so 
too  ;  or  else  we  must  make  him  ignorant  of  his  own  power,  and 
ignorant  of  his  own  will  from  eternity,  and  consequently  not  from 
eternity  blessed  and  perfect."  "  A  God  who  cannot  tell  whether 
peace  will  be  concluded,  or  war  continue  to  ravage  the  world ; 
whether  religion  will  be  received  in  a  certain  kingdom,  or  whether 
it  will  be  banished  ;  whether  the  right  heir  will  succeed  to  the 
crown,  or  whether  the  crown  will  be  set  on  the  head  of  an  usurper ;" 
is  this  the  God  that  we  are  called  on  to  trust,  to  trust  forever, 
to  trust  though  he  slay  us  ? 
28 


434  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  28-30. 

16.  A  similar  line  of  remark  may  be  made  respecting  predesti- 
nation, vs.  29,  30.  God's  purpose  and  counsel  can  be  no  rule  of 
duty  to  us.  Our  rule  of  conduct  is  his  revealed  will ;  but  he 
surely  has  secrets  that  he  has  never  revealed  to  us,  Deut.  29 :  29, 
Chalmers:  "  If  the  doctrine  of  predestination  be  true,  as  I  believe 
it  to  be,  then  it  extends  to  all  the  processes  of  human  life ;  and  in 
virtue  of  it,  every  career  of  human  exertion  hath  its  sure  result, 
and  must  terminate  in  one  certain  fulfilment  that  is  absolute  and 
irreversible."  Brown  :  "  The  decree  of  predestination,  as  it  is  ab- 
solute and  complete,  so  is  it  definite."  God's  predestination  in- 
cludes not  only  the  end  but  the  means  whereby  that  end  shall  be 
accomplished.  Why  shall  every  intelligent  man  be  allowed  to 
govern  his  life  by  a  plan,  to  build  his  house  and  conduct  his  busi- 
ness on  a  model  formed,  and  why  shall  we  deny  to  the  Most  High 
equal  liberty  ? 

17.  The  same  gracious  Lord  who  has  ordained  his  people  to 
eternal  life  does  in  his  own  sovereign  wisdom  and  good  pleasure 
call  them  by  his  grace,  subdue  them  to  himself,  and  implant  holy 
principles  within  them,  vs.  28,  30.  The  calling  that  saves  is  the 
calling  that  brings  men  to  love  God,  that  is  always  connected  with 
justification,  and  always  followed  by  glorification.  This  is  a  great 
change.  It  is  bringing  men  out  of  darkness  into  light,  out  of  the 
kingdom  of  Satan  into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son  ;  a  passing 
from  death  unto"  life,  from  a  state  of  alienation  and  enmity  to  a 
state  of  love  and  holiness ;  from  a  state  of  vice  and  ignorance  to  a 
state  of  glory  and  virtue  ;  and  all  this  without  the  least  violence 
done  to  the  freedom  of  the  human  will.  "  My  people  shall  be 
willing  in  the  day  of  my  power."  "  It  is  God  that  worketh  in  us 
both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure." 

18.  How  fitting  that  they  who  are  thus  foreknown,  predesti- 
nated and  called  should  be  also  justified  freely  by  his  grace,  v.  30. 
God  does  account  and  treat  as  righteous  all  who  have  fled  for 
refuge  to  lay  hold  on  Jesus  Christ.  Luther:  "Justification  takes 
place  when,  in  the  just  judgment  of  God,  our  sins,  and  the  eternal 
punishment  due  to  them,  are  remitted,  and  when  clothed  with  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  which  is  freely  imputed  to  us,  and  recon- 
ciled to  God,  we  are  made  his  beloved  children  and  heirs  of  eter- 
nal life." 

19.  Blessed  is  the  truth  that  they  who  are  thus  predestinated, 
called  and  justified,  should  be  forever  glorified,  v.  30.  Here  they 
are  indeed  often' under  a  cloud,  sometimes  brought  over  them  by 
their  own  imprudence,  by  the  malice  of  enemies,  or  by  the  course 
of  Providence.  But  in  due  time  Jehovah  will  bring  forth  their 
righteousness  as  the  light,  and  their  judgment  as  the  noon  day. 


Ch.  VIIL,  vs.  28-30.]      THE  ROMANS.  435 

Saints  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation, 
ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time.  The  intercession  of  Christ, 
the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit,  the  purpose  of  God  and  the  promises 
of  the  covenant  of  grace  make  it  certain  that  glory  shall  follow  the 
patience  of  the  saints. 

20.  Let  no  one  therefore  be  offended  at  the  doctrine  of  election. 
It  is  the  doctrine  that  makes  known  to  us  the  purpose  and  plan  of 
God.  There  is  nothing  in  it  beyond  what  our  blessed  Lord 
taught  in  that  great  sermon  which  offended  so  many,  who  had 
seemed  to  be  pleased  with  his  divine  mission  :  "  All  that  the 
Father  giveth  me,  shall  come  to  me ;  and  him  that  cometh  to  me, 
I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out  .  .  .  No  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw  him,"  John  6 :  37,  44.  Let  us  not 
be  like  Christ's  captious  hearers,  who  when  they  heard  these 
things  from  that  time  went  back  and  walked  no  more  with  him, 
John  6 :  66. 

21.  Instead  of  wasting  our  time  in  quarrelling  with  God,  or 
finding  fault  with  his  mode  of  governing  the  world  and  especially 
his  sovereign  election  of  men  to  eternal  life,  let  us  give  all  dili- 
gence to  make  our  own  calling  and  election  sure,  i  Pet.  i  :  10.  So 
averse  have  some  been  to  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  on  this  sub- 
ject that  they  have  even  maintained  that  the  purpose  mentioned  in 
verse  28,  was  the  purpose  of  them  that  loved  God.  Tholuck  well 
says  :  "  Nothing  but  a  spirit  of  controversy,  choosing  amidst  the 
means  of  warfare,  could  ever  have  brought  expositors  to  fancy 
that  the  purpose  there  spoken  of  denotes  the  bias  of  the  will  in 
man."  Our  blessed  Lord  taught  the  doctrine  of  God's  sovereignty 
in  the  choice  of  whom  he  would,  and  it  caused  the  same  rage  and 
violence  that  it  often  produces  now :  "  I  tell  you  of  a  truth,  many 
widows  were  in  Israel  in  the  days  of  Elias,  when  the  heaven  was 
shut  up  three  years  and  six  months,  when  great  famine  was 
throughout  all  the  land ;  but  unto  none  of  them  was  Elias  sent, 
save  unto  Sarepta,  a  city  of  Sidon,  unto  a  woman  that  was  a 
widow.  And  many  lepers  were  in  Israel  in  the  time  of  Eliseus, 
the  prophet ;  and  none  of  them  was  cleansed,  savjng  Naaman  the 
Syrian.  And  all  they  in  the  synagogue,  when  they  heard  these 
things,  were  filled  with  wrath,  and  rose  up,  and  thrust  him  out  of 
the  city,  and  led  him  unto  the  brow  of  the  hill  (whereon  their  city 
was  built)  that  they  might  cast  him  down  headlong,"  Luke  4 : 
25-29.  When  we  remember  the  Scripture  doctrine  that  nothing 
but  a  holy  life  can  prove  any  one  to  be  a  child  of  God,  where  is 
the  danger  that  this  doctrine  will  lead  pious  men  to  any  loose- 
ness or  immorality?  We  are  Christ's  disciples,  if  we  do  what- 
soever he  commands  us ;    nor  is  it  possible  for  any  man  to  have 


436  EPISTLE,  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  29. 

evidence  of  his   being  elect,   but  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

22.  It  is  a  glorious  truth,  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  first-born  among  many  brethren.  God's  plan  is,  first, 
that  Christ  might  have  many  brethren,  and  secondly,  that  he 
might  be  the  first-born  among  them.  Haldane  :  "  Under  the  law, 
the  first-born  had  authority  over  his  brethren,  and  to  him  be- 
longed a  double  portion,  as  well  as  the  honor  of  acting  as  priest." 
Not  only  the  act  of  God  the  Father  hath  given  the  pre-eminence 
to  Jesus  the  Son,  but  all  his  brethren  rejoice  in  it,  and  as  far  as 
it  is  in  their  power  give  him  the  pre-eminence  also.  They  crown 
him  in  each  of  their  songs. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

VERSES  31-39. 

THE   TRIUMPHANT   CONCLUSION    OF   THE   WHOLE 
ARGUMENT.     THE  RIGHTEOUS  FOREVER  SAFE. 


31  What  shall  we  then  say  to  these  things  ?  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be 
against  us  ? 

32  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall 
he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ? 

33  Who  shall  lay  any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect  ?  It  is  God  that  justi- 
fieth. 

34  Who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather,  that  is 
risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession 
for  us. 

35  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  shall  tribulation,  or  distress, 
or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or  peril,  or  sword  ? 

36  As  it  is  written.  For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long;  we  are  accounted 
as  sheep  for  the  slaughter. 

37  Nay,  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that 
loved  us. 

38  For  I  am  persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 

39  Nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

3H  WHA  T  shall  we  tJien  say  to  these  tilings  ?  If  God  be  for  us, 
JL.  who  can  be  against  us?  What  shall  we  then  say  to  these 
things  ?  Can  we  say  anything  against  them  ?  Can  we  deny  them  ? 
Dare  we  impugn  them  ?  Will  any  one  speak  lightly  of  them  ? 
Shall  we  not  highly  prize  them  and  hold  them  fast  ?  Do  they  not 
furnish  a  blessed  foundation  for  all  the  confidence  of  the  boldest 
believer — the  most  intrepid  follower  of  Jesus  ?  Do  they  not  prove 
and  establish  great  and  glorious  principles  ?  These  things  may 
refer  not  only  to  things  said  in  the  verses  immediately  preceding, 
but  to  all  that  the  apostle  had  before  presented  as  ground  of  hope 

(437) 


438  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  VIII.,  v.  32. 

I  /   in  God.     If  God  be  for  us,  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  :  If  God 
be  on  our  side.     This  is  the  sense  of  the  phrase.     It  has  been 
proven  that  he  was  on  the  side  of  all  whom  he  foreknew,  predes- 
tined, called  and  justified.     He  is  their  Friend,  theif  Father,  their 
God.     He  has  given  them  the  earnest  of  his  Spirit.     They  love 
him.     They  have  the  Christian  graces.     If  does  not  express  any 
doubt  as  to  whether  God  is  for  his  people.     It  has  the  force  of 
seeing  that,  or  inasmuch  as  in  other  places  as  well  as  here.     See 
Matt.  22  :  45  ;  Luke   11  :  13  ;  John   10  :  35  ;  Acts  11  :  17  and  often 
elsewhere.     Seeing  God  is  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  or,  who 
is  against  us  ?     The  verb  is  not  expressed  in  either  clause.     Nor  is 
there  any  better  mode  of  supplying  it  than  that  adopted  in  the 
/"authorized  version.     Who  can  be  against  us ?  i.  e.  who  can  suc- 
/  cessfully   oppose  us  ?    who  can   hinder  our  salvation  ?    who   can 
'v     defeat  the  gracious  purpose  of  God  respecting  us  ?     True,  we  war 
I  against  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  we  wrestle  with  prin- 
cipalities and  powers,  and  contend  against  the  rulers  of  the  dark- 
ness  of  this  world.     But  what  of  that,  inasmuch  as  God  is  for  us  ? 
One  almighty  is  more  mighty  than  all  his  foes.     One  all-wise  has 
more  wisdom  than  all  the  wise,  whose  wisdom  is  derived  and  bor- 
rowed, and  so  is  merely  by  measure.     One  infinite  can  sweep  away 
;  all  finites  with  a  breath,  or  crush  them  with  a  nod.     Men  have  at- 
I  tempted  to  thwart  God's  gracious  purposes,  but  they  have  never 
I  succeeded. 

32.  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all, 
how  shall  he  7tot  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ?  There  is  no 
stronger  kind  of  reasoning  than  that  called  the  argument  a  fortiori. 
It  reasons  from  the  greater  to  the  less.  We  have  it  here.  God 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  that  is,  he  spared  him  not  any  humiliation, 
suffering  or  shame,  necessary  to  make  a  full  and  complete  satisfac- 
tion to  divine  justice.  The  whole  life  of  Christ  on  earth  till  he  lay 
in  the  sepulchre  of  Joseph  was  one  of  abasement  and  anguish.  He 
died,  as  it  were,  a  thousand  times,  for  he  distinctly  knew  all  that 
was  before  him,  Luke  12  :  50.  Was  ever  sorrow  like  his  sorrow  ? 
And  it  was  all  voluntary.  And  then  he  was  God's  own  Son — his  1 ' 
dear  Son.  On  Christ's  Sonship  see  above  on  Rom.  1:4;  8:3. 
The  pertinence  of  this  matter  in  this  connection  arises  from  the 
fact  that  God's  people  are  sore  pressed  by  their  sins  and  by  their 
sorrows.  To  relieve  the  anguish  arising  from  the  former,  the 
apostle  points  them  to  an  atoning  Saviour.  To  relieve  them  from 
the  latter  he  points  them  to  a  suffering  Redeemer.  If  Christ  our 
Lord  was  afflicted,  it  is  not  surprising  that  we  should  drink  the 
cup  of  sorrow.  If  he  sunk  so  low,  and  has  risen  so  high,  we  may 
hope   through   him   to   rise   too.      If  God  spared   not   him,  but 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  33.]  THE  ROMA  NS.  439 

accepted  his  great  sacrifice  for  us,  then  we  need  not  perish  in  our 
sins,  but  may  be  fully  and  eternally  saved  from  wrath.  But  deliv- 
ered him  up  for  us  all.  We  have  had  the  word  delivered  before. 
See  above  on  Rom.  4  :  25,  where  its  various  uses  are  given.  He 
was  delivered  for  us,  in  our  place,  for  our  sakes,  in  our  behalf. 
For  us  all,  not  merely  for  Jews  but  for  Gentiles  ;  for  all  in  every 
nation,  who  are  chosen,  called  and  justified.  Hoiv  shall  he  not  with 
him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ?  Having  given  us  his  unspeak- 
able gift,  why  should  we  not  expect  %vith  him  (never  without  him) 
victory  over  affliction,  pardon,  acceptance  and  eternal  life  ?  Why 
should  not  our  sins  be  removed  from  us  as  far  as  the  east  is  from 
the  west  ?  Why  should  not  even  our  sorest  afflictions  be  turned 
to  our  advantage  ?  Why  should  we  not  reign  with  Christ  in 
glory  ?  If  his  people  are  not  all,  fully,  eternally,  and  gloriously 
saved,  where  will  be  his  reward  for  all  he  endured,  and  where  will 
be  the  faithfulness  of  God,  who  said  ?  "  He  shall  see  his  seed,  he 
shall  prolong  his  days,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper 
in  his  hand.  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be 
satisfied,"  Isa.  53  :  10,  11. 

33.  Who  shall  lay  any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God' s  elect  ?  It  is 
God  that  justifieth.  Wiclif:  Who  shall  accuse  agens  the  chosun 
men  of  God  ?  Peshito :  Who  will  set  himself  against  the  chosen 
of  God  ?  Arabic  :  Who  will  bring  an  action  at  law  against  the 
elect  of  God  ?  Stuart :  Who  shall  accuse  the  elect  of  God  ?  Cony- 
beare  and  Howson  :  What  accuser  can  harm  God's  chosen  ?  Else- 
where the  same  verb  is  rendered  implead,  accuse.  Our  version 
gives  the  sense.  Augustine,  Grotius,  Locke,  Whitby,  Bowyer, 
Doddridge,  Pyle,  Griesbach  and  Clarke  continue  the  interrogatory 
form  in  the  last  clause  :  Is  it  God  that  justifieth  ?  That  is,  Will  the 
same  God  justify  and  bring  charges  against  his  chosen  ?  The  same 
commentators  do  the  same  in  the  next  verse.  But  the  authorize'd 
version  gives  the  full  sense  of  the  passage.  Who  shall  so  accuse 
his  elect  to  God,  as  to  cause  him  to  turn  against  them  ?  He  has 
justified  them,  and  he  is  in  one  mind,  and  who  can  turn  him  ?  Job 
23  :  13.  Compare  Isa.  43  :  25.  God  is  the.  justifier,  Rom  3  :  26. 
It  is  he,  who  has  been  sinned  against,  whose  law  has  been  infracted, 
whose  majesty  has  been  insulted.  If  he  is  reconciled  so  as  to 
justify,  his  elect  need  not  fear  rejection.  There  is  no  reason  for 
varying  the  meaning  of  the  word  elect  in  this  verse.  The  same  thing 
is  taught  elsewhere  in  many  places  \  "  We  are  bound  to  give  thanks 
always  to  God  for  you,  brethren  beloved  of  the  Lord,  because 
God  hath  from  the  beginning  chosen  you  to  salvation,  through 
sanctification  of  the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth  :  whereunto  he 
called  you   by  our  Gospel,  to  the  obtaining  of  the  glory  of  our 


440  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  34,  35. 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  2  Thess.  2:13,  14.  It  is  the  same  word  ren- 
dered in  these  places  :  "  For  the  elects'  sake  ;"  "  Shall  deceive  the 
very  elect ;"  "  Shall  gather  together  his  elect ;"  "  Elect  according 
to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father,"  Matt.  24  :  22,  24,  31  ; 
I  Pet.  I  :  22.  In  Rev.  17  :  14  they  that  are  with  the  Lamb  are  said 
to  be  "  called,  and  chosen,  and  faithful."  The  decree  of  election  is 
as  irreversible  as  the  sentence  of  justification. 

34.  Who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather, 
that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also 
maketh  intercession  for  us.  Peshito  :  Who  is  it  that  condemneth  ? 
Messiah  died,  and  arose,  and  is  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  and 
maketh  intercession  for  us.  What  allegation  involving  wrath  can 
Satan,  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,  or  conscience,  however  enlight- 
ened, or  the  law  of  God  itself,  in  its  perfect  holiness,  bring  against 
a  believer,  when  he  has  fled  to  Christ,  who  died  for  our  sins  ac- 
cording to  the  scriptures,  and  once  suffered  for  sins  the  just  for 
the  unjust ;  whose  sacrifice  was  well  pleasing  to  God,  so  that  he 
released  him,  our  Surety,  from  the  prison  of  the  grave,  yea  and 
hath  famously  exalted  him,  setting  him  at  his  own  right  hand,  and 
admits  him  to  a  seat  on  his  eternal  throne,  and  never  denies  him 
anything  that  he  asks,  having  accepted  him  as  our  interceding 
High  Priest  ?  Where  is  the  believer  that  needs  any  more,  asks 
any  more  than  he  finds  in  Christ  dying  for  our  sins,  rising  for  our 
justification,  sitting  at  God's  right  hand,  swaying  the  sceptre  of 
universal  dominion,  and  interceding  for  his  people  in  the  most 
glorious  manner,  being  always  heard  and  answered,  Ps.  2:8; 
Luke  22  :  31,  32  ;  John  11  :  42. 

35.  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  f  shall  tribula- 
tion, or  distress,  or  nakediiess,  or  peril,  or  siuord?  For  who  some  read 
what,  and  the  grammar  allows  it.  The  love  of  Christ  here  is  the 
love  he  bears  to  us.  Haldane  :  "  That  it  is  Christ's  love  to  us,  in 
this  place  there  can  be  no  question.  A  person  could  not  be  said 
to  be  separated  from  his  own  feelings.  Besides,  the  object  of  the 
apostle  is  to  assure  us  not  so  immediately  of  our  love  to  God,  as 
of  his  love  to  us,  by  directing  our  attention  to  his  predestinating, 
calling,  justifying,  and  glorifying  us,  and  not  sparing  his  own  Son, 
but  delivering  him  up  for  us  all."  Separate,  a  Avord  used  for  put- 
ting asunder  man  and  wife,  Matt.  19:  6;  Mark  10  :  9  ;  i  Cor.  7: 
10,  II,  15.  It  also  means  any  kind  of  separation,  as  when  one  de- 
parts from  a  given  place,  Acts  i  :  4;  18  :  i,  2.  A  form  of  it  is  used 
when  Christ  is  said  to  have  been  separate  from  sinners^  Heb.  7 :  26. 
The  apostle  then  proceeds  to  enumerate  a  number  of  things,  and 
to  ask  what  power  they  can  have  to  cause  Christ  to  cease  to  love 
us.     I.    Tribulation,  a  word  that  signifies  vexation  from  without,  a 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  35-]  THE  ROMANS.  441 

pressure  upon  us  by  external  grievances ;  not  to  be  regarded  how- 
ever as  separate  from  the  effects  naturally  produced  by  such  griev- 
ances. What  such  tribulation  was  to  the  early  Christians  we  can 
hardly  conceive.  All  domestic,  social,  commercial  and  political 
arrangements  were  liable  and  likely  to  bring  to  them  vexation. 
If  one  travelled,  he  found  no  inn,  where  a  Christian's  feelings  were 
not  exposed  to  insult  or  outrage.  If  he  would  observe  a  day  to 
the  Lord,  the  customs  of  his  country  were  adverse  to  his  quiet. 
Some  however  prefer  to  give  the  word  here  a  comprehensive 
meaning,  embracing  affliction  in  general.  Undoubtedly  it  is  some- 
times so  used  in  the  New  Testament.  2.  Distress,  it  probably 
points  to  distress  arising  from  the  depressed  state  of  one's  mind, 
or  the  afflicted  state  of  one's  heart.  Stuart:  It  is  applied  more 
especially  to  anxiety  of  mind.  Robinson  renders  it  straits,  dis- 
tress, anguish.  3.  Persecution,  pain  or  wrong  brought  on  men  for 
their  religion,  literally  it  means  pursuit  with  intent  to  destroy  or 
injure.  How  persecution,  in  every  form,  raged  towards  the  early 
Christians  is  no  secret.  History  tells  the  whole  stor)^  Christ 
gave  his  followers  fair  notice  of  such  treatment,  John  15  :  20. 
4.  Famine,  commonly  rendered  as  here,  or  hunger.  Sometimes 
it  refers  to  general  dearth,  where  all  classes  suffer,  Acts  7:11; 
but  it  as  well  describes  the  want  of  food  where  but  one 
or  a  few  suffer  hunger,  2  Cor.  11  :  37.  One  of  the  tempta-' 
tions  arising  to  the  early  Christians  arose  from  the  fact  that 
they  often  suffered  hunger  when  their  heathen  and  cruel  neigh- 
bors had  bread  enough  and  to  spare.  5.  Nakedness,  like  the  last 
th^s  distress  resulted  not  from  idleness,  nor  from  general  want,  but 
from  confiscation,  robbery,  violence  or  some  form  of  persecution. 
That  bad  element,  human  cruelty,  was  in  it,  2  Sam.  24:  13,  14. 
How  can  men  provide  food  or  raiment,  who  are  driven  from  home 
and  from  regular  occupation,  and  wander  in  caves  and  dens  of  the 
earth  ?  Glad  enough  are  they  to  get  sheep  skins  and  goat  skins 
for  raiment,  and  the  driest  and  coarsest  food  for  diet.  6.  Peril,  a 
word  uniformly  rendered.  How  many  forms  of  it  there  are  we 
ma)^  judge  from  Paul's  enumeration  of  them  in  2  Cor.  1 1  :  26.  7. 
Sword,  the  last  resort  of  a  good  government,  but  often  the  first  re- 
sort of  tyrants  and  persecutors ;  and  by  them  wielded  wantonly 
and  wickedly.  Now,  why  should  Christ  withdraw  his  love  from 
his  elect  because  these  sad  things  befall  them  ?  If  they  endure 
such  things,  so  did  he.  He  knew  they  were  to  be  thus  tried  when 
he  chose,  called  and  justified  them.  From  eternity  his  love  has 
been  set  upon  them,  Jer.  31:3.  He  has  died  for  their  sins,  risen 
for  their  justification,  reigns  in  glory  for  their  good,  intercedes  for 
them   above,  is   merciful   and    sympathizing  towards   them,  and 


442  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  36,  37. 

never  changes,  for  he  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 
Surely  he  will  never  permit  the  sorrows  of  his  saints  to  chill  or 
change  his  love  to  them.     That  be  far  from  him, 

36.  As  it  is  written,  For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long  ;  we 
are  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter.  This  verse  is  taken  from 
Psalm  44 :  22,  and  shows  the  extreme  and  constant  sufferings  of 
God's  people,  even  at  a  time  when  they  had  not  displeased  him  by 
any  recent  or  visible  defection.  It  is  pertinent  to  the  scope  of  the 
Psalm,  and  pertinent  to  the  discourse  of  Paul.  It  does  not  deny 
that  good  may  be  brought  out  of  our  afflictions,  nor  that  it  is  not 
better  to  suffer  for  well-doing  than  for  evil-doing ;  nor  that  it  is 
not  better  to  suffer  in  God's  cause  than  our  own.  But  it  is  an  ap- 
peal for  mercy  on  the  grounds  of  freedom  from  covenant-breaking 
with  God,  and  of  the  great  cruelty  of  persecutors,  who  insulted 
Jehovah  by  murdering  his  people.  These  words  have  a  sad  fulfil- 
ment whenever  God's  people  fall  under  persecution.  Calvin : 
"  Lest  the  severity  of  the  cross  should  dismay  us,  let  us  always 
have  present  to  our  view  this  state  of  the  church,  that  as  we  are 
adopted  in  Christ,  we  are  appointed  to  the  slaughter." 

37.  Nay,  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  cojtguerors,  through 
him  that  loved  us.  The  first  word  may  be  rendered  nay  or  yea,  as 
the  idiom  of  our  language  may  require.  See  above  on  Rom.  7  :  7. 
*In  all  these  things,  and  in  all  others  like  them,  in  scenes  of  the  most 
unutterable  earthly  wo.  We  are  more  than  conquerors,  if  he 
had  said  we  are  conquerors,  the  language  would  have  been 
strong  and  striking,  but  he  says,  we  are  more  than  conquer- 
ors. Wiclif,  Cranmer,  Rheims  and  Doway  read,  we  over- 
come ;  Coverdale,  we  overcome  farre ;  Tyndale, .  we  overcome 
strongly ;  Peshito,  we  are  victorious  ;  Macknight,  we  do  more 
than  overcome ;  Schleusner,  we  most  fully  overcome ;  Beza, 
we  are  much  more  than  victors.  The  verb  in  this  form  is  found 
in  the  New  Testament  here  only  ;  but  without  the  prefix  indicat- 
ing abundantly,  it  occurs  often,  and  is  commonly  rendered  over- 
come, conquer,  or  get  the  victory.  It  occurs  often  in  Revelation. 
The  contests  of  the  righteous  are  with  great  evils,  appalling  to 
flesh  and  blood,  the  combined  forces  of  wickedness  in  earth  and 
hell,  but  they  perish  not ;  nay,  they  carry  trophies  from  the  field 
of  battle.  A  man  is  not  hurt  till  his  soul  is  hurt  ;  and  his  soul  is 
not  hurt  till  his  conscience  is  defiled  with  sin.  But  the  ample 
victory  of  the  righteous  is  not  due  to  their  native  wisdom,  holiness 
or  strength,  but  to  him  that  hath  loved  us,  which  some  understand 
as  equivalent  to  this — he  hath  loved  us — he  loves  us  now — and  he 
will  love  us  for  ever.  The  reference  is  to  Christ,  whose  love  is 
specially  spoken  of  in  v.  35.     With  such  a  stay  and  guide  and  Cap- 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  38,  39.]     THE  ROMA  NS.  443 

tain  of  salvation  it  would  be  marvellous  indeed,  if  the  saints  were 
not  more  than  conquerors. 

38.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels, 
nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 

39.  Nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord.     Am  persuaded,  the  same  verb  so  rendered  in  Rom.  15  :  14; 

2  Tim.  1:12;  in  2  Cor.  2:3;  Gal.  5  :  10 ;  Phil.  3:312  Thess.  3  : 4, 
have  confidence.  This  persuasion  was  not  of  men  but  from  God. 
It  was  not  based  on  what  Paul  saw  in  man,  but  in  what  he  knew 
to  be  in  Christ  and  in  the  provisions  of  the  covenant  of  grace. 
The  schedule  of  adversaries  begins  thus  :  i .  Death,  Aristotle's 
terrible  of  terribles,  Bildad's  king  of  terrors,  Solomon's  returning 
to  the  dust,  the  fear  of  which  keeps  so  many  in  bondage  all  their 
lifetime  ;  death  coming  to  us  in  the  usual  way,  or  death  made  as 
frightful  as  possible  by  fiendish  tormentors  with  chains,  and  whips, 
and  racks,  and  wild  beasts,  and  gibbets,  and  fires.  This  was  the 
first  ground  of  temptation,  2.  Life,  this  is  just  the  opposite. 
Some  think  it  means  life  promised  on  condition  of  denying  Christ 
before  men.  This  is  no  doubt  included,  but  life  has  many  charms 
and  seductions ;  it  is  also  compassed  with  difficulties  and  tempta- 
tions ;  nor  can  any  well  bear  its  burdens  without  the  special 
grace  of  God.  The  love  of  life  is  natural ;  but  it  may  become 
inordinate.     In  the  catalogue  of  covenanted  blessings,  in    i  Cor. 

3  :  22,  Paul  inserts  both  life  and  death.  3.  Angels,  whether  good 
or  bad,  whether  of  high  or  of  low  rank.  Flatt  and  Stuart  by 
angels  understand  only  evil  spirits,  because  good  angels  would 
not  be  opposers  of  Christians.  Pool  suggests  the  same.  But 
Haldane  well  points  us  to  the  language  of  Paul  on  another  occasion  : 
"  If  '  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you  than 
that  which  we  have  preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed.' 
Could  an  angel  from  heaven  be  supposed  a  false  preacher  rather 
than  a  persecutor?  But  such  suppositions  are  common  in  scrips 
ture.  They  do  not  imply  the  possibility  of  the  things  supposed, 
and  it  fully  justifies  them  if  the  consequence  would  follow  from 
the  supposition,  were  it  realized."  The  power  of  angels  is  prodi- 
gious ;  but  they  are  not  strong  enough  to  sever  the  bonds  of  union 
between  Christ  and  believers.  4.  Principalities,  a  word  which  is 
applied  to  earthly  potentates,  Luke  12  :  11  ;  to  evil  angels  of  great 
power,  Eph.  6:12;  Col.  2:15;  to  good  angels  of  high  rank,  Eph, 
1:21;  3:10;  and  sometimes  unitedly  to  earthly  and  heavenly 
potentates,  Col.  i  :  16.  Speak  of  principalities  ever  so  great^ 
earthly,  heavenly  or  infernal  till  you  are  amazed  at  their  influence ; 
but  they  all  united  could  not  sunder  a  soul  from  God,  who  loves 


444  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  31-39. 

it.  5.  Powers,  sometimes  rendered  miracles,  mighty  works,  won- 
derful works.  Matt.  7  :  22  ;  Mark  6:2;  Acts  2  :  22 ;  i  Cor.  12  :  10, 
28,  29  ;  often  rendered  strength,  power,  might,  once  violence,  Heb. 
II  :  34.  Gather  together  all  created  powers,  great  and  small, 
celestial,  terrestrial  and  infernal,  and  they  can  do  nothing  to  cut 
off  the  saints  from  the  favor  of  God.  6  and  7.  Things  present  and 
things  to  come,  Grotius  :  Neither  the  evils  we  now  feel,  nor  those 
which  await  us ;  Owen  of  Thrussington :  Neither  things  which 
now  exist,  nor  things  which  shall  be  ;  Haldane :  Neither  the  trials 
nor  afflictions  in  which  the  children  of  God  are  at  any  time  in- 
volved, nor  with  which  they  may  at  any  future  period  be  exer- 
cised ;  Hodge :  Nothing  in  this  life,  nor  in  the  future ;  Stuart : 
Neither  [troubles]  present  nor  future.  8  and  9.  Height  and  depth, 
Grotius :  The  height  of  honor  and  the  depth  of  disgrace  ;  Mede  : 
Prosperity  and  adversity  ;  Schleusner  :  Neither  heaven  nor  earth. 
The  first  word  occurs  in  but  one  other  place  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 2  Cor.  10  :  5,  and  is  there  rendered  high  things.  The  second 
occurs  nine  times,  and  is  twice  applied  to  a  deep  soil,  Matt.  13:5; 
Mark  4:5;  once  to  deep  poverty,  2  Cor.  8:2;  once  to  deep  waters, 
Luke  5:4;  twice  to  the  amazing  love  and  wisdom  of  God  in  man's 
salvation ;  once  to  the  deep  things  of  God  ;  once  to  the  deep  plots 
of  Satan,  Rev.  2  :  24.  Perhaps  the  sense  given  by  Schleusner  is 
to  be  preferred,  unless  we  undersand  with  Theodoret,  neither 
heaven  nor  hell.  10.  Nor  any  other  creature,  that  is,  created  thing, 
or  creation.  All  that  God  has  made  has  the  continuance  of  its 
existence  by  his  will,  is  completely  in  his  power  and  can  never 
get  beyond  his  grasp.  It  may  be  rational  or  irrational,  animate 
or  inanimate,  but  it  and  all  things  else  combined  cannot  change 
God's  gracious  purpose  of  love  and  mercy  to  his  chosen — that 
love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  The  saving  love  of 
the  Father  flows  out  through  his  Son.  In  creation  and  provi- 
dence God  has  indeed  manifested  great  benevolence ;  but  that 
love  of  God,  which  blesses  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  and  in  none  other.  Whosoever  rejects 
Christ  seals  his  own  damnation. 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

I.  Let  ministers  of  the  gospel  imitate  the  example  of  Paul  in 
presenting  fully  and  faithfully  the  doctrine  of  gratuitous  salvation, 
answering  objections  to  it,  and  then  showing,  as  he  does,  vs.  31-39, 
how  the  believer  may  exult  in  the  face  of  all  foes.  It  is  sad  when 
the  embassadors  of  Christ  first  take  away  the  grounds  of  a  strong 
consolation,  an'd   then  display  no  heroism  in  the  face  of  appalling 


i 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  31.]  THE  ROMA  NS.  445 

dangers,  but  turn  cowards,  and  by  example  teach  the  people  to  be 
unfaithful  to  Christ.  But  it  is  delightful  when  like  Paul  they 
stand  forth  bravely  on  the  field  of  battle,  beckon  on  the  followers 
of  the  Lamb,  in  the  name  of  Christ  defy  the  assaults  of  earth  and 
hell,  and  sing  songs  of 'salvation  in  the  hottest  of  the  battle. 

2.  When  God  propounds  truth  we  ought  to  think  of  it,  con- 
sider its  bearings,  and,  if  occasion  offer,  have  something  to  say  of 
it,  V.  31.  We  should  first  embrace  all  that  the  Lord  speaks,  then 
practise  it,  and  never  relinquish  it.  If  truth  is  for  humiliation, 
let  us  be  humbled  thereby ;  if  it  is  for  admonition,  let  us  be  ad- 
monished ;  if  it  is  for  comfort,  let  us  be  strengthened.  Troubles 
may  roll  in  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  but  if  our  faith  is  clear  and 
strong,  we  shall  glory  in  them  all.  As  in  Christ  the  scourge,  and 
crown  of  thorns,  and  cross,  and  cup  of  bitterness  all  turned  to  his 
greater  exaltation,  so  shall  it  be  with  all  his  people,  who  are  faith- 
ful unto  death. 

3.  Every  revealed  truth  has  its  relations  to  other  principles  of 
God's  word,  and  should  often  be  so  considered  ;  but  some  things 
said  in  scripture  are  so  simple  and  so  clear  that  we  may  rejoice  in 
them  whenever  we  think  of  them.  They  come  up  a  thousand 
times,  in  old  and  in  new  connections,  or  by  themselves,  and  help 
us  in  our  struggle.  Such  a  truth  have  we  hero-:  "  If  God  be  for 
us,  who  can  be  against  us?"  Pool:  "  Maximilian,  the  emperor,  so 
admired  this  sentence,  that  he  caused  it  to  be  written  over  the 
table  where  he  used  to  dine  and  sup ;  that,  having  it  often  in  his 
eye,  he  might  have  it  also  in  his  mind."  God's  word  abounds  in 
like  utterances.  Let  us  learn  and  remember  them.  Let  the  word 
of  God  dwell  in  us  richly  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding. 

4.  Everything  turns  on  this.  Is  God  for  us?  v.  31.  If  he  is, 
results  are  not  doubtful.  Calvin  :  "  This  is  the  chief  and  the  only 
support  which  can  assist  us  in  every  temptation.  For  unless  God 
favor  us,  though  all  things  should  smile  on  us,  yet  no  sure  confi- 
dence can  be  attained ;  but  on  the  other  hand  his  favor  alone  is  a 
sufficient  solace  in  every  sorrow,  a  protection  sufficiently  strong 
against  all  the  storms  of  adversities."  If  there  were  any  weak- 
ness or  deficiency  in  his  character,  it  would  be  different.  But 
there  is  none.  He  is  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable,  in  his 
being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth. 
Evans :  "  That  includes  all,  that  God  is  for  us ;  not  only  recon- 
ciled to  us,  and  so  not  against  us,  but  in  covenant  with  us,  and  so 
engaged  for  us  ;  all  his  attribute's  for  us,  his  promises  for  us  ;  all 
that  he  is,  and  has,  and  does,  is  for  his  people.  He  performs  all 
things  for  them.  He  is  for  them,  even  when  he  seems  to  act 
against  them."     Alleluia,  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth. 


446  EPISTLE    TO     [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  31,  32. 

5.  Before  such  truth  how  opposition,  persecution  and  all 
their  horrid  machinations  fade  away  and  become  contemptible. 
Chrysostom  :  "  It  may  be  said,  who  is  there  that  is  not  against  us  ? 
Why  the  world  is  against  us,  both  kings  and  people,  both  kindred 
and  countrymen.  Yet  so  far  are  they  from  thwarting  us  at  all, 
that  even  they  without  their  will  become  to  us  the  causes  ot 
crowns,  and  procurers  of  countless  blessings,  in  that  God's  wisdom 
turneth  their  plots  into  our  salvation  and  glory.  ,  .  Against  the 
Emperor  there  are  abundance  of  barbarians  that  arm  themselves, 
and  of  enemies  that  invade,  and  of  body-guards  that  plot,  and  of 
Subjects  many  that  oftentimes  are  ever  and  anon  rebelling,  and 
thousands  of  other  things.  But  against  the  faithful  who  taketh 
good  heed  unto  God's  laws,  neither  man,  nor  devil,  nor  aught 
besides  can  raise  opposition !  For  if  you  take  away  his  money, 
you  have  become  the  procurer  of  a  reward  to  him.  If  you  speak 
ill  of  him,  by  the  evil  report  he  gains  fresh  lustre  in  God's 
sight.  If  you  cast  him  into  starvation,  the  more  will  his  glory 
and  his  reward  be.  If  you  give  him  over  to  death,  you  are 
twining  a  crown  of  martyrdom  about  him."  Nor  is  this  any 
new  doctrine.  It  is  the  same  old  truth  delivered  to  the  saints 
before  the  coming  of  Messiah.  See  Isa.  43  :  1,2,  and  many  like 
passages. 

6.  If  we  reverse  the  sentence  contained  in  the  last  clause  of 
verse  31,  we  have  a  truth  no  less  clear,  but  terribly  alarming  to 
all  who  live  in  sin  :  If  God  be  against  us,  who  can  be  for  us  ?  All 
the  consolatory  truths  of  Scripture  have  the  reverse  side,  and  if 
men  were  wise,  they  would  look  at  both  sides,  and  not  allow  the 
vanities  of  earth  to  divert  their  attention  from  eternal  things.  If 
God  be  against  us !  Awful  thought !  If  he  is  against  us,  all  his 
attributes,  purposes,  plans,  works  and  word  are  against  us.  Who 
but  a  madman  will  tempt  so  unequal  a  war  ? 

7.  It  is  a  glorious  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  die  by  acci- 
dent, or  because  he  could  not  live  any  longer,  or  because  man  was 
too  strong  for  the  Almighty,  but  that  God  spared  him  not,  and  all 
according  to  his  wise  and  eternal  counsel,  v.  32.  True,  Judas 
delivered  him  to  the  Roman  band,  and  Pilate  delivered  him  to  be 
crucified,  but  they  could  do  nothing  except  as  it  was  given  them 
of  God.  If  his  Father  had  not  delivered  him  to  death,  he  had  not 
died.  Scott :  "  If  this  was  not  too  large  a  gift  to  his  enemies, 
what  can  he  withhold  from  his  friends  and  children  ?" 

8.  Idle  is  the  expectation  of  the  wicked  that  they  shall  escape 
with  impunity,  even  though  sin  be  not  pardoned,  when  God  spared 
not  his  own  Son,  even  though  he  was  personally  innocent,  and 
merely  stood  as  the  substitute  of  others,  v.  32. 


Ch.  VIII.,  V.  32.]  THE  ROMANS,  447 

9.  The  doctrine  of  Christ's  true  and  proper  divinity  is  funda- 
mental. It  is  so  treated  in  the  word  of  God.  He  is  God's  Son, 
God's  own  Son,  v.  32  ;  God's  well-beloved  Son,  who  counted  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God.  How  can  any  prove  the  divinity 
of  the  Father,  but  by  the  very  arguments  which  establish  the 
divinity  of  the  Son  ?  If  the  Father  is  called  God,  so  is  the  Son, 
John  I  :  I  ;  if  the  Father  made  the  world,  so  did  the  Son,  John  i  : 
3  ;  if  the  Father  rightly  receives  the  worship  of  the  heavenly 
hosts,  so  does  the  Son,  Heb.  1:6;  if  the  Father  is  unchangeable, 
so  is  the  Son,  Heb.  i  :  12  ;  if  the  Father  is  Almighty,  so  is  the  Son, 
Rev.  1:8;  if  the  Father  is  omniscient,  the  Son  also  knoweth  all 

,  things,  John  21:17. 

10.  Glorious  is  the  truth,  not  only  that  with  Christ  God  will 
give  us  all  things,  but  that  he  will  freely  give  them — without  money 
and  without  price,  without  hesitation  or  reluctance,  without  stint 
and  without  grudging,  v.  32.  When  he  says  all  things,  of  course 
he  means  all  things  necessary,  profitable  to  us,  really  promotive  of 
our  best  interests.  The  same  idea  is  presented  in  Ps.  34 :  10 ;  84 :  11. 
They  that  serve  the  Lord  shall  lack  no  good  thing. 

11.  It  is  a  blessed  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  bore  all  the  curse, 
drank  the  cup  of  trembling  to  the  dregs  thereof,  exhausted  the 
penalty  that  we  had  incurred,  and  so  left  nothing  behind  for  us  to 
bear,  or  to  hinder  our  reception  of  infinite  blessings,  v.  32. 

12.  But  let  us  never  forget  that  all  good  things  come  with 
Christ,  V.  32.  He  is  the  Mediator,  the  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King, 
the  Surety  of  the  sinner.  Chalmers  sums  up  in  five  different  heads 
the  substance  of  the  arguments  used  in  this  connection  :  '■'■  First — 
God  hath  already  given  the  very  greatest  thing  to  set  my  salva- 
tion agoing,  and  what  security  then  is  there  that  he  shall  give  all 
other  things  which  are  needful  to  complete  that  salvation  ?  He 
hath  given  his  only  and  his  well-beloved  Son  for  us  all.  Secondly 
— Take  into  account  the  deep  and  mysterious  suffering  that  was 
incurred  at  this  first  and  greatest  step  in  the  historical  process  of 
our  salvation — and  that  now  the  suffering  is  over.  Thirdly — Re- 
member that  all  which  God  hath  done  from  first  to  last  in  the 
work  of  our  redemption,  has  been  entirely  of  free  will.  It  was 
not  because  he  owed  it  to  us,  but  because  his  own  heart  was  set 
upon  it.  Fourthly — It  should  still  more  be  recollected,  that  when 
he  did  give  up  his  Son,  it  was  on  behalf  of  sinners  with  whom  at 
the  time  he  was  in  a  state  of  unreconciled  variance.  It  was  in  the 
very  heat  and  soreness  of  the  controversy.  It  was  at  the  period 
when  his  broken  law  had  as  yet  obtained  no  reparation — when  in- 
sult without  a  satisfaction,  when  disobedience  without  an  apology 
and  without  a  compensation,  had  been  rendered  to  him.     Fifthly 


448  EPIS  TLE    TO       [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  33-35. 

— He  gave  up  his  Son  at  a  time  when  mercy  was  closed  in  as  it 
were  by  the  other  attributes  of  his  nature — when  it  had  not  yet 
found  a  way  through  that  justice  and  holiness  and  truth,  which 
seemed  to  bar  the  exercise  of  it  altogether."  After  such  a  gift, 
under  such  circumstances,  who  can  wonder  at  anything  else  as 
great  in  the  shape  of  bounty,  pity  or  mercy  ? 

13.  God  does  indeed  freely  justify  by  his  grace,  but  not  with- 
out a  cause,  v.  33.  His  everlasting  love  and  his  unchangeable 
purpose  lead  him  thereto.  Through  the  infinite  merits  of  Christ 
reckoned  to  the  believer,  God  declares  the  sinner  just,  adorns  him 
with  glorious  righteousness,  takes  him  fully  into  favor,  sees  nei- 
ther iniquity  nor  perverseness  in  him.  Num.  28  :  21,  and  deals  ^ 
with  him  to  all  the  ends  and  purposes  of  eternal  life  as  tenderly 
and  lovingly  as  if  he  had  never  sinned  at  all.  All  which  could  be 
supposed  to  be  charged  against  him  has  been  forgiven.  The  only 
competent  judge  in  the  case  pronounces  him  absolved  from  all 
things  justly  charged  against  him.  O  that  precious  blood  with- 
out the  shedding  of  which  there  was  no  remission  !  O  that  glori- 
ous obedience  without  flaw  or  defect,  rendered  by  our  Substitute, 
Rom.  5  :  19.  After  all  this  we  should  as  soon  expect  God  to  un- 
make the  world  as  to  reverse  the  gracious  sentence  of  justifi- 
cation. 

14.  Not  only  is  Christ's  character  faultless,  complete  and  glori- 
ous, but  his  work  is  finished  also.  He  died,  he  rose,  he  is  at 
God's  right  hand,  he  intercedes,  v.  34.  By  his  death  he  paid  our 
dreadful  debt.  By  rising  he  obtained  God's  testimony  to  the  ful- 
ness of  his  satisfaction.  By  sitting  at  God's  right  hand,  he  evinces 
his  sovereign  authority  over  all,  by  interceding  he  shows  himself 
our  advocate  on  high.  This  is  not  after  the  manner  of  men.  The 
ransom  has  been  paid,  plenteous  redemption  procured,  eternal  life 
made  sure  to  all  who  accept  the  offers  of  the  gospel.  No  marvel 
that  he  has  a  name  above  every  name.  No  marvel  that  the  vir- 
gins love  him,  that  the  angels  adore  him,  that  his  Father  crowns 
him  with  glory  and  honor. 

15.  When.  God  permits  them,  wicked  men  and  fallen  angels 
can  do  a  good  deal.  They  can  send  tribulation,  distress,  persecu- 
tion, famine,  nakedness,  peril  and  sword,  v.  35.  They  cannot  do 
even  these  things  till  God  lengthens  their  chain,  John  19:  11.  But 
sometimes  they  are  permitted  to  do  such  things.  They  are  the 
sword  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  Ps.  17  :  13.  They  are  the  rod  of 
God's  anger  and  the  staff"  of  his  indignation,  Isa.  10  :  5.  Chrysos- 
tom :  "  Paul  dares  them  all !  He  brings  them  forward  in  the 
shape  of  questions,  as  if  it  were  incontrovertible  that  nothing 
could  move  a  person  so  beloved,  and  who  had  enjoyed  so  much 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  36,  37-]     THE  ROMANS.  449 

providence  over  him."  Hodge  :  "  Trials  and  afflictions  of  every 
kind  have  been  the  portion  of  the  people  of  God  in  all  ages ;  as 
they  cannot  destroy  the  love  of  Christ  towards  us,  they  ought  not 
to  shake  our  love  towards  him." 

16.  Dickson :  "  It  is  a  mercy  to  us,  that  when  God  might  pun- 
ish us  for  our  sins,  he  maketh  our  correction  honorable,  and  our 
troubles  to  be  for  a  good  cause  :  for  thy  sake  are  we  killed^'  v.  36. 
Reader,  art  thou  at  heart  a  martyr  ?  Woulds't  thou  stand  fire  for 
Christ  ? 

17.  It  is  marvellous  that  sinners  do  not  see  how  saints  gain  the 
victory  even  here.  Every  day  they  show  themselves  to  be  more 
than  conquerors,  v.  37.  Sometimes  wicked  men  do  see  that  God 
is  with  his  people  of  a  truth,  even  in  this  life.  The  heathen  them- 
selves ere  now  have  had  their  eyes  opened  to  the  marvellous  prov- 
idence of  God  in  behalf  of  his  chosen.  "  Then  said  his  wise  men 
and  Zeresh  his  wife  unto  him,  If  Mordecai  be  of  the  seed  of  the 
Jews,  before  whom  thou  hast  begun  to  fall,  thou  shalt  not  prevail 
against  him,  but  shalt  surely  fall  before  him,"  Esther  6:13.  The 
day  is  coming  when  sinners  will  unite  with  saints  in  pronouncing 
all  sin  to  be  madness,  all  iniquity  to  be  the  folly  of  fools. 

18.  This  is  the  more  clear  as  God's  people  are  more  than  con- 
querors even  here.  He  is  the  greater  man,  not  who  has  the 
greater  wealth  but  the  greater  contempt  of  wealth  ;  not  who  seeks 
and  obtains  most  honors  from  men,  but  who  seeks  the  honor  that 
cometh*  from  God  only.  No  man  is  so  debased  by  sin  that  he 
might  not  be  overcome  by  a  love  of  the  world  in  any  of  its  forms ; 
but  the  true  greatness  of  believers  consists  in  despising,  as  a  por- 
tion, all  the  things  that  perish.  One  said,  I  am  greater  and  am 
born  to  greater  things  than  to  trust  to  lying  vanities.  Losses 
God's  people  do  certainly  sustain,  but  none  of  them  are  irrepara- 
ble ;  and  none  of  them  are  worth  a  moment's  thought  compared 
with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us.  "  We,  Christians, 
laugh*  at  your  cruelty,  and  grow  the  more  resolute,"  said  a  no- 
bleman to  Julian  the  apostate.  Whether  bloody  persecution  is 
likely  ever  to  stalk  abroad  again  is  hardly  a  doubtful  question. 
Some  have  thought  America  would  in  such  an  event  be  ex- 
empt, because  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  has  not  yet  flowed  here. 
But  many  among  us  are  the  descendants  of  persecutors,  and  the 
spirit  that  is  in  the  wicked  still  lusteth  to  envy.  So  let  every 
good  man  be  prepared  for/^rz7and  the  sword.     Both  may  come. 

19.  But  all  our  victory  is  through  him  that  loved  us,  v.  37. 
How  carefully  we  ought  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel 
which  never  forgets  to  give  glory  to  the  Lamb.  How  often  does 
God's  word  remind  us  that  all  is  in,  by  and  through  Christ,  for 

29 


450  EPIS  TLE    TO     [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  35-39. 

his  sake,  in  his  name,  by  his  blood  and  to  his  glory.  If  in  heaven 
above,  they  crown  him  in  each  of  their  songs,  why  should  not  we 
imitate  them  here  below  ?  It  is  no  new  thing  for  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  formalists  and  hypocrites  to  be  sore  displeased  when 
even  the  children  in  the  temple  cry,  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David, 
Matt.  21  :  15.     But  let  not  us  be  joined  to  their  company, 

20.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  right  persuasions  about  great 
things  in  rehgion,  and  if  they  are  true,  the  firmer  they  are,  the 
better,  v.  38.  Mere  convictions  are  not  enough,  though  they  lie 
at  the  foundation  of  just  action.  One  great  cause  of  the  instability 
of  professing  Christians  is  the  want  of  firm  persuasions — persua- 
sions that  all  which  God  hath  spoken  shall  surely  be  accomplished, 
that  every  word  of  God  is  pure,  that  no  promise  can  fail,  and  that 
the  final  victory  of  the  righteous  is  as  certain  as  that  God  is  on 
their  side. 

21.  The  love  of  Christ  and  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord  shall  be  the  theme  of  the  redeemed  forever,  vs.  35, 
39.  Let  all  the  pious  duly  celebrate  them  here.  It  was  not  easy 
for  David  to  exaggerate  the  love  of  Jonathan  to  him.  He  declares 
it  was  wonderful — beyond  the  love  of  women,  2  Sam.  i  :  26.  But 
what  was  the  love  of  .Jonathan  to  David  compared  with  the  love 
of  Christ  to  his  people,  or  with  the  love  of  God  in  Christ }  It  is 
even  as  nothing.  The  latter  is  from  eternity,  unchanging,  over- 
coming all  obstacles,  making  all  sacrifices,  giving  a  kingdom  that 
cannot  be  moved,  and  having  neither  measure  nor  limit.    - 

O  for  this  love  let  rocks  and  hills 

Their  lasting  silence  break  ; 
And  all  harmonious  human  tongues 

The  Saviour's  praises  speak. 

22.  Come  what  will,  nothing  can  separate  the  believer  from 
the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  No,  nothing  ! 
Earth  and  hell  have  often  combined  their  forces,  and  racked  their 
powers  of  invention  to  do  something  that  should  be  a  real  damage 
to  the  undaunted  believer.  But  they  have  never  been  able  to  suc- 
ceed and  they  never  shall.  After  they  have  killed  the  body,  what 
remains  for  them  to  do?  Thenceforth,  the  ransomed  child  of 
grace  is  as  effectually  beyond  their  power  as  is  his  glorified  Re- 
deemer. 

23.  Are  these  things  so?  Let  the  spirit  of  entire  devotion  to 
the  person  and  glory  of  Christ  animate  the  breast  of  all,  who  hope 
for  any  thing  better  than  this  poor  world  can  supply.  It  is  easy 
to  fall  into  excess  in  the  desire  and  pursuit  of  earthlv  things.     But 


Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  3I-39-]      THE  ROMANS.  451 

no  man  ever  loves  Christ  too  much,  or  is  too  prompt  to  bear  re- 
proach or  suffering  for  his  sake.  The  great  error  of  us  all  is  that 
we  are  too  slow  to  offer  up  our  Isaacs,  to  say  what  have  I  to  do 
any  more  with  idols  ?  and  to  take  up  our  cross  and  follow  Christ 
through  evil  and  through  good  report. 

24.  The  whole  spirit  of  this  passage  leaves  the  just  impression 
on  the  mind  of  every  candid  reader  that  the  doctrines  here  taught 
are  a  contribution  to  holiness.  Scott :  "  None  can  have  any  ground 
to  think  themselves  predestinated,  called,  or  justified,  or  to  expect 
to  be  glorified ;  except  they  love  God,  bear  the  image  of  Christ, 
walk  in  his  steps,  and  aim  to  obey  and  honor  him."  Where  is  the 
child  of  God,  however  feeble  his  graces,  who  does  not  know  that 
the  end  of  the  commandment  is  charity,  out  of  a  pure  heart,  and  of 
a  good  conscience  and  of  faith  unfeigned?  Where  is  the  believer 
so  weak  as  to  suppose  that  a  wicked  life  is  not  fruit  unto  death  ? 
Hodge  :  "It  has  been  objected  that  if  Paul  had  intended  to  teach 
these  doctrines,  he  would  have  said  that  apostasy  and  sin  cannot 
interfere  with  the  salvation  of  believers.  But  what  is  salvation, 
but  deliverance  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin  ?  It  is,  therefore, 
included  in  the  very  purpose  and  promise  of  salvation,  that  its  ob- 
jects shall  be  preserved  from  apostasy  and  deadly  sins.  This  is 
the  end  and  essence  of  salvation.  And,  therefore,  to  make  Paul 
argue  that  God  will  save  us  if  we  do  not  apostatize,  is  to  make 
him  say,  that  those  shall  be  saved  who  are  not  lost.  According  to 
the  apostle's  doctrine,  holiness  is  so  essential  and  prominent  a  part 
of  salvation,  that  it  is  not  so  much  a  means  to  an  end  as  the  very 
end  itself  It  is  that  to  which  we  are  predestinated  and  called,  and 
therefore  if  the  promise  of  salvation  does  not  include  the  promise 
of  holiness,  it  includes  nothing.  Hence,  to  ask,  whether  if  one  of 
the  called  should  apostatize  and  live  in  sin,  he  would  still  be  saved, 
is  to  ask,  whether  he  shall  be  saved  if  he  is  not  saved?" 

25.  The  Scripture  warrants  the  doctrine  of  assurance  of  salva- 
tion, vs.  31-39.  Haldane  :  "The  full  assurance  of  faith,  in  which 
believers  are  commanded  to  draw  near  to  God,  stands  inseparably 
connected  with  having  their  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  con- 
science. An  evil  conscience  accuses  a  man  as  guilty,  as  deserving 
and  liable  to  punishment,  and  keeps  him  at  a  distance  from  God. 
It  causes  him  to  regard  the  Almighty  as  an  enemy  and  avenger, 
so  that  the  natural  enmity  of  the  mind  against  God  is  excited  and 

,  strengthened.  On  the  contrary,  a  good  conscience  is  a  conscience 
discharged  from  guilt,  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  Conscience  tells  a 
man  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,  and  that  he  has  incurred  the 
penalty ;  but  when  the  atonement  made  by  Christ  is  believed  in, 
it  is  seen  that  our  sins  are  no  more  ours,  but  Christ's,  upon  whom 


452  EPIS  TLE.  [Ch.  VIII.,  vs.  31-39. 

God  hath  laid  them  all,  and  that  the  punishment  due  for  sin,  which 
is  death,  has  been  inflicted  upon  him ;  the  demands  of  the  law 
have  been  fulfilled,  and  its  penalty  suffered.  On  this  the  believer 
rests,  and  his  conscience  is  satisfied."  Leighton :  "  If  election, 
effectual  calling  and  salvation  be  inseparably  linked  together — 
then  .by  any  one  of  them  a  man  may  lay  hold  upon  all  the  rest, 
and  may  know  that  his  hold  is  sure ;  and  this  is  the  way  wherein 
he  may  attain  and  ought  to  secure  that  comfortable  assurance  of 
the  love  of  God  .  .  .  Find  then  but  within  thee  sanctification  by 
the  Spirit;  and  this  argues  necessarily  both  justification  by  the 
Son,  and  election  by  God  the  Father." 

Prayer. 

O  Lord  God,  the  Father  of  mercies  and  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  give  us  grace  to  accept  all  the  loving  kindness  man- 
ifested to  us  in  the  gift  of  thy  dear  Son.  Make  us  conformable  to 
his  life  and  to  his  death.  '  Put  thy  good  Spirit  within  us  as  a 
Spirit  of  adoption,  of  truth,  of  grace  and  supplications,  of  wisdom 
and  holiness.  Bring  us  within  the  pale  of  that  covenant  which 
is  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure.  Write  our  names  in  the  Lamb's 
Book  of  Life.  Surround  us  by  thy  gracious  Providence.  Enable 
us  to  believe  every  word  which  thou  hast  spoken  and  give  us  the 
victory  over  all  our  spiritual  adversaries,  letting  nothing  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  unto  him 
that  is  able  to  'keep  us  from  falling  and  to  present  us  faultless  be- 
fore the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceeding  joy  ;  to  the  only  wise 
God  our  Saviour,  be  glory  and  majesty,  dominion  and  power, 
both  now  and  ever.     Amen. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

VERSES   1-5. 

PAUL'S  SORROW  AT  THE  REJECTION  OF  THE  JEWS. 
THE  HIGH  PRIVILEGES  THEY  HAVE  ENJOYED. 


1  SAY  the  truth  in  Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  conscience  also  bearing  me  witness  in  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

2  That  I  have  great  heaviness  and  continual  sorrow  in  my  heart. 

3  For  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from  Christ  for  my  brethren,  my 
kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  : 

4  Who  are  Israelites ;  to  whom  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and 
the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
promises  ; 

5  Whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom  as  concerning  the  flesh  Christ  came, 
who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever.     Amen. 

PAUL  had  proved  that  Gentiles  and  Jews  were  all  sinners  ; 
that  they  all  needed  gratuitous  salvation  ;  that  justification 
could  not  possibly  be  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  ;  that  there  was  but 
one  way  of  salvation  for  all  nations  of  men  ;  that  there  was  no 
revelation  of  more  than  one  method  of  restoration  to  God's  favor; 
that  Abraham  was  saved  just  as  sinners  of  the  Gentiles  are  saved  • 
that  David  clearly  spoke  of  this  one  method  ;  that  Christ's  humi- 
liation opened  up  to  us  the  way  of  life  ;  that  we  are  justified 
through  faith  in  Christ ;  that  the  fruits  of  justification  are  abun- 
dant and  blessed  ;  that  the  great  principle  of  federal  headship 
brought  to  our  notice  in  the  fall  of  Adam  is  the  same  as  that 
involved  in  our  representation  in  Christ ;  that  gratuitous  salva- 
tion gives  no  license  to  loose  living,  but  by  a  right  apprehension 
of  it  men  become  servants  of  God  ;  that  sanctification  is  by  the 
gospel,  not  by  the  law  ;  that  in  the  spiritual  warfare  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  the  victory  is  won  only  through  Jesus  Christ ;  that  justi- 
fication is  complete  in  this  life  and  inseparably  joined  with  sancti- 
fication by  the  Spirit ;  that  nothing  in  the  form  of  affliction  is  in 
the  end  really  injurious  to  believers ;  that  God  had  an  eternal  plan 

(453) 


454  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX..  v.  i. 

concerning  men's  salvation  ;  that  nothing  could  destroy  those, 
who  were  the  called  according  to  God's  purpose  ;  and  that  the 
combined  powers  of  wickedness  could  not  separate  a  believer  from 
the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Thus  the  apostle  closes 
his  discussion  of  the  glorious  way  of  life  by  a  gratuitous  justifica- 
tion, and  by  a  scriptural  sanctification,  and  closes  it  with  shoutings 
and  exultations  the  most  animating. 

But  just  here  a  sad  topic  is  presented.  It  is  this.  If  the  fore- 
going is  the  only  method  of  salvation,  is  not  the  case  of  many 
Jews  sad  ?  have  they  not  rejected  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life  ?  Notorious  facts  compel  the  apostle  to 
admit  that  this  is  so.  To  this  matter  he  now  addresses  himself  in 
the  most  tender  and  solemn  manner. 

I.  I  say  the  truth  in  Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  conscience  also  bearing  me 
witness  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  I  have  not  taught 
the  doctrines  of  this  epistle  because  I  was  indifferent  to  the  case 
of  my  countrymen,  nor  because  they  had  cast  me  off  and  perse- 
cuted me  for  my  love  to  the  gospel.  Far  from  it.  /  say  the  truth, 
I  speak  what  I  am  sure  is  verity.  On  this  point  I  am  not  mistaken. 

1  say  the  truth  in  Christ.  This  phrase  is  variously  explained. 
Four  methods  are  chiefly  relied  on.  i.  Many  regard  the  phrase 
as  equivalent  to  an  oath.  But  there  is  no  verb  of  swearing  used 
here.  Nor  was  there  any  propriety  in  his  taking  an  oath.  No 
one  had  called  for  it.  The  occasion  did  not  call  for  it.  2.  Some 
put  /  and  in  Christ  together — /  in  Christ,  I  a  man  who  claim  to  be 
in  Christ,  a  new  creature,  a  Christian.  This  form  of  expression, 
thus  understood,  could  give  no  weight,  among  Jews,  to  what  he 
was  about  to  say.  3.  Some  think  that  in  Christ  means  in  a  Chris- 
tian manner.  This  too  would  not  commend  to  Jews  what  he  was 
about  to  say.  Nor  is  this  a  very  good  sense  to  give  the  phrase, 
nor  is  it  the  usual  signification  of  the  words  in  Christ.  4.  Others, 
admitting  that  it  is  not  an  oath,  yet  regard  it  as  an  asseveration. 
We  are  said  to  asseverate  when  with  solemnity  we  positively  aver. 
An  asseveration  expresses  vehemence  and  is  designed  to  give 
emphasis  to  our  assertions.  Asseverations  are  right  or  wrong 
according  to  the  occasion  or  manner  of  using  them.  When  lawful 
they  do  not  materially  differ  from  persistent  declarations.  Thus 
Rhoda  the  damsel  constantly  affirmed  that  Peter  was  at  the  gate. 
We  may  make  our  asseverations  very  strong,  as  Elijah  did  to 
Elisha,  when  he  said,  "  As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth," 

2  Kings  2  :  2,  4,  6.  This  is  not  a  formal  oath,  and  yet  it  is  an  asser- 
tion hardly  less  solemn  than  an  oath,  but  there  is  no  swearing  in 
it.  So  Paul  here  under  a  sense  of  his  awful  responsibility  to  the 
Master  whom  he  served,  in  whose  presence  he  felt  himself  to  be, 


Ch.IX.,  V.  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  455 

and  to  whom  he  knew  he  must  soon  give  account,  solemnly  asserts 
his  sincerity  and  truthfuhiess.  In  2  Cor.  2:17  there  is  a  similar 
solemn  assertion  :  "  As  of  sincerity,  as  of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God 
speak  we  in  Christ."  /  lie  not,  quite  uniformly  rendered,  I  speak 
not  falsely.  My  conscience  also  bearing  me  zvitness  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 
How  one's  conscience  bears  witness  to  the  truth  of  what  he  says' 
men  commonly  suppose  they  well  understand.  The  doubt  arises 
respecting  the  last  phrase,  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  There  are  five 
opinions,  i.  Some  take  it  as  an  oath  by  the  third  person  of  the 
Trinity  ;  but  for  this  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  Avhatever.  There 
is  no  form  of  swearing,  but  there  is  a  simple  statement  that  his 
conscience  testified  to  his  veracity.  2.  Others  think  the  meaning 
is,  my  conscience  testifies  and  the  Holy  Ghost  also  testifies  with 
it.  This  makes  good  sense,  and  teaches  the  same  truth  as  that 
taught  in  Rom  8  :  16.  The  only  difficulty  is  in  so  construing  the 
words  as  to  get  this  sense  out  of  them.  3.  Others  make  the  sense 
to  be.  My  conscience  in  [or  under  the  direction  of]  the  Holy  Ghost 
testifies.  It  is  true  that  the  Holy  Spirit  does  purify  and  sanctify 
the  conscience  of  a  believer  in  Jesus  Christ.  But  is  this  what 
Paul  here  intends  to  assert  of  himself?  4.  Others  think  that  the 
phrase  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  a  simple  claim  of  being  under  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is  certainly  the  meaning  of  the 
phrase  in  Matt.  22:43;  Mark  12:36;  i  Cor.  12:3,  13,  etc.  In 
each  of  these  places  we  have  the  same  preposition  as  in  our  verse. 
5.  The  other  explanation  offered  is  that,  like  the  first  clause  of  the 
verse,  this  is  a  solemn  asseveration,  in  the  presence  of  the  Spirit 
who  searcheth  the  heart,  that  he  uttered  no  falsehood.  Either  this 
or  the  4th  is  best  sustained  by  scripture  usage,  gives  the  best 
sense,  and  is  most  free  from  objections. 

2.  That  I  have  great  heaviness  and  continual  sorroiv  in  my  heart. 
Heaviness,  once  rendered  grief,  twice  heaviness,  but  commonly 
sorrow.  Sorrow,  found  in  but  one  other  place  (i  Tim.  6  :  16)  and 
there  rendered  as  here.  The  latter  is  the  stronger  word.  Bret- 
schneider  renders  the  former  grief;  the  latter,  violent  grief.  But 
to  the  former  Paul  adds  the  word  great,  and  to  the  latter  the  word 
continual.  His  grief  was  great  and  without  ceasing  ;  for  how 
could  he  endure  to  see  the  destruction  of  his.  nation  ?  Their  re- 
jection of  Christ  caused  them  to  be  awfully  rejected  by  God ; 
subjected  them  to  the  utter  loss  of  all  that  had  distinguished  them 
as  a  people,  and  gave  them  over  to  the  direst  calamities  that  ever 
befell  a  city  or  a  country.  Though  this  epistle  was  written  at 
least  ten  years  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  yet  from  the 
days  of  the  personal  ministry  of  Christ  the  doom  of  the  holy  city 
had  been  no  secret  among  his  disciples,  Matt:  24 :  2-22  ;    Luke 


456  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  3. 

19  :  41-44.  Indeed  so  well  advised  were  even  private  Jewish 
Christians  of  the  approaching  catastrophe  that  tradition  distinctly 
says  that  not  one  'of  them  perished  in  the  overthrow  of  their 
ancient  city.  As  Jesus,  beholding  the  city  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  before,  wept  over  it,  so  now  his  servant  Paul  was  bowed 
down  with  sorrow  on  the  same  account,  and  so  much  the  more  as 
the  awful  events,  made  certain  by  prophecy  and  by  the  general 
rejection  of  Messiah,  were  near  at  hand. 

3.  For  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from  CJirist  for  my 
brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh.  As  might  be  expected 
the  interpretations  of  this  verse  are  both  various  and  diverse. 
The  extreme  views  are  these  :  i.  Some  explain  the  words  as  though 
the  apostle  meant  to  say  that  he  loved  his  nation  so  that  for  their 
good  he  was  willing  to  be  excluded  from  the  hope  of  salvation, 
separated  from  Christ,  and  brought  under  the  curse  impending 
over  his  unbelieving  countrymen  both  in  this  and  the  next  world. 
Surely  Paul  was  not  calling  down  on  himself  the  eternal  destruc- 
tion of  the  wicked,  nor  expressing  a  readiness  to  be  a  cast-away 
and  a  blasphemer  of  Christ  for  ever.  This  is  one  extreme.  2.  The 
other  makes  very  little  of  the  verse,  supposing  it  expresses  not 
what  Paul  now  wished,  but  what  he  had  wished  before  his  conver- 
sion. But  all,  who  knew  Paul's  history,  needed  not  to  be  told  of 
his  former  madness  and  bitterness  against  the  Lord  Jesus.  The 
dislike  of  the  Jews  to  him  arose  very  much  from  the  fact  that  he 
had  so  utterly  renounced  Judaism  and  changed  his  course.  He 
was  endeavoring  to  soften  their  prejudices,  by  telling  them  of  his 
present  sentiments  respecting  them.  He  was  assuring  his  country- 
men that  he  now  ardently  loved  them.  Between  these  extremes 
lie  a  large  number  of  opinions,  most,  if  not  all  of  which  depend 
on  the  misconstruction  of  some  word  in  the  Greek  text  of  this 
verse.  Thus  Waterland,  followed  by  Doddridge,  thinks  that  the 
preposition  rendered  from  means  after  the  example  of  Christ.  But 
the  place  relied  on  to  establish  it  (2  Tim.  i  :  3)  does  not  sustain  the 
exposition.  Another  turns  on  the  meaning  of  the  word  rendered 
accursed,  in  the  Greek  anathema.  Because  anything  anathema,  if 
possessed  of  animal  life,  was  devoted  to  death,  some  think  Paul 
meant  that  he  was  willing  to  die  for  his  people,  if  that  would  save 
them.  But  the  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  word  denotes 
not  merely  death,  but  commonly  death  under  the  curse  of  God, 
and  that  here  he  adds  the  words  from  Christ.  Surely  Paul  did 
not  seriously  desire  to  die  under  the  curse  of  God,  or  to  be 
banished  from  Christ.  Nor  can  we  suppose  that  by  accursed  he 
merely  meant  excommunicated  from  the  church  ;  for  a  man  could 
not  be  lawfully  cut  off  from  the  church  except  for  some  great  sin, 


Ch.  IX.,  V.  3.]  THE  ROMANS.  457 

which  must  be  repented  of;  and  surely  Paul  did  not  wish  to  be, 
for  his  sins,  excluded  from  the  fellowship  of  the  saints.  Nor 
would  the  words  tlius  understood  at  all  commend  him  to  the  Jews. 
After  these  remarks  it  is  proper  to  observe  that  examples  are  not 
wanting  in  the  scriptures  of  very  strong  language  expressive  of 
desire  for  the  good  of  others.  Thus  for  Israel  on  occasion  of  their 
making  the  golden  calf  and  the  terrible  waste  of  life  that  followed, 
Moses  offered  this  prayer :  "  Yet  now,  if  thou  wilt  forgive  their 
sins :  and,  if  not,  blot  me,  I  pray"  thee,  out  of  thy  book  which  thou 
hast  written,"  Ex.  32  :  32.  Paul  says  :  "  Peradventure  for  a  good 
man  some  would  even  dare  to  die,"  Rom.  5  :  7.  Again  :  "  Being 
affectionately  desirous  of  you,  we  were  willing  to  have  imparted 
unto  you,  not  the  gospel  of  God  only,  but  also  our  own  souls,  be- 
cause ye  were  dear  unto  us,"  i  Thess.  2  :  8.  And  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple says :  "  Hereby  perceive  we  the  love  of  God,  because  he  laid 
down  his  life  for  us :  and  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren,"  i  John  3:1^.  Compare  2  Cor.  12:15;  Phil.  2:17. 
These  scriptures  make  it  abundantly  clear  that  a  good  man  may 
be  willing,  and  that  some  have  been  willing  to  suffer  all  that  men 
can  lawfully  suffer,  all  that  they  can  endure  without  sin,  for  the 
good  of  others,  even  to  dying  a  violent  and  cruel  death  under  a 
load  of  obloquy  and  ignominy.  It  may  also  be  stated,  that  there 
is  a  lawful  way  of  expressing  our  natural  desires  or  personal 
wishes  for  things  impossible,  and  thus  indicating  the  intensity  of 
our  emotions,  without  our  sinning  against  God,  or  being  chargea- 
ble with  insincerity.  Thus  our  dear  Lord  himself  in  his  dreadful 
agony  "  prayed,  saying,  O  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup 
pass  from  me :  nevertheless,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt,"  Matt. 
26 :  39.  So  in  Gal.  i  :  8,  9,  Paul  states  a  supposition  of  that  which 
is  wholly  impossible.  Now  the  very  form  of  the  verb  here  is 
such  as  to  indicate  that  the  apostle  intended  to  admit  that  what 
he  spoke  of  was  impossible.  On  that  question  of  grammar  see 
Tholuck,  Stuart  and  Hodge  on  this  place.  The  tense  of  the  verb 
is  not  the  present  /  wish,  nor  the  aorist  /  did  wish,  but  the  imper- 
fect /  could  wish.  The  word  anathema,  rendered  accursed,  deserves 
further  "notice.  The  idea  connected  with  it  may  be  Greek  and 
heathen,  or  Jewish  and  rabbinical.  This  gives  it  a  wide  range. 
It  may  mean  i.  something  devoted  to  God;  2.  something  very 
detestable  ;  3.  something  devoted  to  destruction.  The  word  was 
used  in  the  various  forms  of  excommunication  in  the  Jewish 
Church.  Were  it  not  for  the  words  from  Christ,  there  would  be 
no  difficulty  in  the  case.  To  meet  this  some  propose  to  re^id  from 
Chrisfs  body,  or  church ;  but  this  would  in  no  sense  commend 
Paul  to  a  Jew.     Guyse  carries  his  paraphrase  so  far  as  to  make 


458  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IX,  v.  4. 

the  apostle  express  his  willingness  "  to  be  cut  off  from  the  delights 
of  present  communion  with  Christ."  But  few  if  any  s.cm  ready 
to  follow  him.  On  a  view  of  the  whole  case  these  conclusions  are 
reached:,  i.  That  Paul  here  expresses  nothing  that  he  or  any  one 
might  not  lawfully  say.  He  utters  no  shocking  imprecation,  and 
calls  down  no  curse  on  himself.  2.  He  expresses  in  the  strongest 
terms  known  to  him,  his  deep  sorrow  at  the  state  and  doom  of  his 
Jewish  brethren  and  his  desire  to  serve  them.  3.  The  form  of 
expression  employed  indicates  that  he  regarded  that  of  which  he 
spoke  as  something  impossible  to  be  done ;  yet  his  longings  for 
his  countrymen  were  such  that  he  knew  of  nothing  and  could  con- 
ceive of  nothing  which  it  was  lawful  and  possible  for  man  to  en- 
dure, that  he  would  not  suffer  it  to  save  his  own  people,  whose 
ruin  he  saw  coming  on  them  like  an  armed  man.  My  brethren, 
fully  explained  to  mean  the  Jews  by  the  words,  my  kinsmen  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh. 

4.  Who  are  Israelites :  to  whom  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the 
glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service 
of  God  and  the  promises.  No  man  had  studied  with  more  care  the 
history  of  his  people,  or  had  a  higher  estimate  of  their  distin- 
guished privileges,  or  would  have  been  personally  more  gratified  at 
their  piety  and  honor  than  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  He  acknowl- 
edges the  long  line  of  an  honored  ancestry  which  they  justly , 
claimed.  They  were  Israelites,  descendants  of  the  man  who  was  a 
prince  with  God.  They  knew  no  more  encouraging  title  belong- 
ing to  Jehovah  than  that  of  the  God  of  Jacob.  They  too  had 
Abraham  to  their  father,  Moses  for  their  leader  and  lawgiver, 
Aaron  and  Eli  among  their  priests,  Samuel,  Elias  and  Isaiah  among 
their  prophets,  Ehud  and  Samson  among  their  heroes,  David, 
Solomon  and  Josiah  among  their  kings,  and  Miriam  and  Hannah 
among  their  honorable  women.  To  them  pertained  the  adoption, 
a  word  uniformly  rendered.  God  often  called  the  Jewish  nation 
his  children,  and  held  himself  forth  as  their  Father,  Ex.  4:23; 
Deut.  14 :  I  ;  Jer.  31:9;  Hos.  11  :  i ;  Isa.  1:2;  Mai.  i  :  6.  But  this 
could  not  mean  that  the  whole  nation  was  in  favor  with  God,  for 
Paul  at  once  proceeds  to  show  that  this  was  not  so  ;  but  that 
among  them  was  made  known  the  way  of  becoming  the  true  sons 
of  God  ;  or  that  God  treated  them,  beyond  any  other  people,  with 
pity  and  favor.  This  latter  is  probably  the  idea  intended.  It  co- 
incides with  other  scriptures,  Amos  3:2;  Ps.  147:  19,  20;  Isa. 
63  :  19.  To  them  also  pertained  the  glory,  that  is,  God  for  long 
ages  appeared  among  them  by  the  visible  glory,  the  shechinah,  the 
brightness,  Ex.  29 :  43  ;  40 :  34  ;  and  many  other  places.  The  ark 
seems  once  to  be  called  the  glory,  i  Sam.  4:  21;  but  the  glory 


Ch.IX,v.5.]  THE  ROMANS.  459 

rested  over  it.  To  them  too  belonged  the  covenants,  those  made 
with  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Aaron  and  David,  the  covenant  in 
the  plains  of  Moab,  the  covenant  at  Shechem,  and  the  national 
covenant.  The  only  theocracy  ever  established  among  men  was 
in  Israel.  To  them  also  was  given  the  law,  the  Sinaitic  covenant, 
a  law  regulating  everything,  promoting,  when  observed,  the  high- 
est domestic  and  national  happiness,  keeping  them  separate  from 
the  abominations  of  heathenism,  and  making  them  a  peculiar 
nation.  They  also  had  the  service  of  God,  the  grandest  ritual  ever 
known  on  earth,  with  its  priests,  altars,  sacrifices,  feasts  and 
splendid  temple.  All  its  appointments  were  of  the  most  impos- 
ing character.  And  to  them  pertained  the  promises,  Rom.  15:8; 
Gal.  3:16;  Eph,  2:12;  Heb.  11:17.  The  greatest  of  all  the 
promises,  around  which  all  clustered,  were  those  relating  to 
Messiah. 

5.  Whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom  as  concerning  the  flesh 
Christ  czvae,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever.  Amen.  The  fa- 
thers, not  merely  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  but  all  that  long  line 
of  worthies,  some  of  whom  are  mentioned  in  holy  writings,  but 
most  of  whom  were  known  in  Paul's  day  by  tradition  or  were 
found  in  the  genealogical  tabl'es.  Fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred 
years  of  the  history  of  such  a  people  must  have  produced  multi- 
tudes of  men  and  women  eminent  for  their  virtues  and  piety.  Of 
whom  concerning  the  flesh  Christ  came.  As  to  his  human  nature 
our  Saviour  was  an  Israelite.  Let  us  not  forget  that.  He  was  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah,  his  real  mother  and  reputed  father  both  being 
of  the  house  and  lineage  of  David.  But  then  he  had  also  a  divine 
nature,  for  he  is  not  only  truly  man,  but  he  is  over  all,  God  blessed 
for  ever.  Three  things  are  here  said  respecting  Christ,  either  of 
which  should  settle  the  question  of  our  Lord's  divinity.  One  is 
that  he  is  called  God.  Another  is  that  he  is  supreme — he  is  over 
all.  Compare  Eph.  4 :  6,  where  the  same  language  is  used  of  the 
Father.  The  third  is  that  he  is  blessed  for  ever.  Blessed,  not  the 
word  so  rendered  in  Matt.  5  :  3-1 1.  That  means  happy.  But  this 
word,  says  Robinson,  means  adorable,  worthy  of  all  praise.  The 
word  is  found  eight  times  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is  seven 
times  applied  to  the  Father,  and  here  to  the  Son.  It  shows  the 
desperate  lengths  to  which  the  enemies  of  the  supreme  divinity  of 
our  Lord  will  go,  that  they  attempt  to  alter  and  pervert  this  text, 
making  it  a  doxology  to  God  the  Father.  But  their  rashness  in 
this  behalf  has  opened  the  eyes  of  many,  to  see  how  men  will  dare 
to  tamper  with  God's  word.  Hodge :  "  All  the  MSS.,  all  the 
versions  and  fathers  give  the  passage  precisely  as  in  the  common 
text."     Amen,  a  word  of  Hebrew  origin.     At  the  beginning  of  a 


46o  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  i. 

sentence  it  means  verily,  of  a  truth ;  at  the  end  of  a  sentence  it 
means,  let  it  be.     See  above  on  Rom.  i :  25. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  All  Christians,  and  particularly  all  ministers  of  the  gospel 
should  speak  the  truth,  especially  respecting  the  great  things  of 
God,  and  where  the  Hfe  of  men's  souls  is  involved,  v.  i.  They 
should  speak  it  fearlessly,  solemnly,  seasonably,  humbly,  plainly, 
with  discrimination,  faithfully,  doctrinally,  experimentally,  by  ex- 
ample and  lovingly.  Tenderness  is  the  matter  prominently 
brought  to  our  notice  here.  In  other  places  we  find  the  same 
thing.  For  three  years  Paul  wept  over  the  Ephesians,  Acts  20 : 
19.  Compare  Phil.  3:18.  We  had  almost  as  well  not  preach 
God's  truth  at  all  as  to  speak  it  in  a  harsh  and  violent  way.  A 
cold,  severe  and  insolent  manner  of  presenting  it  does  caricature 
God's,  truth,  and  give  to  men  erroneous  conceptions  of  it.  Many 
indulge  prejudices  against  both  the  message  and  the  messenger. 
Oftimes  hatred  of  the  preacher  causes  rejection  of  his  doctrine. 
Sometimes  malice  rises  into  rage.  Then  great  wisdom  and  for- 
bearance are  called  for.  Brown :  "  Ministers,  in  dealing  with  an 
exasperated  people,  should  follow  a  Christian  prudent  way  of  in- 
sinuating themselves  in  their  affections,  and  for  this  cause  should 
wisely  forbear  any  expression  which  may  irritate."  Harshness  is 
not  fidelity.  There  are  hardly  any  maxims  more  false  or  mis- 
chievous than  these  :  "  There  is  no  good  done  unless  opposition  is 
aroused  ;"  "  One's  fidelity  may  be  tested  by  the  enmity  he  awak- 
ens against  himself  and  the  doctrine  he  preaches."  The  hostility 
of  the  natural  heart  against  God  and  his  word  and  people  should 
never  be  wantonly  or  needlessly  provoked.  It  is  strong  and 
active  enough  at  all  times  to  evince  its  deadly  nature  without  our 
needlessly  provoking  it. 

2.  Where  the  case  calls  for  it,  we  may  assert  and  even  asseverate 
our  truthfulness,  and  our  love  for  men's  souls,  v.  i.  There  are  but 
few  men  so  vile  and  debased  as  to  deny  that  on  the  witness  stand 
and  in  the  sacred  desk  veracity  is  a  prime,  an  indispensable  qual- 
ity. Let  there  be  no  lying  there,  say  even  many,  who  sometimes 
jest  with  truth  on  comparatively  trifling  themes  and  occasions. 
And  we  should  never  forget,  nor  let  our  hearers  forget  that  in 
preaching  we  speak  under  awful  responsibility  to  Christ  and  ex- 
pect to  giv€  to  him  a  solemn  account  of  all  we  say  and  do.  We 
all  live  and  act  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  all,  who  are  not  vain  and 
frivolous,  admit  no  less.  So  that,  without  an  oath,  we  may,  as  in 
the  presence  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  declare  to  men 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  I,  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  461 

our  sincere  love  for  them  even  when  we  bring  them  unwelcome 
truths. 

3.  Although  no  one  in  our  day  speaks  in  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
sense  of  being  by  him  infallibly  preserved  from  error,  or  uttering 
only  the  words  which  he  teacheth-;  yet  we  must  insist  on  the  ple- 
nary inspiration  of  the  authors  of  the  books  of  canonical  scripture. 
They  claimed  such  infallible  guidance,  v.  i.  Plenary  and  verbal 
inspiration  is  now,  and  is  likely  for  some  time  to  come  to  be,  the 
field  where  the  hardest  battle  for  the  truth  is  to  be  fought.  Let 
not  the  friends  of  truth  yield  any  thing  in  this  great  contest.  Let 
them  be  valiant  for  the  truth.  The  issue  is  not  doubtful,  unless 
those,  who  should  defend,  betray  Christ's  cause.  No  point  in  the 
argument  for  Christianity  is  more  defensible.  One  thing  is  very 
clear.  The  apostles  and  prophets  claimed  such  inspiration.  If 
they  did  it  not  truly,  we  have  no  religion  left  among  us,  clothed 
with  divine  authority. 

4.  A  good  man  under  the  guidance  of  God's  truth  and  Spirit 
may  rely  on  the  testimony  of  his  conscience,  and  may  appeal  to  it 
without  danger  of  being  deceived,  v.  i.  This  conscience  is  the 
moral  sense  of  each  man,  and  is  no  more  liable  to  deception  than 
his  taste,  or  memory.  Indeed  the  first  awards  of  conscience  on 
any  simple  matter  are  remarkably  clear  and  safe.  Its  decisions 
are  no  less  cogent  than  they  are  peculiar,  the  remorse  or  compla- 
cency thereby  produced  having  boundless  influence  over  human 
happiness  or  misery.  Our  great  endeavor  should  be  to  have  a 
pure  conscience,  void  of  offence  towards  God  and  man,  a  good 
conscience,  well  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  truth,  and  thor- 
oughly sprinkled  with  atoning  blood,  i  Tim.  3:9;  Acts  24:  16; 
Acts  23  :  I  ;  Heb.  9:  14.  Such  a  conscience  makes  the  righteous 
as  bold  as  a  lion.  It  is  worth  all  it  ever  costs  of  study,  diligence, 
sacrifice  and  adherence  to  principle.  Temporal  death  is  a  small 
evil,  compared  with  a  guilty  conscience.  Remorse  is  the  fire  of 
perdition  often  kindled  before  men  reach  Tophet. 

5.  It  is  very  unfair  for  the  wicked  so  to  act  as  necessarily  to 
bring  great  sorrow  on  the  pious,  awakening  in  their  bosoms  just 
and  alarming  apprehensions  for  the  eternal  well-being  of  their  ua- 
converted  friends  and  kindred,  and  then  to  blame  the  religion  of 
those,  who  fear  God,  as  if  it  was  the  'cause  of  unhappiness,  v.  2. 
The  godly  often  weep  over  the  wicked,  who  deride  their  pious 
grief.  Thus  Paul  had  continual  and  vehement  sorrow  for  his  coun- 
trymen. Is  it  not  benevolent,  is  it  not  right  that  one  should  grieve 
to  see  another  rushing  headlong  to  ruin  ?  Is  it  fair,  is  it  manly,  is 
it  just  by  our  sins  to  fill  with  sadness  our  best  friends,  and  then  to 
accuse  their  piety  as  the  cause  of  their  sadness  ?     O  wicked  man, 


462  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  2,  3. 

press  not  on  to  ruin  amid  the  weepings  of  the  godly,  lest  you  take 
up  the  wail  that  is  everlasting. 

6.  Nor  is  it  unreasonable  nor  unusual  for  the  people  of  God  to 
be  sad  at  the  course  of  the  wicked,  v.  2.  "  I  beheld  the  transgres- 
sors and  was  grieved  ; "  "  Horror  hath  taken  hold  of  me,  because 
of  the  wicked  that  forsake  thy  law  ; "  "  Rivers  of  water  run  down 
mine  eyes,  because  they  keep  not  thy  law,"  Ps.  119:  53,  136,  158. 
Compare  Jer.  9  :  I  ;  13:17;  Ezek.  9:2.  Is  not  this  right?  Cecil: 
"  The  world  will  allow  a  vehemence  approaching  to  ecstasy  on  al- 
most every  subject  but  religion,  which  above  all  others  will  justify 
it."  What  enemy  is  so  relentless  that  he  would  not  lustily  cry. 
Fire,  Fire,  FiRE,  FIRE,  if  he  saw  his  adversary's  dwelling  in 
flames  and  its  inmates  asleep  ?  Why  then  should  not  the  kind, 
benevolent  child  of  God  give  the  alarm  and  with  tears  beseech 
men  to  be  reconciled  to  God  ?  If  they  refuse,  why  should  they 
not  still  be  a  burden  to  him  ?  He  must  do  what  he  can  to  save 
them,  or  be  guilty  before  God.  "  If  thou  forbear  to  deliver  them 
that  are  drawn  unto  death,  and  those  that  are  ready  to  be  slain ; 
if  thou  sayest,  Behold,  we  knew  it  not :  doth  not  he  that  ponder- 
eth  the  heart  consider  it  ?  and  he  that  keepeth  thy  soul,  doth  not 
he  know  it  ?  and  shall  not  he  render  to  every  man  according  to 
his  works?"  Pr.  24:  11,  12.  Scott:  "Insensibility  to  the  eternal 
condition  of  our  fellow-creatures  is  contrary  both  to  the  love  re- 
quired by  the  law,  and  the  mercy  of  the  gospel."  Hodge  :  "  If  We 
can  view,  unmoved,  the  perishing  condition  of  our  fellow-men,  or 
are  unwilling  to  make  sacrifices  for  their  benefit,  we  are  very  dif- 
ferent from  Paul,  and  from  him  who  wept  over  Jerusalem,  and 
died  for  our  good  upon  Mount  Calvary."  Chalmers :  "  The  awful 
sentence  of  condemnation — the  signal  of  everlasting  departure  to 
all  who  know  not  God  and  obey  not  the  gospel — the  ceaseless 
moanings  that  ever  and  anon  shall  ascend  from  the  lake  of  living 
agony — the  grim  and  dreary  imprisonment  whose  barriers  are 
closed  insuperably  and  for<3ver  on  the  hopeless  outcasts  of  ven- 
geance— These,  ye  men  who  wear  the  form  of  godliness  but  show 
not  the  power  of  it  in  your  training  of  your  families — these  are  not 
the  articles  of  your  faith.  To  you  they  are  as  the  imaginations  of 
a  legendary  fable.     Else  why  this  apathy  ?  " 

7.  The  question  then  arises.  How  far  may  we  go  in  our  emo- 
tions, plans,  prayers,  labors  and  sacrifices  for  the  salvation  of  oth- 
ers? On  this  inquiry  we  get  some  light  from  verses  2,  3.  If  we 
were  sure  that  we  understood  this  scripture  and  others,  which 
have  been  cited,  we  might  rest  satisfied  that  we  were  in  the  way 
of  knowing  our  duty.  We  may  certainly  feel  very  strongly,  ten- 
derly and  continually.      Our  grief  may  be  vehement  and  our  sor- 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  1-3.]  THE  ROMANS.  463 

row  pungent.  We  may  wisely  and  cheerfully  give  up  ease,  honor, 
luxury,  wealth,  popularity,  if  thus  we  can  best  promote  their  sal- 
vation. We  may  cheerfully  consent  to  be  anything  or  nothing,  the 
song  of  the  drunkard,  the  offscouring  of  the  world,  endure  all  con- 
ceivable privations,  toils,  losses  and  temporal  calamities,  and  die 
the  most  painful,  lingering  and  ignominious  death  man  could  in- 
flict. We  may  pray  without  ceasing,  with  strong  crying  and 
tears.  We  may  earnestly  ask  others  to  unite  with  us  in  our  fast- 
ings and  intercessions  for  the  objects  of  our  concern.  We  may  do 
all  this  wisely  even  for  the  salvation  of  one — much  more  for  the 
salvation  of  many.  Hodge  :  "  There  is  no  limit  to  the  sacrifice 
which  one  may  make  for  the  benefit  of  others,  except  that  which 
his  duty  to  God  imposes."  Nor  is  there  anything  unnatural  in  all 
this,  if  one  has  any  lively  sense  of  the  worth  of  his  own  soul  or 
the  glory  of  Christ.  Chalmers  beautifully  says :  "  The  agony  of 
an  infant's  dying-bed  is  not  more  real  than  the  agony  inflicted  by 
it  on  a  mother's  bosom.  The  sufferings  endured  by  the  one  have 
not  a  more  stable  or  undoubted  certainty,  than  the  sympathy 
which  is  felt  for  them  by  the  other."  So  if  we  love  Christ  su- 
premely and  men  as  we  should,  the  perishing  state  of  men  will 
very  thoroughly  arouse  us  to  seek  their  salvation.  And  the  fact 
that  men  hate  us  without  a  cause,  slander  and  revile  us,  despise 
and  persecute  us  for  righteousness'  sake,  is  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  seek  their  salvation  with  intense  longings.  Was  not 
the  dying  prayer  of  Jesus  answered  in  fifty  days  for  the  conver- 
sion of  thousands  of  his  murderers?  Was  not  the  prayer  of  dying 
Stephen  answered  in  the  conversion  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  held 
the  clothes  of  the  men  that  stoned  the  first  Christian  martyr? 
Wondrous  is  the  love  and  the  power  of  the  love  which  a  good 
man  may  have  for  others.  Of  Paul  Chrysostom  says :  "  Broader 
than  every  sea,  and  keener  than  every  flame,  was  that  love,  and 
no  language  is  able  worthily  to  express  it.  But  he  alone  who 
really  possesses  it,  knows  what  it  is." 

8.  When  we  sincerely  wish  men  well,  weep  over  their  sins  and 
their  state,  we  may  say  so  in  terms  unmistakeable,  vs.  1-3.  When 
the  weeping  prophet  told  his  countrymen  the  judgments  about  to 
come  upon  them,  they  said,  "  Thou  fallest  away  to  the  Chaldeans." 
But  he  appealed  to  God  for  his  innocence  and  benevolence: 
"  Neither  have  I  desired  the  woful  day,  thou  knowest,"  Jer. 
17  :  r6. 

9.  Formerly  it  was  very  common  for  Christian  assemblies  to 
pray  much  for  the  Jews.  Is  this  good  practice  as  generally  ob- 
served now  as  Paul's  example  would  indicate  it  should  be  ?  vs. 
1-3.     Are  they  not  according  to  the  flesh  the  kinsmen  of  our 


464  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  1-5. 

Lord  ?  Are  not  their  history  and  true  traditions  more  sublime 
than  those  of  any  other  people  ?  Chalmers :  "  All  the  trophies  of 
conquest,  and  of  literature,  and  of  all  earthly  renown  make  not  out 
a  crown  of  traditional  glory  for  any  of  the  states  or  monarchies  of 
other  days,  which  is  at  all  like  unto  that  crown  of  transcendental 
glory,  that  halo  from  heaven,  which  sits  on  the  character  and  the 
fortunes  of  the  children  of  Israel."  This  people  shall  yet  be  con- 
verted to  Christ.  Oh  that 'the  day  of  their  restoration  to  fellow- 
ship with  (jod  may  be  hastened.  Let  us  pray  for  it,  often, 
earnestly. 

10.  The  Jews  had  far  greater  privileges  than  any  other  ancient 
people.  By  perverting  them,  they  demonstrated  that  no  curses 
are  so  great  as  those  arising  from  the  abuse  of  exalted  mercies 
and  favors,  vs.  4,  5. 

11.  There  is  a  difference  between  an  Israelite  and  an  Israelite 
indeed.  Compare  v.  4  and  John  i  :  47.  This  distinction  must  be 
maintained.  Doeg  was  an  Israelite ;  David  was  an  Israelite  in- 
deed. No  distinction  is  more  just  or  more  obvious.  Those  are 
Christ's  mother  and  brethren  and  sisters,  who  do  the  will  of  God 
and  keep  the  commandments. 

12.  Have  we  what  Luther  calls  the  "exuberant  charit}'  "  of 
Paul?  Can  we  love,  pity  and  commend  what  is  commendable 
even  in  bitter  opposers  ?  vs.  1-5.  Are  we  unselfish?  Does  our 
charity  begin  and  end  at  home?  Much  was  said  and  written  a 
half  century  or  more  since  about  "  disinterested  benevolence." 
The  terms  were  not  well  chosen.  All  benevolence  is  disinterested. 
Have  we  benevolence  ?  Do  we  ever  feel  a  "  high  pang  of  zeal  and 
affection  "  for  the  vile,  the  guilty,  the  perishing  ?  "  Love  is  apt  to 
be  bold  and  venturous  and  self-denying."  Are  we  in  any  measure 
like  Paul  ? 

13.  National  election  is  admitted  by  many  who  deny  personal 
election,  and  is  implied  in  vs.  4,  5.  Every  Arminian  commentator 
at  hand  admits  national  election.  Some  ask.  What  is  the  differ- 
ence ?  So  far  as  the  rights  of  sovereignty  are  concerned  there  is 
none.  If  God  has  a  right  to  choose  a  nation  to  exalted  religious 
privileges,  he  has  a  right  to  choose  an  individual  to  eternal  life 
and  to  appoint  all  the  means  thereto.  If  he  may  dispose  of  thrones 
and  crowns  and  kingdoms  here,  why  may  he  not  bestow  on  whom 
he  will  crowns  and  kingdoms  in  glory  ?  The  real  difference  be- 
tween national  and  personal  election  is  that  the  former  saves  no 
one  ;  the  latter  saves  all  on  whom  it  settles.  For  the  former  see 
Ezek.  16  :  3,  8-43  ;  for  the  latter  see  Acts  13  :  48  ;  John  10  :  16,  26  ; 
Rom.  8  :  30. 

14.  There  was  great  glory  in  the  old  dispensation,  of  which  the 


Ch.  IX..  vs.  4,  5.]  THE  ROMANS.  465 

shechinah  was  a  part  and  of  all  of  which  it  was  an  emblem.  But 
the  glory  of  the  gospel  is  much  greater.  It  "excelleth."  The 
latter  is  as  much  in  advance  of  the  former,  as  Christ  was  greater 
than  Moses.  The  former  was  the  ministration  of  condemnation. 
The  latter  is  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit,  2  Cor.  3  :  7-1 1.  Com- 
pare John  I  :  17;  Heb.  12  :  18-24,  and  many  parallel  passages. 

15.  Knowing  the  covenmit  of  God  will  save  no  man,  unless  we 
personally  embrace  it,  v.  4. 

16.  Scenes  of  terror,  such  as  were  witnessed  at  Sinai  in  the 
giving  of  the  law,  though  they  may  make  men  exceedingly  fear 
and  quake,  save  no  man,  v.  4.  Through  unbelief  they  seem  often 
to  harden  the  heert.  They  may  even  become  matter  of  boasting 
and  vain  glory. 

17.  There  was  much  that  was  grand  and  striking,  instructive 
and  precious  in  the  service  of  the  temple,  and  he,  who  is  spiritual, 
and  loves  to  trace  spiritual  similitudes,  will  find  knowledge  and 
refreshment  in  this  too  much  neglected  field,  v.  4.  Perhaps  a  for- 
mer generation  may  have  carried  to  excess  their  love  for  this 
method  of  edification.  But  is  not  the  tendency  at  present  to  the 
other  extreme  ?  A  sound  and  sober  spiritual  use  of  Solomon's 
temple  would  delight  the  saints  in  our  day.  The  temple  had  not 
the  substance,  as  we  have,  but  it  had  beautiful  images  of  the  very 
best  things  under  the  gospel. 

18.  Under  every  dispensation,  no  small  part  of  spiritual  wis- 
dom consists  in  a  right  use  of  the  promises  of  God,  v.  4.  In  this 
matter  wicked  Jews  always  made  sad  mistakes.  Under  thQ  gos- 
pel we  are  no  less  liable  to  err  fatally.  Our  first  duty  respect- 
ing them  is  steadfastly  to  believe  and  firmly  to  embrace  them, 
Heb.  II  :  13.  Our  next  duty  touching  them  is  to  be  made  holy 
by  them.  If  we  fail  here,  they  can  do  us  no  lasting  good,  2  Cor. 
7  :  I ;  2  Pet.  i  :  4. 

19.  It  is  a  great  blessing  to  have  had  a  good  ancestry,  especial- 
ly a  pious  ancestry,  v.  5.  It  is  but  few  men,  who  have  a  wise 
regard  to  their  posterity,  unless  they  can  look  back  on  honored 
progenitors.  Of  all  the  desperate  acts  of  wickedness  performed 
by  men,  none  goes  beyond  the  renunciation  of  the  God  of  our 
pious  forefathers. 

20.  In  the  early  ages  of  the  Christian  church  many  heresies 
arose  respecting  the  humanity  of  Christ,  v.  5.  For  the  last  three 
centuries  the  enemies  of  the  truth  have  chiefly  assaulted  his 
divinity.  Of  late  it  looks  as  if  the  doctrine  of  his  entire  man- 
hood was  to  be  again  vigorously  assaulted.  All  still  admit  that 
he  had  a  true  body,  but  it  begins  to  be  more  than  hinted  that 
his  divine  nature  took  the  place  of  a  human  soul  in  him.     How 

30 


466  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  5. 

far  this  folly  may  go,  the  Head  of  the  church  knows;  but  let 
the  friends  of  Christ  be  on  the  alert  and  valiant  for  the  truth. 
The  issue  of  the  contest  is  not  doubtful.  If  the  scriptures  do 
not  prove  that  Jesus  Christ  had  a  reasonable  soul — human  nature 
entire,  sin  only  excepted — they  prove  nothing. 

21.  We  must  in  like  manner  hold  fast  the  true,  proper,  su- 
preme divinity  of  Christ,  as  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever,  v.  5. 
His  divinity  is  established  in  God's  word  by  the  same  line  of 
argument,  by  which  we  prove  the  divinity  of  his  Father.  The 
grammatical  construction  of  scripture,  the  history  of  theological 
doctrine  and  the  miracles  performed  in  the  name  of  Christ  form  a 
three-fold  cord,  respecting  his  divinity,  which  cannot  be  broken. 

22.  Let  our  praises  to  Jesus  Christ  abound,  v.  5.  They  were 
the  joy  of  his  apostles.  They  constitute  no  small  part  of  the 
worship  of  heaven,  as  John  in  the  Apocalypse  informs  us. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

VERSES   6-24. 

NEITHER  DESCENT  FROM  A  PIOUS  ANCESTRY,  NOR 
PERSONAL  MERIT  SECURES  TO  ANY  MAN  GOD'S 
FAVOR.  GOD  IS  SOVEREIGN.  SO  SAY  THE 
SCRIPTURES.     OBJECTION  ANSWERED. 

6  Not  as  though  the  word  of  God  hath  taken  none  effect.  For  they  are  not 
all  Israel,  which  are  of  Israel : 

7  Neither,  because  they  are  the  seed  of  Abraham,  are  they  all  children  :  but. 
In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called. 

8  That  is.  They  which  are  the  children  of  the  flesh,  these  are  not  the  children 
of  God  :   but  the  children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for  the  seed. 

9  For  this  is  the  word  of  promise.  At  this  time  will  I  come,  and  Sarah  shall 
have  a  son. 

10  And  not  only  this  ;  but  when  Rebecca  also  had  conceived  by  one,  even  by 
our  father  Isaac, 

11  (For  the  children  being  not  yet  born,  neither  having' done  any  good  or 
evil,  that  the  purpose  of  God  according  to  election  might  stand,  not  of  works,  but 
of  him  that  calleth  ;) 

1  2  It  was  said  unto  her,  The  elder  shall  serve  the  younger. 

13  As  it  is  written,  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau  have  I  hated. 

14  What  shall  we  say  then?  Is  there  unrighteousness  with  God?  God 
forbid. 

15  For  he  saith  to  Moses,  I  will  have  mercy  on  whom  I  will  have  mercy,  and 
I  will  have  compassion  on  whom  I  will  have  compassion. 

16  So  then  it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,  but  of  God 
that  sheweth  mercy. 

17  For  the  Scripture  saith  unto  Pharaoh,  Even  for  this  same  purpose  have  I 
raised  thee  up,  that  I  might  shew  my  power  in  thee,  and  that  my  name  might  be 
declared  throughout  all  the  earth. 

18  Therefore  hath  he  mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  and  whom  he  will 
he  hardeneth. 

19  Thou  wilt  say  then  unto  me.  Why  doth  he  yet  find  fault  ?  For  who  hath 
resisted  his  will  r 

20  Nay  but,  O  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against  God  ?  Shall  the  thing 
formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it,  Why  hast  thou  made  rne  thus  ? 

(467) 


468  .  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IX,  vs.  6,  7. 

21  Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one 
vessel  unto  honor,  and  another  unto  dishonor? 

22  What  if  God,  willing  to  shew  his  wrath,  and  to  make  his  power  known, 
endured  with  much  longsuflering  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction: 

23  And  that  he  might  make  known  the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the  vessels  of 
mercy,  which  he  had  afore  prepared  unto  glory, 

24  Even  us,  whom  he  hath  called,  not  of  the  Jews  only,  but  also  of  the 
Gentiles  ? 

THE  apostle  had  made  known  his  sorrow  at  the  unbelief  and 
doom  of  his  countrymen,  notwithstanding  the  high  privileges 
they  had  enjoyed.  In  those  expressions  of  grief  he  did  not  em- 
brace all  Israehtes.  There  were  delightful  instances  of  true  and 
hearty  piety  among  them.  So  he  says  he  would  not  wish  to  be 
misunderstood  : 

6.  Not  as  though  the  word  of  God  hath  taken  none  effect.  For  they 
are  not  all  Israel,  which  are  of  Israel.  By  the  word  of  God  we 
may  with  some  understand  the  promises  mal^e  of  old,  or  those, 
promises  in  connection  with  the  rest  of  scripture.  By  the  first 
sentence  he  declares  he  was  not  speaking  as  if  he  thought  his 
whole  nation  had  perished  or  would  perish  through  unbelief.  Far 
from  it.  Only  he  would  show  that  all  they  are  not  Israel,  which  are 
of  Israel.  Lineal  descent  from  Abraham  secured  eternal  life  to  no 
man.  Tholuck  quotes  one  of  their  own  number,  Abarbanel,  as 
saying:^  ''  The  disciple  whose  morals  are  corrupt,  even  though  he 
belongs  to  the  children  of  Israel,  is  still  not  of  the  disciples  of 
Abraham,  and  the  reason  is,  that  he  does  not  endeavor  after  his 
manners."  So  that  the  Jews  had  at  least  some  apprehension  of 
the  distinction  which  Paul  draws  here,  and  which  John,  and  our 
Lord  in  their  personal  ministry,  fully  established.  Matt.  3:9;  John 
8  :  39.  Paul  asserts  the  same  in  Gal.  3  :  29.  The  saving  promise 
of  God  was  to  such  as  embraced  by  faith  the  grace  given  to  Abra- 
ham, whereas  it  was  notorious  that  many  of  the  descendants  of 
Israel  were  unbelieving  and  abominable.  No  people  were  more 
familiar  than  devout  students  of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  between  him  that 
serveth  God  and  him  that  serveth  him  not,  between  a  good  man 
and  a  son  of  Belial.  In  the  whole  of  this  argument  Paul  insists 
on  maintaining  that  distinction. 

7.  Neither,  because  they  are  the  seed  of  Abraham,  are  they  all 
children  :  but,  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called.  The  import  of  this 
verse  is  the  same  as  that  of  v.  6.  Children  means  either  children 
of  God,  or  children  of  the  promise,  or  children  of  Abraham,  Rom. 
9:8;  Gal.  3  :  7-9.      The  sense  is  the  same  in  either  case,  those 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  8,  9.]  THE  ROMA  NS.  469 

three  phrases  all  being  employed  by  Paul  to  mark  the  true  chosen 
people  of  God.  In  proof  of  his  doctrine,  Paul  quotes  a  sentence 
from  Gen.  21  :  12.  Compare  Gen.  17  :  19,  21.  The  covenant  was 
not  with  Ishmael,  though  he  was  the  child  of  Abraham,  and  was 
considerably  older  than  Isaac.  Even  in  the  family  of  Abraham 
God  showed  his  sovereignty  by  disregarding  the  primogeniture 
of  one  of  Abraham's  sons  and  preferring  another.  Therefore  to 
be  a  lineal  descendant  of  Abraham  no  more  proved  that  an  Israel- 
ite would  be  saved  than  that  an  Ishmaelite  would  be  saved,  for  the 
latter  also  had  Abraham  to  his  father  If  God  showed  his  sover- 
eignty in  preferring  Isaac  to  Ishmael,  surely  he  may  call  or  pass 
by  the  remoter  descendants  of  his  friend  Abraham.  But  let  Paul 
explain  himself: 

8.  That  is,  They  zvhich  are  the  children  of  the  flesh,  these  are  not 
the  children  of  God :  but  the  children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for 
the  seed.  In  this  verse  flesh  is  evidently  to  be  taken  in  the  sense 
of  the  corporeal  nature.  It  is  not  by  generation  but  by  regenera- 
tion, not  by  birth  but  by  the  new  birth  that  men  become  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  John  I  :  12,  13  ;  not  by  the  course  of  nature  but  by 
divine  and  marked  interposition  in  their  behalf.  Compare  Rom. 
4  :  1 1-16  ;  Gal.  4  :  22-31.  Calvin  :  "  He  calls  those  the  children  of 
the  flesh,  who  have  nothing  superior  to  a  natural  descent ;  as  they 
arc  the  children  of  the  promise,  who  are  peculiarly  selected  by  the 
Lord."  Counted,  looked  upon  by  God  and  treated  as  the  seed 
whom  he  really  designed  in  the  promise.  This  is  further  estab- 
lished b}'  the  Jewish  scriptures  : 

9.  For  this  is  the  word  of  promise,  At  this  time  zvill  I  come,  and 
Sarah  shall  have  a  son.  The  reference  is  to  Gen.  18  :  10,  14.  The 
substance  of  the  same  matter  is  found  in  Gen.  17:21;  21:2.  Paul 
does  not  quote  the  Septuagint  version,  but  the  substance  of  the 
Hebrew.  The  phrase  "  at  this  time,"  literally  at  the  fit,  season- 
able, or  right  time,  has  given  rise  to  some  variety  of  interpretation, 
perhaps  unnecessary.  In  Gen.  17  :  18  it  is  "at  this  set  time  in  the 
next  year  ;"  in  Gen.  18  :  14,  "  at  the  time  appointed  ;  "  and  in  Gen. 
21  :  2,  "at  the  set  time  of  which  God  hath  spoken  to  him."  It  is 
evidently  from  one  of  these  that  Paul  quotes,  and  not  from  Gen. 
18:  10  where  it  is  "according  to  the  time  of  life."  Some  make 
emphatic  the  word  "  come  "  as  indicating  special  favor  and  power. 
It  may  sometimes  have  that  force,  but  if  so,  it  is  not  usual.  The 
fact  that  the  visits  of  God  are  in  the  fulness  of  his  perfections,  and, 
when  gracious,  are  sure  to  accomplish  the  goodness  intended,  may 
have  favored  the  idea.  Here  then  we  have  one  clear  case  of  the 
sovereignty  of  God  in  choosing  for  the  highest  distinction  the 
younger  son  of  iVbraham,  and  not  his  first  born. 


470  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  10-13. 

10.  And  not  only  this ;  but  when  Rebecca  also  had  conceived  by  one, 
even  by  our  father  Isaac, 

11.  {For  the  children  being  not  yet  born,  neither  having  done  any 
good  or  evil,  that  the  purpose  of  God  according  to  election  might  stand, 
not  of  works,  but  of  him  that  calleth  ;) 

12.  It  was  said  unto  her.  The  elder  shall  serve  the  younger.  Atid 
not  only  this,  i.  e.  not  only  so,  or  not  only  have  we  this  case  illus- 
trating God's  sovereignty,  but  we  have  another  in  the  family  of 
Isaac  himself.     The  whole  that  was  said  to  Rebecca  was  this : 

Two  nations  are  in  thy  womb. 
And  two  manner  of  people  shall  be  separated  from  thy  bowels ; 
And  the  one  people  shall  be  stronger  than  the  other  people  ; 

And  the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger. 
See  Gen.  25  :  23.  Verse  1 1  is  parenthetical,  and  is  designed  to 
state  clearly  the  circumstances,  in  which  the  Lord  declared  that 
the  elder  [or  greater]  should  serve  the  younger  [or  lesser].  The 
first  of  these  was  that  the  children  were  not  yet  bdrn.  The  second 
flowed  from  the  first — they  had  done  neither  good  nor  evil.  The 
third  was  that  God  designed  thus  to  declare  his  right  to  exalt 
whom  he  would  and  put  down  whom  he  would ;  in  other  words 
he  would  show  that  his  purpose  in  election  was  unalterable.  The 
fourth  was  that  the  divine  choice  was  made,  not  in  view  of  any 
works,  done  or  to  be  done,  but-solely  of  God's  own  will  and  plea- 
sure, of  him  that  calleth,  that  is,  of  him  that  effectually  calleth  whom 
he  will  to  himself  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  blessings.  Paul 
does  not  dwell  upon  the  well  known  fact  that  no  preference  could 
be  given  to  either  of  these  children,  as  in  the  case  of  Isaac,  who 
had  Sarah  for  his  mother,  while  Ishmael  had  only  Hagar,  a  bond- 
woman, for  Jacob  and  Esau  had  both  the  same  father  and  mother. 
Ishmael  too  had  developed  some  traits  of  character  before  Isaac 
was  declared  to  be  preferred  before  him.  But  there  was  no  possi- 
ble ground  of  such  preference  in  the  case  of  Rebecca's  sons,  for 
they  were  twins.  To  show  that  this  matter  is  settled  by  the  word 
of  God,  Paul  quotes  as  of  divine  authority  this  verse  : 

13.  As  it  is  written,  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau  have  I  hated. 
These  words  are  taken  from  the  beginning  of  the  prophecy  of  Mal- 
achi.  The  prophet  is  reproving  the  Jews  for  ingratitude  and  says : 
"  I  have  loved  you,  saith  the  Lord.  Yet  ye  say,  Wherein  hast 
thou  loved  us  ?  Was  not  Esau  Jacob's  brother  ?  saith  the  Lord  : 
yet  I  loved  Jacob,  and  I  hated  Esau,  and  laid  his  mountains  and 
his  heritage  waste  for  the  dragons  of  the  wilderness."  A  few 
things  should  here  be  observed,  i.  Malachi  prophesied  more 
than  1400  years  after  the  birth  of  Jacob  and  Esau  :  yet  in  defend- 
ing the  character  and  government  of  God  and  his  treatment  of 


Ch.  IX.,  V.  13.]  THE  ROMANS.  471 

the  Jews  against  the  charge  of  severity  or  want  of  kindness,  he 
begins  his  argument  away  back  at  the  birth  of  the  progenitors  of 
the  two  nations,  and  says  that  God  made  a  difference  even  between 
them.  This  was  done  before  they  were  born,  or  had  done  either 
good  or  evil.  2.  Such  was  the  effect  of  this  marked  favor  to  Ja- 
cob and  comparative  disfavor  to  Esau  that  up  to  the  time  of  Mala- 
chi  it  had  been  manifest  in  the  general  treatment  the  two  nations 
had  received  in  the  course  of  divine  providence.  The  original 
choice  of  God  affected  not  only  Jacob  and  Esau  personally,  but 
their  descendants  also.  3.  Original  sin  is  such  an  evil  and  brings 
so  just  and  terrible  a  curse  as  to  make  it  an  act  of  mere  sovereign 
grace  and  kindness  in  God  to  spare  even  the  natural  life  of  any 
one  coming  into  the  world  by  ordinary  generation,  or  to  bestow 
any  comfort  on  any  man  or  family.  See  above  on  Rom.  5  :  12-19. 
So  that  neither  Jacob  nor  Esau  had  by  nature  any  claims  what- 
ever on  the  favor  of  God,  If  the  Lord  had  utterly  rejected  them 
both,  he  would  have  done  no  wrong,  no  injustice  to  either.  Cal- 
vin :  "  They  were  both  the  children  of  Adam,  by  nature  sinful,  and 
endued  with  no  particle  of  righteousness."  They  were  "  by  na- 
ture the  children  of  wrath  even  as  others,"  Eph.  2:3.  4.  God's 
preference  of  Isaac  and  Jacob  over  their  brothers  expressed  no  ill 
will  to  Ishmael  or  to  Esau.  In  both  cases  he  chose  the  younger, 
but  he  did  the  elder  no  wrong.  None  deserved  any  thing  good. 
Nor  was  God  unkind  to  either  Ishmael  or  Esau.  On  the  contrary 
he  said,  "  Of  the  son  of  the  bond-woman  will  I  make  a  nation,  be- 
cause he  is  thy  seed,"  Gen.  21  :  13.  Compare  Gen.  16:  10;  17:20; 
25  :  12-18.  To  Esau  he  gave  great  possessions  and  blessings,  even 
after  he  had  showed  himself  to  be  a  "  profane  person,"  as  Paul 
calls  him,  Heb.  12  :  16.  Compare'  Gen.  36 :  1-43  ;  Deut.  2:5,12; 
Josh.  24:  4.  Our  verse  does  indeed  say  "  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but 
Esau  have  I  hated."  But  what  does  that  mean  ?  Surely  it  does 
not  teach  that  God  dealt  unkindly  or  unjustly  with  Esau  ;  but  it 
does  teach  that  God  gave  Jacob  a  decided  preference.  That  this 
is  a  safe  and  sound  interpretation  is  exceedingly  manifest  from  the 
very  words  of  our  Lord  :  "  If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not 
his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and 
sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple,"  Luke 
14 :  26.  Now  that  no  ill  will  or  unkindness  to  our  kindred  is  ob- 
ligatory or  even  lawful,  we  do  certainly  know  from  all  the  pre- 
cepts, which  enjoin  filial  piety  and  natural  affection,  from  the  fifth 
commandment,  from  the  example  of  our  Lord  and  from  oft-repeated 
apostolic  precepts.  Women  ought  to  love  their  husbands,  and 
husbands  ought  to  love  their  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the 
church.     And  as  to  any  man  positively  hating  his  own  life,  it  is 


472  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  13. 

impossible,  for  no  man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh.  See  Ex.  20 : 
12  ;  Luke  2:51;  Rom.  i :  31  ;  Eph.  5  :  25,  29;  i  Tim.  5  :  4;  Tit. 
2 :  4,  and  many  other  places.  What  then  did  our  Lord  mean  to 
enjoin,  when  he  required  us  to  hate  our  nearest  and  dearest  rela- 
tives ?  Another  evangelist  gives  us  in  other  words  the  real  mean- 
ing of  our  Lord :  "  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than 
me  is  not  worthy  of  me.  And  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter  more 
than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me.  And  he  that  taketh  not  his  cross,  and 
followeth  after  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.  He  that  findeth  his  life 
shall  lose  it :  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it," 
Matt.  10:  37-39.  To  hate  therefore  in  this  case  is  to  love  less. 
Love  to  God  must  exceed  the  love  we  bear  to  any  creature.  He 
must  have  the  preference.  So  God  gave  the  preference  to  Jacob 
and  Esau.  He  did  it  from  the  first.  He  did  it  by  purpose.  The 
hatred  of  this  verse  is  therefore  comparative  hatred,  not  ill  will, 
not  unkindness.  This  is  a  very  old  form  of  expression  in  the  He- 
brew, as  may  be  seen  by  examining  Gen.  29 :  30,  31,  33,  where  the 
word  "  hated  "  is  explained  by  the  words  Jacob  "  loved  Rachel 
more  than  Leah."  Solomon  uses  both  these  words  in  the  sense 
here  contended  for ;  "  He  that  spareth  his  rod  hateth  his  son :  but 
he  that  loveth  him  chasteneth  him  betimes."  The  parent,  who  en- 
forces strict  and  just  authority  over  his  child,  loves  him  more  than 
he,  who  refuses  to  restrain  him.  He,  who  declines  to  chastise  his 
erring  son,  does  comparatively  hate  him.  Haldane  is  very  averse 
to  this  mode  of  explaining  the  words  under  consideration.  He 
says :  "  Human  wisdom  has  shown  its  folly,  by  endeavoring  to 
soften  the  word  hated  into  something  less  than  hatred ;"  "  The 
word  hate  never  means  to  love  less ;"  "This  false  gloss  completely 
destroys  the  import  of  the  passage."  Such  language  is  not  called  for. 
The  love  of  truth  leads  good  men  to  seek  to  know  not  only  the 
words  that  God  has  spoken,  but  the  very  meaning  of  those  words. 
And  it  has  been  shown  from  both  Testaments  that  the  word  hated 
has  the  sense  here  given  it.  Haldane  thinks  that  in  the  explana- 
tion adopted  we  might  find  an  excuse  for  going  on  to  say  that  all 
that  is  meant  by  the  phrase  "Jacob  have  I  loved"  is  "Jacob  have 
I  hated  less."  But  there  is  nothing  to  warrant  us  in  so  construing 
this  language.  Where  is  the  word  ever  so  used  ?  Several  cases 
have  been  given  to  show  that  the  word  hated  has  the  meaning 
given  it  above.  5.  The  effect  of  this  act  of  God's  sovereignty 
both  on  Jacob  and  on  his  posterity  was  very  happy  in  many  ways. 
Jacob's  piety,  though  not  faultless,  was  sincere  and  eminent.  He 
had  at  least  one  vision  as  glorious  as  any  granted  to  a  patriarch, 
Gen.  28  :  10-22.  He  was  mighty  in  prayer,  for  he  wrestled  with 
God,  and  prevailed,  Gen.  32:  9-12,  24-30;  Hos.  12  :  3-6.     He  was 


Ch.  IX,  V.  14-]  THE  ROMANS.  473 

an  honored  prophet,  Gen.  48  :  15-21  ;  49:  1-27.  He  died  an  hon- 
ored and  happy  death,  in  faith  and  in  true  devotion,  Heb.  1 1 : 
13,  21.  Having  served  God  and  his  generation  he  fell  on  sleep; 
and  for  3558  years  (it  is  now  A.D.  1870)  has  been  walking  the 
streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  Matt.  8:  11  ;  and  his  happiness  is 
but  just  begun.  He  is  awaiting  the  redemption  of  the  body  and 
the  glory  thenceforward  to  be  revealed.  Would  you  see  how  his 
descendants  were  blessed  ?  Read  their  history.  6.  Esau,  born  like 
Jacob  in  original  sin,  was  not  like  him  chosen  of  God,  but  was  left 
under  the  power  of  his  depravity,  and  although  he  received  many 
great  blessings  and  became  the  head  of  a  powerful  nation,  his 
course  was  in  the  main  very  forlorn.  We  read  of  nothing  indi- 
cating piety  on  his  part.  The  restraints  of  Providence  kept  him 
from  the  actual  commission  of  some  of  the  worst  crimes  ever  plot- 
ted. For  a  mess  of  pottage  he  sold  his  birthright,  an  act  of  great 
contempt  of  God's  promise  and  blessing.  His  whole  course  seems 
to  have  been  that  of  a  "  profane  person."  We  have  no  account  of 
his  fearing  God,  or  keeping  his  commandments.  More  than  once 
he  meditated  the  murder  of  his  own  and  only  brother.  Of  his  lat- 
ter end  nothing  is  told  us.  He  and  his  posterity  possessed  large 
political  power,  but  that  has  long  since  forsaken  his  descendants. 
The  mass  of  them  seem  to  have  been  very  wicked  and  malignant. 
They  would  not  allow  the  Israelites  to  pass  through  their  terri- 
tory in  their  journey  from  Egypt  to  Canaan.  They  were  "  a  peo- 
ple against  whom  the  Lord  hath  indignation  for  ever,"  Mai.  i  14 
Such  doctrine  as  this  cannot  be  taught  without  awakening  in- 
quiry. It  is  well  if  the  spirit  it  awakens  is  not  malignant.  God  is 
wholly  and  gloriously  sovereign. 

14.  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  there  unrighteousness  zvith  Godf 
God  forbid.  The  first  question  has  been  asked  five  times  already 
in  this  epistle,  Rom.  3  :  5  ;  4:  i  ;  6  :  i  ;  T  '.T  \  8:31.  For  the  intent 
of  it  see  above  on  those  places.  Is  there  unrighteousness  zvith  Godf 
Unrighteousness,  a  word  uniformly  rendered  in  this  epistle,  else- 
where sometimes  iniquity,  sometimes  wrong.  Our  translation  is 
good.  The  meaning  is  this  :  Does  God's  treatment  of  Isaac  and 
Jacob  display  injustice  to  Ishmael  and  Esau?  This  question  has 
no  pertinency,  if  God  treated  all  these  persons  alike,  and  loved 
one  no  more  than  he  loved  another,  giving  no  preference  to  either. 
But  if  the  doctrine  of  God's  absolute  sovereignty  is  taught  here, 
then  the  question  is  precisely  the  same  that  is  asked  in  our  day. 
To  it  Paul  returns  an  emphatic  if  not  an  indignant  negative.  On 
God  forbid  SQQ  above  on  Rom.  3:4.  In  all  their  history  the  Jews 
had  gloried  in  the  peculiar  favor  God  had  borne  to  Abraham,. 
Isaac  and  Jacob.     Thus  far  Paul  has  maintained  before  the  Jews 


474  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  15,  i6. 

his  defence  of  the  divine  sovereignty  out  of  their  own  sacred 
books,  (quoting  them  as  of  divine  authorit)^)  in  particular  from  the 
first  book  of  the  pentateuch  written  by  their  great  law-giver  Moses 
and  from  their  last  prophet  Malachi.  Hodge  :  "  These  arguments 
of  the  apostle  are  founded  on  two  assumptions.  The  first  is,,  that 
the  scriptures  are  the  word  of  God  ;  and  the  second,  that  what  God 
actually  does  cannot  be  unrighteous."  The  apostle  then  shows 
that  God  of  old  claimed  the  right  of  manifesting  his  sovereignty, 
and  that  this  claim  was  found  in  the  Jewish  scriptures,  professedly 
received  and  revered  by  the  whole  nation  : 

15.  For  he  saith  to  Moses,  I  ivill  have  mercy  on  whom  I  will  have 
mercy,  and  I  will  have  compassion  on  whom  I  will  have  compassion. 
This  is  a  quotation  from  Ex.  33  :  19.  In  making  it  Paul  literally 
follows  the  Septuagint.  The  whole  verse  in  our  English  Bible 
reads  thus :  "  And  he  said,  I  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before 
thee,  and  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  thee :  and 
will  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracious,  and  will  shew  mercy 
on  whom  I  will  shew  mercy."  So  that  the  quotation  derives 
great  strength  from  the  connection  in  which  it  is  found.  God 
says  to  Moses,  "  I  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee 
and  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  thee,"  that  is,  I 
will  give  thee  insight  into  the  divine  nature,  I  will  make  a  revela- 
tion of  myself  to  thee,  and  the  very  first  thing  he  utters  is  oui 
verse,  thus  claiming  and  asserting  as  a  prominent  truth  of  himself 
;his  complete  and  perfect  sovereignty.  The  form  of  speech  here 
(.employed  on  the  face  of  it  clearly  expresses  the  entire  independ- 
ence of  God,  his  freedom  from  all  constraint  or  influence  out  of 
himselt  It  resolves  his  whole  action  into  his  sovereign  good  will. 
It  also  expresses  the  unalterableness  of  his  counsel.  In  structure 
it  resembles  that  sentence  of  Pilate :  "  What  I  have  written  I  have 
written."  Words  more  expressive  of  perfect  freedom  and  fixed- 
ness of  choice  cannot  be  found  or  framed.  The  apostle  himself 
so  understands  and  explains  them  in  the  next  verse. 

16.  So  that  it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth, 
but  of  God  that  sheweth  mercy.  The  doctrine  here  taught  is  a  legiti- 
mate and  necessary  consequence  of  the  broad  truth  laid  down  in 
the  preceding  verse.  The  meaning  seems  to  be  as  obvious  as  that 
of  any  other  sentence  of  God's  word,  and  is  abundantly  sustained 
by  other  portions  of  scripture,  Isa.  65  :  i  ;  Matt.  11  :  25,  26 ;  Luke 
10 :  21  ;  John  i  :  12,  13  ;  3  :  8  ;  i  Cor.  i  :  26^31  ;  Phil.  2:13:2  Thess. 
2:13.  The  efficient  cause  of  man's  salvation  is  not  found  in  his 
independence  of  God,  nor  in  his  being  the  master  of  his  own  des- 
tiny, nor  in  the  supremacy  of  his  own  will,  nor  in  the  vigor  of  his 
jOWJJ  desires  or  efforts  concerning  salvation,  but  in  the  sovereign 


Ch.  IX.,  V.  17.]  THE  ROMANS.  475 

good  will  of  God.  In  every  sense  he  has  the  keys  of  death  and 
of  hell,  of  life  and  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  opens  and 
none  can  shut;  he  shuts  and  none  can  open.  He  kills  and  he 
makes  alive.  No  man  is  introduced  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
through  the  strenuousness  of  his  own  efforts,  the  power  of  his 
own  will,  the  virtue  of  his  own  merits.  "  The  salvation  of  the 
righteous  is  of  the  Lord,"  not  of  the  creature.  God's  sovereignty 
decides  who  shall  have  mercy.  None  deserve  any  blessing  from 
him.  Our  eyes  should  not  be  evil  because  he  is  good,  Matt. 
20:  13-16.  There  is  nothing  said  here  against  the  diligent  and 
right  use  of  the  means  of  grace.  We  are  here  merely  tajught 
that  the  divine  favor  and  blessing  are  the  fountain  of  our  re- 
demption from  sin,  and  guilt,  and  wo. 

17.  For  the  scripture  saith  unto  Pharaoh,  Even  for  this  same  pur- 
pose have  I  raised  thee  up,  that  I  might  sheiv  my  power  in  thee,  and 
that  my  name  might  be  declared  throughout  all  the  earth.  These 
words  are  found  in  Ex.  9  :  16.  Compare  Ex.  10  :  i,  2  ;  14  :  17,  18  ; 
Ps.  ^6:  10 ;  Pr.  16:4.  Paul  does  not  here  exactly  follow  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  but  gives  in  part  his  own  translation  of  the  original  He- 
brew. In  the  traditions  of  the  Jews  the  name  and  history  of 
Pharaoh  were  entirely  familiar.  The  book  of  Exodus,  like  the 
rest  of  the  Pentateuch,  was  commonly  read  among  them.  This 
statement  respecting  Pharaoh  was  as  well  known  as  any  other 
portion  of  scripture.  Yet  what  Israelite  in  any  generation  had 
found  fault  with  such  doctrine  when  applied  to  Pharaoh?  All 
looked  on  him  with  abhorrence.  Yet  in  Pharaoh  original  sin 
was  no  more  detestable  than  it  is  in  any  one  else.  Nor  was 
his  heart  given  up  to  more  obduracy  than  that  of  multitudes, 
who  hear  the  pure  gospel  and  never  turn  to  the  Lord ;  yea,  no 
worse  than  many  who  have  afterwards  been  brought  to  repentance. 
There  stands  before  all  the  world  the  case  of  Pharaoh,  a  man, 
whom  God  used  as  his  sword,  Ps.  17:  13,  and  as  the  rod  of  his 
anger,  Isa.  10:  5  ;  leaving  him  without  sanctifying  grace  to  make 
him,  for  his  sins  and  his  outrages,  a-  monument  of  divine  power 
to  put  down  all  enemies,  and  to  declare  the  divine  glory  through 
all  the  earth.  There  is  not  and  for  thousands  of  years  there 
has  not  been  on  earth  even  among  men  of  like  character  one, 
who  has  stood  forth  to  express  sympathy  with  Pharaoh,  or  to 
complain  of  any  wrong  done  to  him.  The  human  conscience 
everywhere  proclaims  that  God's  throne  is  clear,  his  government 
right,  and  that  there  is  no  unrighteousness  with  him  in  all  his 
dealings  with  the  haughty  and  profane  monarch,  who  dared  to 
say,  "  Who  is  the  Lord  that  I  should  obey  him  ?"  No  Christian 
will  dare  to  contend   that    Pharaoh's  destruction  was  unjust,  or 


476  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  i8. 

unmerited.  The  penitent  thief  was  not  saved  because  he  was 
less  guilty  than  his  companion  in  crime.  Saul  of  Tarsus  was 
not  converted  because  he  was  a  less  bloody  persecutor  than 
Nero.  Pharaoh  had  no  more  original  sin  than  Moses.  But 
through  God's  sovereign  and  amazing  mercy  Moses  was  par- 
doned, accepted,  renewed  and  saved  ;  while  through  God's  sover- 
eign and  adorable  justice  Pharaoh  was  given  over  to  hardness 
of  heart  and  utter  ruin. 

1 8.   Therefore  hath  he  'tnercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  and 
whom  he  zvill  he  hardeneth.     This  is  a  fair  logical  deduction  from 
what  had  just  been  said.    God  is  a  sovereign  in  the  disposal  of  the 
destinies  of  all  men,  good  and  bad.     In  this  verse  God's  dealings 
with  men  are  twice  resolved  into  his  will.     We  can  go  no  further. 
Our  duty  requires  us  to  go  no  further.     Our  happiness  requires  us 
to  go  no  further.     It  is  only  a  daring  presumption,  a  bold  prying 
curiosity,  and  not  a  becoming  humility,  that  leads  us  to  desire  to 
go  further.     "  Why  dost  thou  strive  against  him  ?  for  he  giveth 
not  account  of  any  of  his  matters,"  Job  33:  13.      Compare  Deut. 
29  :  29.     Profound  submission  and  entire  acquiescence  in  the  di- 
vine will,  whatever  it  be,  is  wisdom,  is  piety.     Impudence,  rejudg- 
ing  God's  justice,  pr)nng  into  his  secrets  is  folly  and  wickedness. 
Whom  he  will  he  hardeneth,  is  a  sentence  that  staggers  some.    Why 
it  should  do  so  in  a  doctrinal  epistle  and  not  in  a  historic  record  is 
not  easily  explained.     In  the    Old  Testament   the  hardening,  of 
Pharaoh's  heart  is  spoken  of  in  four  ways.     i.  It  is  twice  said  that 
Pharaoh    hardened    his   own    heart,  Ex.  8   :  15;    9  :  34-       Com- 
pare I  Sam.  6:6.     2.  Three  times  God  says,  "  I  will  harden  Pha- 
raoh's heart,"  Ex.  4 :  21  ;  7  :  3  ;   14  :  4.     3.  It  is  seven  times  said  that 
God  did  harden  Pharaoh's  heart,  Ex.  7:  13;  9:  12;  10:  i,  20,  27; 
1 1  :  10 ;  14 :  8.    4.  It  is  four  times  said  that  Pharaoh's  heart  is  or 
was  hardened,  Ex.  7:14;  8:19;  9 : 7,  35.    Whatever  is  thus  taught 
respecting  Pharaoh  is  said  to  have  come  on  his  people  also,  he  being 
their  head  and  leader:  "I  will  harden  the  hearts  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  they  shall  follow  them  ;  and  I  will  get  me  honor  upon 
Pharaoh,  and  upon  all  his  host,  and  upon  his  chariots,  and  upon  his 
horsemen,  Ex.  14:   17.     So  that  there  is  no  room  left  for  doubt  re- 
specting the  assertion  that  God  hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh 
and  of  the  Egyptians.     Whatever  he  did  to  the  monarch,  he  did 
the  same  to  his  people.     Another  remark  is  no  less  true.    God  did 
nothing  to  Pharaoh  and  the  Egyptians  that  he  has  not  done  in 
other  cases.      In  Deut.  2  :  30  we  read  :  "  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon 
would  not  let  us  pass  by  him :  for  the  Lord  thy  God  hardened  his 
spirit,  and  made  his  heart  obstinate,  that  he  might  deliver  him 
into  thy  hand,  as  appeareth  this  day."     So  it  is  said  of  some  nu- 


Ch.  IX.,  V.  i8.]  THE  ROMANS,  477 

merous  and  powerful  tribes  that  "  it  was  of  the  Lord  to  harden 
their  hearts,  that  they  should  come  against  Israel  in  battle,  that  he 
might  destroy  them  utterly,"  Josh.  11  :  20.     So  in  the  evangelical 
prophet  we  read :  "  O  Lord,  why  hast  thou  made  us  to  err  from 
thy  ways,  and  hardened  our  heart  from  thy  fear?  "  Isa.  63  :  17.    In 
one  of  the  gospels  we  have  like  words :  "  He  hath  blinded  their 
eyes,  and  hardened   their  hearts ;  that  they  should  not  see  with 
their  eyes,  nor  understand  with  their  hearts,"  etc.  John   12:40. 
Any  explanation,  that  will  suit  one  of  these  cases  ought  to  suit 
them  all.     One  thing  is  clear :  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin.     He 
cannot  work  iniquity  in  himself  or  others.      Just  and  right  is  he, 
true  and  holy  in  all  his  ways.     All  are  thus  far  agreed.     Another 
point  ought  to  be  as  generally  conceded:  It  is  one  thing  for  Pha- 
raoh to  harden  his  own    heart,  and    another  thing  for  God    to 
harden   Pharaoh's  heart.     The  distinction  is  stated  in  scripture. 
We  ought  not  to  confound  what  God  distinguishes.     The  same 
distinction  is  preserved  in  other  parts  of  scripture,  as  we  have  seen 
in  part.   Compare  2  Chron.  36 :  13;  Dan.  5  :  20,  etc.    Another  remark 
is  perhaps  no  less  clear  to  most  minds,  viz :  all  that  is  necessary  to 
cause  the  most  atrocious  evils  to  be  developed  in  any  man's  char- 
acter is  that  God  sustain  him  in  being,  afford  him  the  means  and 
opportunities  of  doing  good  or  evil  according  to  his  inclinations, 
and  then  leave  him  to  himself,  withholding  from  him  those  divine 
influences,  which  might  check  or  restrain  him,  or  suggest  a  differ- 
ent course  to  him,  and  so  let  all  evil  come  to  him  without  any  in- 
terposing providence.      How  often  and  how  alarmingly  this  be- 
falls evil  men  both  the  history  and  the  state  of  the  world  testify. 
We  have  in  our  language  hardly  any  phrase  more  expressive  of 
SI  sad  state  than  this  :  He  is  awfully  left  to  himself.     When  that  is 
true  of  a  man,  his  future  is  dark  indeed.      As  sure  as  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  fully  departs  from  one,  an  evil  spirit  rests  upon  him,  and 
he  is  undone.     His  course  is  rapidly  from  bad  to  worse.     This  di- 
vine desertion  is  fearful  and  is  often  mentioned  in  scripture.     See 
Ps.  8 1  :  1 2  ;  Hos.  4:4,  17;  Matt.  15  :  14 ;  Rev.  22:11.     If  it  is  final, 
one's  doom  is  sealed.     All  the  hardness  of  heart  displayed  by  any 
man  is  sufficiently  accounted  for,  if  God  has  thus  forsaken  him. 
The  human  heart  led  on  by  Satan,  without  divine  restraint,  will 
soon  develope  wickedness  as  atrocious  as  that  of  Pharaoh,  or  of  any 
one  else.     Haldane :  "  When  a  man  is  entirely  left  to  himself,  the 
judgments,  the  warnings,  the  deliverances,  and  all  the  truths  of 
scripture  become  causes  of  hardness,  of  insensibility,  of  pride,  and 
presumption."   God  does  not  harden  men's  hearts,  as  he  makes  them 
tender  and  penitent,  by  putting  his  Holy  Spirit  into  them.     He 
does  not  infuse  into  them  wickedness,  as  he  infuses  grace  into  the 


478  EPISTLE   TO         [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  19,  20. 

hearts  of  his  people.  The  only  other  thought  necessary  to  be  pre- 
sented to  complete  this  view  is  that  God  hardens  no  man's  heart 
capriciously — God  does  nothing  capriciously — but  always  right- 
eously. He  would  have  done  us  no  injustice,  if  he  had  left  us  all 
to  perish  in  our  original  sin.  If  for  his  own  glory  he  sees  fit  to 
give  one  up  to  his  own  heart's  lusts,  or  to  believe  a  He,  or  to  work 
wickedness  with  all  greediness,  and  utterly  perish,  who  are  we  to 
call  him  to  an  account  ? 

19.  Thou  wilt  say  then  unto  me,  Why  doth  he  yet ,  find  fault  ?  For 
who  hath  resisted  his  will?  Piety  requires  that  there  be  some  Hmit 
to  human  presumption.  Human  wickedness  says,  it  will  rush  in 
and  demand  satisfactory  answers  to  all  its  cavils.  The  only  fit  an- 
swer to  some  forms  of  wickedness  is  stern  rebuke,  and  this  even 
when  many  unite  in  urging  the  same  irreverent  queries,  as  in  this 
case.  When  the  blameless  old  friar  was  iniquitously  and  publicly 
accused  of  things,  of  which  he  was  wholly  innocent,  he  gave  the 
only  reply  in  his  power:  "Thou  dost  most  impudently  lie."  So 
when,  under  the  pretence  of  reasoning  -or  of  seeking  the  truth  men 
bring  forward  objection  after  objection,  it  is  right  to  give  them 
fair  and  scriptural  answers.  But  when  under  a  show  of  inquiry 
they  attack  the  truth  with  questions  based  in  impiety,  they  must 
be  met  in  a  solemn,  fearless  and  scriptural  manner,  after  Paul's 
example : 

20.  Nay  but,  O  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against  God?  Shall 
the  thing  formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it,  Why  hast  thou  made  me 
thus  ?  There  are  some  things  that  no  man  may  think,  or  say  or 
do.  None  may  think  that  God  is  such  an  one  as  himself,  or  say 
that  he  is  competent  to  judge  what  God  may  or  may  not  do,  or 
arraign  the  divine  conduct  in  any  way  whatever.  The  substance 
of  Paul's  rebuke  to  the  bold  intruder  is,  O  feeble  sinful  worm,  who 
are  you  ?  You  forget  that  you  are  both  a  fool  and  a  criminal.  You 
are  not  fit  to  judge  anything,  except  that  you  are  of  yesterday, 
that  your  own  righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags,  that  you  know 
nothing  as  you  ought  to  know  it,  till  you  learn  that  you  are  a  fool, 
and  that  to  you  God  is  in  no  wise  accountable.  God  has  not  sub- 
mitted his  plans  or  his  government  to  you  for  revision  or  to  get 
your  judgment  on  them.  If  you  would  acquire  a  little  modesty 
and  become  sober  and  wise,  read  and  take  home  to  yourself  the 
awful  reproofs  given  by  the  Almighty  to  the  pious  man  of  Uz, 
when  he  ventured  too  far  in  telling  what  were  or  ought  to  be  the 
principles  of  God's  government.  See  Job  XXXVIII — XLI.  By 
the  time  you  have  well  conned  those  sublime  chapters,  perhaps 
you  may  be  ready  like  Job  to  say :  "  I  have  uttered  that  I  under- 
stood not;  things  too  wonderful  for  me,  which  I  knew  not  ...  I 


Ch.  IX,  V.  21.]  THE  ROMANS.  479 

abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes."  A  little  spiritual  ex- 
ercise of  that  description  would  do  you  more  good  than  a  hundred 
years'  inquiry  conducted  in  an  arrogant  and  self-confident  spirit. 
Can  a  man  measure  the  azure  vault  of  heaven  with  a  carpenter's 
rule  ?  Can  one  measure  the  waters  of  the  ocean  in  a  pint  cup  ? 
Can  a  poor  worm  of  the  dust  thunder  in  the  heavens  like  God  ? 
If  he  cannot  do  these  little  things,  how  can  he  by  searching  find 
out  either  the  nature  or  the  ways  of  the  Almighty  unto  perfec- 
tion ?  But  impudent  as  the  question  is,  the  apostle,  though  as 
under  protest,  answers  it  by  saying  that  God  has  a  perfect  right 
to  do  what  he  will  with  his  own.  What  if  he  does  make  one  of 
his  sinful  creatures  a  monument  of  his  mercy  and  another  a  mon- 
ument of  his  justice,  he  does  what  he  has  an  indefeasible  right  to 
do.  To  deny  this  truth  is  atheistic.  The  last  question  of  our 
verse  is  very  much  like  one  noticed  some  centuries  before  our 
Saviour's  birth  :  "  Shall  the  work  say  of  him  that  formed  it.  He 
made  me  not  ?  or  shall  the  thing  framed  say  of  him  that  framed 
it.  He  had  no  understanding?"  Isa.  29  :  16.  Haldane :  ''That 
God  does  all  things  right  there  is  no  question,  but  the  grounds 
of  his  conduct  he  does  not  now  explain  to  his  people.  Much 
less  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  he  would  justify  his  conduct  by  ex- 
plaining the  grounds  of  it  to  his  enemies.  No  man  has  a  right  to 
bring  God  to  trial." 

21.  Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to 
make  one  vessel  unto  honour,  and  another  to  dishonour  ?  There  is 
no  necessity  for  saying,  as  some  have  said,  that  the  prerogative 
here  claimed  for  God  asserts  his  right  to  "  make  innocent  creatures 
miserable."  Blessed  be  his  holy  name,  he  has  never  done  that,  and 
never  said  that  he  would  do  it.  Scott :  "  The  apostle  goes  upon 
the  supposition,  that  the  sovereignty  of  God  is  that  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, justice,  truth  and  goodness,  and  that  he  always  decrees  what 
is  most  proper  to  be  done."  So  that  the  "  lump  of  clay,"  of  which 
the  apostle  speaks,  is  the  mass  of  mankind  in  their  fallen  state, 
considered  as  sinners.  This  appears  thus  :  i.  This  is  beyond  dis- 
pute the  state  of  mankind.  Any  doctrinal  treatise  respecting  man, 
based  on  any  other  supposition,  is  false.  2.  Throughout  this 
epistle  Paul's  whole  argument  and  the  deductions  from  it  con- 
template men  as  guilty  and  perishing.  3.  This  view  of  the  "lump 
of  clay  "  exactly  suits  the  argument  of  the  apostle  in  this  imme- 
diate context.  4.  Nothing  of  practical  importance  can  be  gained 
by  giving  the  phrase  a  wider  range,  but  by  so  doing  we  should 
soon  be  involved  in  questions  of  a  tormenting  and  inexplicable 
nature.  Then  contemplating  all  men  as  sinners,  all  justly  con- 
demned, all  naturally  evil,  and  all  righteously  exposed  to  everlast- 


48o  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  22-24. 

ing  death,  has  not  the  holy,  just  and  merciful  God  a  right  to  make 
a  difference,  if  he  shall  so  elect,  between  them  ?  If  he  saves  one, 
must  he  save  all  ?  If  he  punishes  one,  must  he  punish  all  ?  May- 
he  not  show  mercy  to  whom  he  will,  and  give  over  to  hardness 
whom  he  will  ?  Is  it  not  infinite  love  in  him  to  save  any  of  a 
race,  all  of  whom  are  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath  ?  If  he 
raises  Paul  to  honor  and  glory,  that  does  not  show  that  Nero's 
condemnation  is  not  just.  Power,  not  the  word  so  rendered  in  the 
next  verse,  but  a  word  rendered  right,  authority,  jurisdiction, 
Luke'23  :  7  ;  John  i  :  12  ;  Rev.  22  :  14.  It  occurs  again  in  Rom. 
13  :  1-3.  It  means  power  rightfully  possessed.  Honor  and  dishonor 
point  to  the  happiness  or  misery,  the  glory  or  shame,  that  shall  be 
finally  awarded  to  men  according  as  their  characters  shall  be  at 
last ;  the  former  being  saved  through  great  mercy  ;  the  latter 
being  justly  cast  off  and  punished. 

22.  What  if  God,  willing  to  shew  his  wrath,  and  make  his  power 
known,  endured  with  much  longsuffering  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to 
destruction  : 

23.  And  that  he  might  make  known  the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the 
vessels  of  mercy,  which  he  had  afore  prepared  unto  glory, 

24.  Even  us,  whom  he  hath  called,  not  of  the  Jezvs  only,  bjit  also  of 
the  Gentiles? 

What,  not  in  the  Greek,  but  well  inserted  by  our  translators  ; 
q.  d.  what  good  objection  can  be  made  ?  what  right  have  you  to 
find  fault  ?  what  can  you  say  against  the  divine  conduct,  if  he 
shall  be  willing  to  let  his  creatures  see  that  he  is  glorious  in  justice 
and  power  in  punishing  some,  who  have  long  and  wantonly  in- 
sulted him,  and  at  the  same  time  in  a  way  of  righteousness  saving 
others,  by  nature  no  less  sinful,  yet  by  grace  prepared  for  a  glori- 
ous inheritance?  This  whole  argument  regards  men  as  sinners. 
By  transgression  men  have  forfeited  all  claims  to  anything  good. 
Their  natural  lives,  their  temporal  and  eternal  happiness  are  fully 
and  in  every  sense  at  his  disposal.  If  all  should  be  left  to  perish 
in  their  own  corruption,  no  one  would  have  a  right  to  say  he  was 
unjustly  dealt  with.  Sin  deserves  God's  sore  displeasure.  There- 
fore God  has  a  right  to  manifest  his  power  and  righteousness  in 
the  punishment  of  all,  or  of  as  many  as  he  pleases.  And  if  he  shall 
save  any  from  their  lost  estate,  it  is  wholly  due  to  his  divine  com- 
passions, and  not  at  all  to  human  merits.  Wrath,  the  same  word 
so  rendered  in  Rom.  i  :  18,  25  and  often  ;  in  Rom.  3  :  5,  rendered 
vengeance.  It  is  incensed  justice,  or  indignation,  as  in  Rev.  14  :  10. 
Make  his  power  known,  his  power  to  subdue  all  enemies,  to  put 
down  all  opposition,  to  bring  good  out  of  evil,  and  to  govern  the 
world   in  defiance  of  the  malice  and  machinations  of  his  foes. 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  6,  7.]  THE  ROMANS.  481 

Vessels  of  wrath  and  vessels  of  merey  are  phrases  employed  in  coin- 
cidence with  the  figurative  language  of  v.  21,  where  God  is  com- 
pared to  a  potter.  How  stout  against  God  are  the  hearts  of  the 
wicked  may  be  seen  by  the  multitude  and  aggravation  of  their 
offences  against  him.  How  long  did  he  endure  Pharaoh  !  He 
lengthened  his  chain  wonderfully.  He  bore  with  him  till  his  rage 
and  folly  knew  no  bounds  ;  till  he  foamed  out  his  shame,  breathed 
death  to  the  chosen  people,  and  hurled  defiance  against  God. 
Was  not  his  destruction  just  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  just,  if  it 
had  taken  place  much  sooner  than  it  did  ?  Longsiiffering,  the  same 
word  is  twice  rendered  patience,  but  commonly  as  here.  We  met 
it  in  Rom.  2  :  4.  Fitted,  by  sin,  by  a  long  course  of  rebellion,  by 
attempting  to  overreach  the  Almighty,  who  turned  their  devices 
against  themselves,  so  that  they  became  ready  for  destruction,  or 
perdition,  as  the  word  is  often  rendered.  The  riches  of  his  glory 
means  his  glorious  riches,  riches  of  unmerited  kindness,  amazing 
wisdom,  resistless  power,  efficacious  grace,  giving  them  posses- 
sion of  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  Compare  Eph.  i  :  18. 
Had  afore  prepared,  in  the  Greek  one  word,  found  in  but  one  other 
place  and  there  rendered  hatJi  before  ordained,  Eph.  2  :  10.  What- 
ever God  does  for  his  people  is  in  execution  of  his  gracious  pur- 
poses respecting  them.  Even  when  he  brings  them  to  a  saving 
knowledge  of  himself,  it  is  because  he  graciously  planned  to  do  so, 
Acts  13  :  48.  Nor  is  the  destruction  of  the  wicked  a  surprise  to 
God,  I  Pet.  2:8;  Jude  4.  Called,  i.  e.  effectualy  called,  so  called 
as  to  make  them  vessels  of  mercy.  This  he  did,  Avhether  they 
were  by  birth  and  nation  Jews  or  Gentiles.  God  has  a  right  to 
do  what  he  will  with  his  own,  and  to  show  his  sovereignity  by 
choosing  from  among  men  whom  he  would,  and  by  leaving  Jews 
under  the  power  of  their  unbelief.  This  truth  he  proceeds  to 
establish  by  citations  from  the  scriptures  received  by  the  Jews 
themselves. 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  The  scripture  cannot  be  broken,  v.  6.  God  has  said  nothing 
in  vain.  His  counsels  are  of  old  faithfulness  and  truth.  Compare 
John,  10  :  35  ;  Isa.  55  :  10,  11. 

2.  If  we  would  avoid  error,  we  must  not  misinterpret  scripture  ; 
and  if  we  would  not  misinterpret  scripture,  we  must  not  be  rash 
and  hasty,  but  patient  and  candid,  vs.  6,  7.  We  must  take  time 
and  look  at  truths  in  all  their  connections. 

3.  One  of  the  sad  features  of  human  wickedness  is  that  men  do 
not  see  when  they  are  illustrating  the  most  awful  truths  of  scrip- 

31 


482  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  6-11, 

ture  and  that  their  whole  course  and  character  are  portrayed  in 
God's  word.  The  very  people,  who  had  by  unbehef  most  sadly 
cut  themselves  off  from  the  saving  mercies  of  God  are  the  most 
persistent  in  declaring  themselves  in  covenant  with  God.  Such 
cases  require  detailed  expositions  of  scripture  that  they  may  be 
undeceived,  vs.  6-8. 

4.  The  scripture  should  be  fully  and  clearly  explained,  that,  if 
men  will  not  understand  it,  they  may  not  lay  the  blame  on  the 
expounders  of  God's  word,  vs.  6-8. 

5.  It  is  in  vain  to  plead  birth  or  blood,  lineage  or  earthly  rela- 
tions to  save  men's  souls,  v.  8.  Hopes  built  on  such  grounds  must 
perish.  Scott :  "  The  whole  scripture  shows  the  difference  be- 
tween the  professed  Christian,  and  the  real  believer.  Outward 
privileges  are  bestowed  on  many,  who  are  not  the  children  of  God. 
These  are  born  of  the  Spirit,  according  to  the  promise  and  pur- 
pose of  him,  who  worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own 
will."  Clarke  :  "  Not  the  children  who  descend  from  Abraham's 
loins,  nor  those  who  were  circumcised  as  he  was,  nor  even  those 
whom  he  might  expect  and  desire,  are  therefore  the  church  and 
people  of  God  ;  but  those  who  are  made  children  by  the  good 
pleasure  and  promise  of  God,  as  Isaac  was,  are  alone  to  be  account- 
ed for  the  seed  with  whom  the  covenant  was  established."  "  The 
remnant  shall  return,  even  the  remnant  of  Jacob,  unto  the  mighty 
God."  Doddridge  :  "  Let  us  learn  to  depend  on  no  privilege  of 
birth,  on  no  relation  to  the  greatest  and  best  of  men.  Ma)'^  we  seek 
to  be  inserted  into  the  family  of  God,  by  his  adopting  love  in  Christ 
Jesus."     None  but  truly  converted  souls  are  the  children  of  God. 

6.  God  has  ever  made  and  will  ever  make  good  all  his  promises 
in  the  true  intent  and  spirit  thereof,  v.  9.  The  defection  of  some 
by  unbelief  never  invalidates  his  covenant  with  those  who  truly 
believe  his  word.  The  real  heirs  of  the  promise  never  complain 
of  any  unfaithfulness  in  God. 

7.  How  hard  it  is  to  banish  from  the  human  mind  the  concep- 
tion that  in  some  way  men  are  justified,  or  in  some  way  saved  by 
their  works,  or  chosen  for  their  works  done  or  foreseen.  So  urgent 
is  Paul  on  this  matter  that  he  brings  it  up  again,  v.  11,  though  he 
had  virtually  or  formally  stated  it  often  before.  Pool :  "  Paul 
means,  that  the  difference  between  Jacob  and  Esau  was  made 
through  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  not  through  their  wills  or 
works,  existing  or  foreseen."  There  is  evidence  that  Jacob  loved 
and  feared  God.  There  is  not  evidence  that  Esau  had  any  genu- 
ine piety  ;  "  yet  there  is  so  much  palpable  imperfection  and  evil  in 
Jacob,  as  to  manifest  that  God  did  not  choose  him  for  the  excel- 
lency of  his  foreseen  works." 


Ch.  IX.,  V.  II.]  THE  ROMANS.  483 

8.  God  is  sovereign  and  his  sovereignty  is  perfect,  v.  11.  He 
is  a  King,  the  great  King ;  a  Judge,  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  ;  a 
Governor,  the  Governor  among  the  nations.  Chrysostom  :  "  All 
the  Israelites  worshipped  the  calf;  yet  some  had  mercy  shown 
them,  and  others  had  not."  God  is  so  perfect  and  supreme  a 
Judge  that  he  is  fit  to  decide  in  his  own  cause.  He  has  always 
exercised  his  own  sovereignty.  Did  not  Jesse  make  all  his  sons 
pass  before  Samuel,  and  did  not  Samuel  say,  The  Lord  hath  not 
chosen  these,  until  the  youngest,  David,  appeared  ?  i  Sam.  16:6-13. 
God  asserts  such  sovereignty  in  its  most  absolute  form  in  several 
parts  of  this  chapter,  particularly  vs.  15,  18.  Calvin:  "In  his 
gratuitous  election  the  Lord  is  free  and  exempt  from  the  necessity 
of  imparting  equally  the  same  grace  to  all ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
he  passes  by  whom  he  wills,  and  whom  he  wills  he  chooses." 
How  independently  God  acts  of  human  plans,  desires  and  efforts 
is  well  stated  by  Clarke  :  "  Abraham  judged  that  the  blessing 
ought,  and  he  willed,  desired,  that  it  might  be  given  to  Ishmael ; 
and  Isaac  also  willed,  designed  it  for  his  first-born,  Esau  :  and  Esau 
wishing  and  hoping  that  it  might  be  his  readily  went,  ran  a  hunting 
for  venison,  that  he  might  have  it  regularly  conveyed  to  him  :  but 
they  were  all  disappointed :  Abraham  and  Isaac  who  willed  and 
Esau  who  ran."  Every  day  we  see  God's  sovereignty  displayed 
in  a  thousand  ways.  He  not  only  does  his  will  in  the  armies  of 
heaven,  but  also  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  He  kills  and 
he  makes  alive.     He  exalts  one  and  abases  another. 

9.  As  some  worthy  and  pious  people  have  real  difficulties  on 
this  subject,  it  may  be  well  to  state  that  in  the  scriptural  doctrine 
of  God's  sovereignty  there  is  nothing  impairing  or  impugning  the 
following  clear  principles  :  a.  The  Lord  is  no  seducer.  He  tempts 
no  man,  Jas.  1:13.  b.  The  Lord  is  sincere  in  all  his  calls,  offers, 
warnings  and  expostulations.  He  mocks  no  one  with  delusory 
proposals,  Ezek.  18  :  23,  32  ;  33  :  11.  c.  Though  God  sees  nothing 
in  man's  will,  worth,  or  endeavors  to  decide  his  choice  of  one 
rather  than  another,  and  though  he  has  not  revealed  to  us  and 
may  never  reveal  to  us  why  he  does  some  things,  yet  he  acts  not 
capriciously,  but  in  all  cases  has  good  cause  for  whatever  be  pur- 
poses, says  and  does.  In  a  future  world  we  shall  understand  much 
that  is  dark  to  us  here ;  but  neither  our  happiness  nor  our  duty 
will  require  us  to  know  all  that  is  now  mysterious.  In  heaven 
they  adore  on  account  of  mysteries.  Rev.  15:3.  d.  To  understand 
God's  treatment  of  men  aright,  we  must  never  forget  that  they 
are  sinners  by  nature  ;  that  his  wrath  is  kindled  against  them 
as  transgressors,  not  as  men ;  that  his  sovereign  choice  of  any 
of  them  to  eternal  life   is  wholly  of  mei^e  love,  grace  and  pity 


484  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  ii. 

Beza :  "  Mercy  presupposes  misery  and  sin,  or  the  voluntary 
corruption  of  the  human  race ;  and  this  corruption  presupposes 
a  creation  in  purity  and  uprightness."  e.  Some  ask.  Is  God's 
sovereignty  arbitrary  ?  The  word  arbitrary  is  used  in  two  senses 
very  different.  Originally  it  meant  voluntary.  In  this  sense 
God's  whole  government  is  of  course  according  to  the  counsel  of 
his  own  will,  or  his  good  pleasure.  So  say  the  scriptures,  Eph. 
1:5,  II  ;  Phil.  2:13.  But  in  popular  use  the  word  arbitrary  has 
come  to  be  equivalent  to  harsh,  unjust  or  cruel.  God's  soveregnty 
is  at  the  greatest  possible  remove  from  any  such  attribute,  f.  Like 
remarks  may  be  made  concerning  the  word  absolute.  If  by  it  is 
meant  free,  certain,  complete,  positive,  without  restriction  or  limi- 
tation ;  then  God's  sovereignty  is  beyond  doubt  free,  certain,  com- 
plete, positive,  and  without  any  other  restriction  or  limitation 
than  that  which  arises  from  the  infinite  perfection  and  glory  of  his 
nature,  such  as  this,  he  cannot  lie,  he  cannot  deceive,  he  cannot 
do  any  wrong,  g.  God's  sovereignty  is  universal,  extending  over 
all  causes,  all  creatures,  all  effects,  all  agents,  all  results,  all  worlds, 
Ps.  103:  19.  Chalmers:  "  It  seems  hard  to  deny  him,  either  a 
prescience  over  all  the  futurities,  or  a  sovereignty  over  all  the 
events  of  that  universe  which  himself  did  create;  or  that,  sitting 
as  we  conceive  him  to  do  on  a  throne  of  omnipotence,  there  should 
be  so  much  as  one  department  of  his  vast  empire,  where  his  power 
does  not  fix  all,  and  his  intelligence  does  not  foresee  all.  It  greatly 
enhances  this  argument-  when  the  department  in  question  happens 
to  be  far  the  highest  and  noblest  in  creation."  If  mind  cannot  be 
governed,  it  matters  little  whether  matter  is  controlled  or  not. 
h.  It  is  but  a  decent  modesty  to  admit  that  in  God's  sovereignty 
are  many  things  inscrutable.  The  unwillingness  to  admit  much 
to  be  unknowable  has  led  to  many  painful  thoughts,  and  fruitless 
exertions.  This  difficulty  is  not  confined  to  the  simple  plebian. 
It  has  vastly  exercised  those,  who  thought  themselves  wise  and 
great.  To  Erasmus  Luther  said :  "  Mere  human  reason  can  never 
comprehend  how  God  is  good  and  merciful,  and,  therefore,  you 
make  to  yourself  a  god  of  your  own  fancy,  who  hardens  nobody, 
condemns  nobody,  pities  everybody.  You  cannot  comprehend 
how  a  just  God  can  condemn  those  who  are  born  in  sin,  and  can- 
not help  themselves,  but  must,  by  a  necessity  of  their  natural  con- 
stitution, continue  in  sin,  and  remain  children  of  wrath.  The 
answer  is,  God  is  incomprehensible  throughout,  and,  therefore, 
his  justice,  as  well  as  his  other  attributes,  must  be  incomprehensi- 
ble." i.  There  is  nothing  in  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  divine 
sovereignty  to  weaken  the  strength  of  motives  to  exertion.  The 
essential  freedom  of  the  will,  without  which  there  is  no  moral 


Ch.  IX.,  V.  II.]  THE  ROMANS.  485 

agency,  is  unimpaired  by  it,  yea  is  established  by  it.  For  if  God 
is  not  sovereign,  man  cannot  be  free,  but  must  be  the  subject  of  a 
blind  fortuity,  or  of  the  sway  of  devils,  or  of  some  cause  or  causes 
not  understood,  perhaps  not  even  named  among  men.  Chalmers : 
"  Although  God  is  the  primary,  the  overruling  cause  of  every  one 
event,  whether  in  the  world  of  mind  or  of  matter,  this  does  not 
supersede  the  proximate  and  the  instrumental  causes  which  come 
immediately  before  it  Although  he  worketh  all  in  all,  yet  if  it  be 
by  means  that  he  worketh,  the  application  of  these  means  is  still 
indispensable."  Therefore  the  whole  doctrine  and  matter  of 
second  causes  is  left  precisely  where  scripture  and  reason  have 
left  them,  whether  we  accept  or  reject  the  sovereignty  of  God. 
j.  Nor  does  ever  so  firm  a  belief  in  the  scriptural  doctrine  of 
God's  sovereignty  in  the  slightest  degree  modify  the  awards  of 
conscience  respecting  the  moral  acts  of  ourselves  or  of  our  fellow- 
men.  Remorse  for  personal  sins  and  displacency  for  turpitude  in 
others  cannot  be  stronger  in  any  case  than  they  are  in  those  who 
believe  that  God's  kingdom  ruleth  over  all.  Witness  the  convic- 
tions of  the  converts  on  the  day  of  pentecost.  Peter  demonstrated 
to  them  that  they  had  fulfilled  the  divine  purposes  in  the  death  of 
Christ,  and  that  in  so  doing  they  were  heinously  guilty,  Acts  2 :  23. 
They  admitted  the  fairness  of  his  argument,  and  cried  out,  "  Men 
and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  ?  "  As  long  as  one  is  free  from 
constraint  and  violence,  his  moral  sense  gives  him  prompt  and  in- 
fallible evidence  of  his  responsibility  (unless  his  conscience  is 
seared)  and  this  no  less  when  he  is  persuaded  that  the  Lord  God 
omnipotent  reigneth,  than  when  his  views  are  quite  erratic  on  this 
point,  k.  In  all  the  examples  of  known  and  terrible  judgments 
on  individuals  or  communities,  fully  stated  in  scripture,  it  is  clear 
that  God  long  displayed  forbearance  and  patience  —  even  the 
patience  of  a  God.  Neither  man  nor  angel  would  have  so  long 
forborne  to  strike  the  stroke,  when  insult  was  so  perversely  and 
heinously  multiplied.  With  a  breath  or  a  nod  God  could  ease 
himself  of  his  adversaries,  and  cut  short  their  power  in  a  moment ; 
but  see  how  he  bore  with  Pharaoh,  with  the  old  world,  with 
Sodom  and  Gomorroh.  See  how  he  bears  with  the  wicked  in 
our  day.  Some  of  them  have  heard  the  gospel  for  thirty,  forty 
or  fifty  years,  yet  how  hardened  they  still  are,  how  they  forget 
God,  reject  his  Son  and  grieve  his  Spirit.  1.  But  this  long- 
suffering  is  not  connivance  at  sin.  O  no  !  Some  persuade  them- 
selves that  God's  sovereignty  is  controlled  by  an  easy  good 
nature,  which  differs  not  materially  from  indifference  to  moral  char- 
acter. But  the  scripture  makes  a  very  different  impression. 
"  Vengeance  is  mine  ;  I  will  repay  saith  the  Lord,"  Rom.   12  :  19. 


486  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  v.  ii. 

Men  may  say  that  they  have  too  good  an  opinion  of  God  to  sup- 
pose that  he  will  damn  them  for  anything,  but  if  they  die  without 
repentance  they  will  find  that  "  he  that  made  them  will  not 
have  mercy  on  them,  and  he  that  formed  them  will  shew  them 
no  favor,"  Isa.  27:  11.  Such  will  find  the  truth  of  what  God 
here  declares  "  that  he  has  endured  sin  in  the  Avorld  for  the 
very  purpose  of  glorifying  himself  in  its  punishment."  m.  Nor 
is  there  anything  in  the  divine  sovereignty,  nor  in  the  scriptu- 
ral doctrine  thereof  that  should  cause  one  moment's  delay  or 
hesitation  in  any  man  in  accepting  the  gracious  offers  of  mercy. 
That  is  a  prime  and  pressing  duty.  It  is  obvious  and  indis- 
pensable. If  men  would  begin  here  at  a  plain  and  known  duty, 
many  difficulties  would  give  way  before  them.  The  offers  made 
are  from  heaven,  and  in  heaven's  kindest  and  most  urgent  tones 
they  are  pressed  on  men's  acceptance.  Blessed  is  he,  who  has 
wisdom  to  give  them  a  cordial  welcome,  n.  We  should  be  very 
careful  lest  in  making  but  a  feeble  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of 
God's  glorious  sovereignty,  we  but  feebly  adhere  to  the  other 
doctrines  of  scripture,  especially  such  as  have  commonly  been 
regarded  as  intimately  connected  therewith,  especially  depravity, 
the  work  of  Christ,  and  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  History  sounds 
notes  of  alarm  on  that  subject,  o.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  us  to  ad- 
here too  closely  to  the  word  of  God  in  the  statement  and  defence 
of  this  and  kindred  doctrines.  If  they  cannot  be  defended  on 
solid  grounds,  let  them  be  given  up  altogether.  Mere  abstract 
reasoning  on  such  matters  will  lead  no  one  safely,  if  God's  word 
give  not  the  clue  and  the  gist  of  thought.  Let  us  humbly  implore 
divine  guidance,  and  submit  our  understandings  as  we  do  our 
hearts  and  lives  to  the  all- wise  and  all-good  control  of  him,  who 
never  errs. 

10.  God's  purpose  in  election  is  firm.  It  must  and  will  stand, 
V.  II.  It  causes  and  will  ever  cause  human  counsels  and  plans 
and  efforts,  the  rights  of  primogeniture,  nationality,  and  every 
thing  that  is  factitious  in  the  structure  of  society,  to-  give  way  be- 
fore it.  The  Lord  he  is  God.  The  great  object  of  scripture  doc- 
trine is  to  exalt  God,  not  man.  Joseph  was  a  good  man,  a  type 
of  Christ,  a  great  statesman,  and  a  genuine  patriot,  but  he  could 
not  turn  the  blessing  from  Ephraim  to  Manasseh,  Gen,  48 :  17-20. 
In  no  sense  does  the  Lord  see  as  man  seeth. 

11.  While  truth  requires  us  to  admit  that  the  Bible  clearly 
teaches  the  doctrine  of  personal  election,  yet  such  are  the  weak- 
ness and  blindness  of  the  human  mind,  that  any  thing  so  sublime 
and  glorious  may  be  easily  abused  and  perverted  to  the  hardening 
of  our  own  "hearts,  or  to  the  misguiding  and  wretchedness  of  oth- 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  14-20.]  THE  ROMANS.  487 

ers.  We  should  therefore  carefully  study  the  will  of  God  on  this 
matter  with  great  meekness,  and  humility,  with  fervent  prayer, 
and  a  fixed  determination  to  go  as  far  as  the  Lord  has  given  us 
light,  and  no  further.  Thus  doing,  we  shall  find  it  administering 
to  us  joy  and  comfort  wherein  we  understand  it,  and  teaching  us 
lessons  of  humility  and  self-distrust  in  points  we  cannot  compre- 
hend. 

12.  Among  all  the  truths  of  scripture  none  is  more  practical, 
none  more  essential  to  right  views  of  God's  character  and  govern- 
ment, or  to  our  own  peace  and  joy,  than  this,  God  is  righteous  in 
all  his  ways  and  holy  in  all  his  works,  v.  14.  If  the  human  mind 
can  once  be  brought  to  entertain  serious  doubts  on  this  subject, 
wickedness  must  gain  the  ascendancy,  or  a  depression  bordering 
on  desperation  gain  possession  of  our  minds.  However  thick  the 
clouds  and  darkness  that  are  round  about  him,  let  us  never  doubt 
that  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  his  throne, 
Ps.  97  :  1,2.  Firmly  persuaded  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will 
do  right,  we  can  defy  a  thousand  assaults  of  the  adversary,  and 
triumph  even  in  the  midst  of  tribulations. 

13.  In  all  their  generations  there  was  never  an  Israelite,  that 
expressed  sympathy  with  Pharaoh.  On  the  contrary  they  always 
looked  back  on  that  fallen  foe  as  an  enemy  to  God  and  man,  justly 
given  over  to  destruction.  Their  inspired  prophets  taught  them 
to  speak  and  even  sing  in  notes  of  triumph  the  victory  God  had 
granted  over  him  and  other  bitter  opposers  of  God  and  his  people, 
Ps.  135:  8-12;  136:  10-30.  In  like  manner  shall  the  church  tri- 
umphant look  back  on  all  her  proud  and  persecuting  foes,  long 
after  the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll,  and  tyranny, 
and  oppression  and  slander  shall  no  longer  vex  the  souls  that 
tremble  at  God's  word.  Rev.  15  :   1-3. 

14.  If  men  are  proud  and  obstinate,  refusing  to  be  bound  in  the 
chains  of  love,  God  has  chains  and  bars  of  omnipotence  that  will 
effectually  arrest  their  career  of  crime  and  violence,  v.  17.  For 
thousands  of  years  Pharaoh  has  not  had  it  in  his  power  to  create 
an  uneasy  sensation  or  awaken  the  slightest  apprehension  in  the 
mind  of  any  child  of  God  in  any  part  of  this  or  of  any  other  world. 
Glory  be  to  God,  the  day  is  not  distant  when  every  sorrowing 
disciple  now  on  earth  shall  be  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troub- 
ling and  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

15.  Let  us  carefully  eschew  vain  reasonings  and  sinful  ques- 
tionings concerning  God's  nature  and  government,  vs.  19,  20.  It 
is  a  fact  with  many  a  man  that  he  dashes  his  head  against  the 
strongest  pillars  only  to  damage  himself.  "  So  unreasonable  is  the 
curiosity  of  man,  that  the  more  perilous  the  examination  of  a  sub- 


488  EPIS  TLE .  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  17-23. 

ject  is,  the  more  boldly  he  proceeds."  Sadly  are  men  forgetful  of 
their  place  and  their  duty  when  they  "  enter  into  a  debate  with 
God,"  and  presume  to  tell  what  he  ought  or  ought  not  to  do  in 
matters  which  he  has  not  explained  to  mortals.  "  Wo  to  him  that 
striveth  with  his  maker !  Let  the  potsherd  strive  with  the  pot- 
sherds of  the  earth.  Shall  the  clay  say  to  him  that  fashioneth  it, 
What  makest  thou  ?  or  thy  work,  He  hath  no  hands  ?"  Isa.  45  :  9. 
When  worms  cite  the  Almighty  to  their  "  blasphemous  bar,"  they 
may  assuredly  know  that  hell  feels  a  raven  for  her  prey.  If  men 
will  "  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread,"  and  prescribe  to  the 
Almighty,  they  must  answer  for  their  presumption. 

16.  The  sooner  men  adoringly  submit  to  the  sovereignty  of 
God  in  all  things,  and  say  from  the  heart,  Thy  will  be  done,  the 
better  for  them,  v.  21.  God  is  our  potter.  Let  us  own  him  as 
such,  Jer.  18:  2-10.  It  is  sadly  to  be  regretted  that  so  much  time 
is  spent  in  arrogantly  boasting  of  vain  conceits,  and  so  little  in 
adoring  him  whose  righteousness  is  like  the  waves  of  the  sea. 
Indeed  one  hour's  deep  abasement  before  God  does  more  to  make 
us  wise  than  all  the  great  swelling  words  ever  uttered.  Brown : 
"  It  is  a  dangerous  matter  to  consult  with  flesh  and  blood,  and  fol- 
low the  judgment  of  carnal  reason  in  the  matters  of  God." 

17.  Sinners  perish  only  on  the  ground  of  their  sins;  yet  such 
is  the  infinite  wisdom  of  the  Most  High,  that  God's  justice  and 
power  are  glorified  when  men  refuse  to  glorify  his  mercy  and 
grace  by  accepting  his  Son,  v.  22. 

18.  Salvation  is  and  ever  will  be  wonderful  in  manifesting 
"glorious  riches"  of  wisdom  and  power,  justice  and  mercy,  truth 
and  grace,  faithfulness  and  righteousness,  v.  23.  Augustine : 
"  According  to  their  deserts  God  makes  some  vessels  of  wrath ; 
according  to  his  grace  he  makes  others  vessels  of  mercy."  No 
creature  can  say  which  of  all  God's  attributes  is  most  glorified  in 
man's  redemption.  The  common  impression  is  that  love  and 
mercy  are  most  illustrious.  Perhaps  they  are.  Bu-t  who  can 
fathom  the  wisdom,  estimate  the  power  or  gauge  the  justice  there- 
in displayed  ? 

19.  The  first  cause  and  the  last  end  of  all  things  is  God,  vs.  17, 
22,  23.  He  is  honored  willingly  or  unwillingly  by  all  his  crea- 
tures. Some  praise  him  silently  ;  some,  vocally ;  some,  willingly  ; 
some,  reluctantly.  By  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him,  and  for 
him  are  all  things.  "  Retiring  into  our  own  ignorance  and  weakness, 
as  those  that  are  less  than  nothing  and  vanity  before  him,"  letus  fear 
by  arrogance  to  insult  his  heavenly  majesty.  It  is  easy  to  be  proud 
and  to  perish.  It  is  not  easy  to  be  humble  and  reverent  as  ever 
becomes  us.     Glory  be  to  God  in  the  highest.     Amen  and  amen. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

VERSES  25-33. 

GOD'S  SOVEREIGNTY  PROVEN  BY  THE  PROPHETS. 
BY  UNBELIEF  THE  JEWS  REJECT  SALVATION, 
WHILE  BY  FAITH  THE  GENTILES  ACCEPT  IT. 


25  As  he  saith  also  in  Osee,  I  will  call  them  my  people,  which  were  not  my 
people  ;  and  her  beloved,  which  was  not  beloved. 

26  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  in  the  place  where  it  was  said  unto  them.  Ye 
are  not  my  people  ;  there  shall  they  be  called  the  children  of  the  living  God. 

27  Esaias  also  crieth  concerning  Israel,  Though  the  number  of  the  children  of 
Israel  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  a  remnant  shall  be  saved  : 

28  For  he  will  finish  the  work,  and  cut  it  short  in  righteousness  :  because  a  short 
work  will  the  Lord  make  upon  the  earth. 

29  And  as  Esaias  said  before,  Except  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  had  left  us  a  seed,  we 
had  been  as  Sodoma,  and  been  make  like  unto  Gomorrah. 

30  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  That  the  Gentiles,  which  followed  not  after 
righteousness,  have  attained  to  righteousness,  even  the  righteousness  which  is  of 
faith. 

31  But  Israel,  which  followed  after  the  law  of  rigr.teousness,  hath  not  attained 
to  the  law  of  righteousness. 

32  Wherefore?  Because  they  sought  it  not  by  faith,  but  as  it  were  by  the 
works  of  the  law.      For  they  stumbled  at  that  stumblingstone  ; 

33  As  it  is  written,  Behold,  I  lay  in  Sion  a  stumblingstone  and  rock  of  offence  : 
and  whosoever  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be  ashamed. 

THE  apostle,  having-  laid  down  his  doctrine  concerning  God's 
sovereignty  in  choosing  and  saving  whom  he  will,  and  hav- 
ing shown  that  God  exercised  that  sovereignty  in  the  very  dawn 
of  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people,  proceeds  to  show  from  the 
prophets  that  it  was  to  be  expected  that  in  the  latter  days  the 
Most  High  would  continue  to  act  according  to  the  good  pleasure 
of  his  own  will. 

25.  As  lie  saith  also  in  Osee,  I  will  call  them  my  people,  -dkich  were 
not  my  people  ;  and  her  beloved,  which  was  not  beloved. 

26.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  hi  the  place  where  it  zuas  said 

(489) 


490  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  25, 26. 

unto  them,  Ye  are  not  my  people ;  there  shall  they  be  called  the  children 
of  the  living  God.  The  first  of  these  verses  is  cited  from  Hosea 
2  :  23  ;  the  last,  from  Hos.  i  19,  10,  but  in  neither  case  does  the 
apostle  closely  follow  either  the  Hebrew  or  the  Septuagint ;  but 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  gives  a  rendering  of  his  own, 
following  the  Septuagint  in  chief  part.  The  variations  are  not  im- 
portant. There  is  some  transposition  of  the  order  of  the  clauses, 
as  well  as  of  the  verses  cited,  but  we  need  not  dwell  on  that.  An 
examination  of  the  early  part  of  the  book  of  Hosea  shows  that  the 
prophet  is  there  specially  speaking  of  the  ten  tribes,  and  not  of  the 
Gentiles.  This  has  made  some  difficulty,  and  has  led  to  various 
explanations.  Perhaps  the  best  solution  is  this.  In  showing  that 
in  calling  men,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  God  exercises  his  own 
good  pleasure  and  is  a  free  sovereign,  he  proceeds  to  state  that  in 
the  history  of  Abraham's  descendants,  there  is  a  comparatively 
modern  and  well  known  example  of  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative 
as  supreme  Lord  of  all,  in  the  history  of  the  ten  tribes,  who  for  a 
season  were  rent  off  from  the  theocracy,  and  from  the  temple  ser- 
vice, and  so  from  the  throne  of  David,  but  were,  very  much  like 
the  Gentiles,  outcasts  from  God.  Hosea  and  Isaiah  were  in  part 
cotemporaries  as  we  learn  from  the  first  verse  of  the  books  that 
bear  their  names  respectively.  Hosea  here  predicts  the  restora- 
tion of  Israel  or  the  ten  tribes,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  true  worship 
of  God  ;  so  that  they  which  were  for  a  time  not  a  people  and  not 
beloved,  shall  be  beloved  and  shall  be  a  people.  More  than  a 
hundred  years  later  a  like  prediction  is  given  by  the  weeping 
prophet,  Jer.  50  :  4,  5.  And  so  God  displayed  his  sovereignty 
both  in  rejecting  for  a  season  the  ten  tribes,  and  then  in  bringing 
many  of  them  back  to  his  true  worship.  This  solution  is  entirely 
pertinent  to  Paul's  whole  argument — God's  right  to  reject  at  any 
time  any  man,  or  class  of  men,  who  had  no  claim  on  him  except  that 
derived  through  lineal  descent  from  a  friend  of  his.  It  in  like 
manner  shows  the  riches  of  God's  grace  in  extending  mercy  to 
many  persons  in  these  tribes  so  soon  after  their  practice  of  idolatry 
in  the  worship  of  the  calves,  etc.  The  objection  that  may  occur 
to  some  is  that  in  the  preceding  verse  Paul  had  mentioned  the 
Gentiles,  but  in  the  same  verse  he  had  spoken  of  the  Jews  also  ; 
and  he  had  named  both  incidentally,  and  not  at  all  in  logical  con- 
nection with  these  verses.  His  object  had  been  to  show  that  God 
always  had  exercised  his  sovereign  right  to  choose,  call  and  save 
whom  he  would,  whether  among  the  descendants  of  Abraham  or 
of  any  one  else.  In  his  sovereignty  he  for  a  season  rejected  ten 
out  of  the  twelve  tribes  ;  but  in  his  mercy  he  gathered  again  many 
from  among  them  and  made  them  his  people.     That  this  is  not 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  25-27.]  THE  ROMANS,  49I 

doing  violence  to  any  rule  of  sound  interpretation  is  manifest 
from  the  fact  that  in  v.  27  the  apostle  expressly  says  that  he  is  still 
speaking  of  Israel.  Now  Abram  himself  "  was  a  Syrian  ready  to 
perish,"  Deut.  26  :  5.  He  was  the  descendant  of  gross  idolaters 
and  many  think  he  was  one  himself,  Josh.  24  :  2,  3.  Sarah  was  of 
the  same  stock  of  vile  idolaters,  Gen.  1 1  :  29  ;  20  :  12.  So  vile  were 
the  people,  from  whom  they  sprang  that  in  Ezek.  16:3  Abram  is 
called  an  Amorite  and  his  wife  a  Hittite.  This  is  of  course  fig-ur- 
ative  language,  denoting  that  they  descended  from  a  people  as  vile 
as  the  descendants  of  Heth,  the  second  son  of  Canaan,  and  of  Emor, 
the  fourth  son  of  Canaan,  the  ancestors  respectively  of  the  Hittites 
and  Amorites,  two  tribes  as  odious  as  any  that  could  be  named  to 
a  Jew.  God  showed  his  supreme  authority  as  Lord  of  all  in  mak- 
ing choice  of  this  man  and  this  woman,  as  the  ancestry  of  the 
Jews.  So  in  Abraham's  family  the  Lord  passed  by  the  Son  of 
Hagar  and  the  six  sons  of  Keturah,  and  chose  Isaac.  In  Isaac's 
family  he  rejected  Esau  and  chose  Jacob.  In  Jacob's  family  he 
passed  by  Reuben  the  first  born,  and  gave  the  sceptre  to  Judah, 
and  the  richest  blessing  to  Joseph.  In  Joseph's  family  he  gave 
the  preference  to  Ephraim  the  younger  over  his  elder  brother 
Manasseh.  In  all  the  early  history  of  Abraham  and  his  descend- 
ants God  showed  his  sovereignty.  So  now  says  Paul  he  did  the 
same  in  the  case  of  the  ten  tribes.  Other  explanations  are 
offered  by  commentators.  Calvin  says  that  the  most  successful 
in  interpreting  these  verses  supposed  that  Paul  meant  to  reason 
thus — "  What  may  seem  to  be  an  hinderance  to  the  Gentiles  to  be- 
come partakers  of  salvation  did  also  exist  as  to  the  Jewish  nation  ; 
as  then  God  did  formerly  receive  the  Jews,  whom  he  had  cast 
away  and  exterminated,  so  also  now  he  exercises  the  same  kind- 
ness towards  the  Gentiles."  Calvin  offers  another  interpretation 
of  his  own,  viz. :  that  the  prophet  was  aiming  to  give  consolation 
both  to  Jews  and  Gentiles  by  showing  them  that  they  were  ruined 
unless  they  turned  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  All  this  is  doubtless 
true.  The  difficulty  is  in  getting  it  out  of  this  verse.  The  apostle 
of  the  circumcision  quotes  a  part  of  these  verses  and  applies  them 
to  the  elect  of  his  day,  some  of  whom  were  Jews,  and  some.  Gen- 
tiles, I  Pet.  2  :  10.  So  that  if  the  words  have  a  primary  fulfilment 
in  the  conversion  of  a  portion  of  the  ten  tribes  they  have  a  continu- 
ous fulfilment  in  the  effectual  calling  of  every  people.  In  every 
age  God  receives  outcasts,  and  all  past  history  shows  it.  The 
words  of  these  verses  are  generally  easily  understood. 

27.  Esaias  also  crieth  concerning  Israel^  Though  the  number  of 
the  children  of  Israel  be  as  the* sand  of  the  sea,  a  remnant  shall  be 
saved: 


49?  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  28, 29. 

28.  For  he  will  finish  the  work,  and  cut  it  short  in  righteousness  : 
because  a  short  work  will  the  Lord  make  on  the  earth:  These  words 
are  quoted  from  Isaiah  10 :  22,  23,  and  very  much  from  the  Sep- 
tuagint  version  with  slight  variations.  Whether  by  Israel  we  un- 
derstand the  ten  tribes,  or  the  body  of  the  descendants  of  Jacob, 
will  not  affect  the  interpretation  of  these  words  in  application  to 
the  matter  in  hand;  though  they  pretty  certainly  refer ^to  the 
mass  of  Abraham's  offspring.  The  first  of  these  verses  is  a  clear 
declaration  that  many,  who  were  descended  from  Jacob,  were  re- 
jected of  God,  and  but  a  remnant  saved.  What  period  of  history 
is  covered  by  this  declaration,  whether  merely  the  days  of  Isaiah, 
or  a  much  longer  period,  we  need  not  inquire  as  to  this  argu- 
ment. The  apostle  is  simply  proving  that  great  numbers  of  the 
lineal  descendants  of  Jacob  were  not  saved,  thus  showing  that 
God  did  not  own  as  his  those  who  had  not  faith  and  piety ;  and 
that  no  promise  he  had  made  to  the  fathers  bound  him  to  save 
those  who  lived  and  died  in  sin.  The  second  of  these  verses  is  of 
more  difficult  explication.  Paul  gives  as  good  a  rendering  as  has 
been  offered.  The  rendering  in  the  authorized  version  in  Isa.  10  : 
22,  23  is  of  course  different,  being  made  directly  from  the  He- 
brew. The  sense  is  that  God  will  righteously  and  speedily  terminate 
the  destruction,  or  consumption,  or  sentence  of  divine  displeasure 
against  this  people.  And  this  consumption  was  to  be  executed  on 
descendants  of  Abraham.  Nor  is  the  above  the  only  case  in 
which  the  evangelical  prophet  declared  that  many  of  his  nation 
were  utterly  rejected  by  the  Lord  : 

29.  And  as  Esaias  said  before,  Except  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  had  left 
us  a  seed,  we  had  been  as  Sodoma,  and  been  made  like  unto  Gomorrah. 
This  is  a  quotation  from  Isa.  i  :  9.  The  chief  difference  between 
the  verses  here  and  there  is  that  here  we  have  a  seed,  and  in  the 
prophet  a  very  small  remnant.  But  the  idea  in  each  case  is  the 
same,  as  the  portion  of  the  crop  saved  for  seed  is  a  very  small 
part  of  the  whole.  Here  the  prophet  certainly  embraces  the 
tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  as  is  clear  from  Isa.  1:1.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  here  as  in  Isa.  10  :  22,  23  he  is  speaking  of  the  descend- 
ants of  Abraham  without  regard  to  their  civil  condition.  Sabaoth, 
in  Isa.  I  :  9  correctly  rendered  of  hosts,  is  retained  from  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  which  Paul  in  this  verse  literally  follows.  It  occurs  in 
one  other  place  in  the  New  Testament,  Jas.  5  :  4.  The  hosts  or 
armies  of  Jehovah  are  the  angels  of  heaven,  the  sun,  moon  and 
stars  of  heaven,  the  people  of  God  of  all  ages,  and  all  creation  re- 
garded as  marshalled  before  him.  In  the  first  part  of  his  prophecy 
Isaiah  is  speaking  of  the  sins  of  his  people  and  of  the  judgments 
that  had  wasted  them.      Hodge  :  "  The  passage   strictly  proves 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  30,  3 1 -J       THE  ROMANS. 


493 


what  Paul  designed  to  establish,  viz:  that  the  Jews,  as  Jews, 
were  as  much  exposed  to  God's  judgments  as  others,  and  conse- 
quently could  lay  no  special  claim  to  admission  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven," 

30.  What  shall  xve  say  then  ?  That  the  Gentiles  which  followed  not 
after  righteousness,  have  attained  to  righteousness,  even  the  rigJiteons- 
ness  which  is  of  faith.  This  is  the  sixth  time  in  this  epistle,  when 
after  clearly  establishing  a  great  principle  in  his  argument,  the 
apostle  asks,  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  But  this  interrogatory  is 
not  always  propounded  for  the  same  purpose.  Sometimes  it  is 
done  to  state  an  objection,  that  it  may  be  answered.  Here  and 
sometimes  elsewhere  it  is  done  to  open  the  way  for  announcing  a 
conclusion.  In  this  place  it  means,  What  is  the  result  reached  ? 
What  is  the  fair  conclusion  from  these  statements?  He  then 
states  it.  That  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  might  be  extended  to 
the  Gentiles.  The  form  of  announcing  this  truth  is  both  frank 
and  guarded.  It  admits  that  the  Gentiles  merited  not  this  favor. 
It  even  admits  their  gross  wickedness  and  recklessness.  They 
followed  not  after  righteousness.  They  were  free  from  righteous- 
ness. They  were  not  under  restraint  from  any  sound  principle  of 
piety.  They  lived  as  they  listed  and  in  such  corruption  as  is  well 
described  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  epistle.  These  undeserving, 
ill-deserving  people,  through  the  riches  of  God's  grace  and 
mercy,  when  they  were  not  seeking  or  pursuing  after  righteous- 
ness in  any  sense  of  that  term,  heard  of  the  gospel  scheme  of  sal- 
vation by  grace  through  faith,  by  the  power  of  God's  Spirit  were 
enabled  to  believe,  and  thus  have  attained  unto  righteousness,  not 
in  any  wise  by  their  own  merits,  but  solely  by  believing  in  him, 
who  justifies  the  ungodly.  Compare  Isa.  65  :  i.  Such  is  ob- 
viously the  import  of  this  verse. 

31.  But  Israel,  which  folloived after  the  lazv  of  righteousness,  hath 
not  attained  to  the  law  of  righteousness.  Followed  after,  the  same 
word  so  rendered  in  v.  30.  Peshito  :  ran  after.  Israel  had  avowedly 
and  formally  given  much  attention  to  matters  pertaining  to  their 
good  standing  before  God.  But  their  efforts  were  wretchedly 
spoiled  by  self-righteousness.  They  had  generally  fallen  into  the 
belief  that  acceptance  with  God  was  through  a  man's  own  good 
deeds.  So  that  when  a  gratuitous  justification  through  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  was  offered  them,  so  far  from  receiving  it,  they 
generally  rejected  it,  and  so  utterly  failed  of  righteousness.  This 
is  the  evident  import  of  the  passage  as  interpreted  by  the  history 
of  these  people,  and  by  the  context.  The  phrase  law  of  righteous- 
ness has  given  rise  to  some  diversity  of  explanation.  Rosenmuller 
says  that  in  the  first  instance  it  means  the  law  of  Moses,  in  the  sec- 


494  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  32,  33. 

ond  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  That  is  at  least  a  loose  way  of  stating 
the  matter ;  so  general  as  not  to  aid  the  mind  in  coming  at  the 
truth.  Calvin  and  Guyse  think  the  law  of  righteousness  signifies  the 
righteousness  of  the  law.  No  doubt  the  doctrine  thus  educed  is 
sound.  But  how  can  it  be  philologically  reached  ?  Bp.  Hall : 
"  Israel,  which  sought  to  attain  to  righteousness  by  the  works  of 
the  law,  and  affected  to  earn  both  perfect  justice  and  God's  favor 
by  the  fulfilling  thereof,  have  not  at  all  attained  to  the  state  of 
righteousness."  The  following  interpretation  would  give  a  good 
sense,  and  would  be  historically  true :  Israel,  which  sought  to  be 
saved  by  the  rule  of  righteousness,  fell  short  of  the  rule  of  right- 
eousness, their  sinful  nature,  not  any  defect  in  the  law,  producing 
the  failure.  Other  expositions  are  offered,  but  this  meets  the  phi- 
lology of  the  case,  is  sound,  and  is  to  be  preferred. 

32.  Wherefore  ?  Because  they  sought  it  fiot  by  faith,  but  as  it 
were  by  the  works  of  the  latv.  For  they  stumbled  at  that  stuniblijig- 
stone.  How  came  it  to  pass  that  Israel  fell  short  of  attaining 
righteousness  ?  This  has  often  been  stated,  but  Paul  again  says  it 
was  because  they  sought  it  by  their  own  works  or  personal  con- 
formity to  law,  and  not  by  faith  in  the  Redeemer.  Stumble  at,  or 
dash  against,  quite  uniformly  rendered.  The  noun  rendered 
stumbling  is  cognate  to  the  verb  stumble.  One,  who  persists  in 
following  a  way  in  which  for  any  reason  God  forbids  him  to  walk, 
must  expect  a  failure.  As  far  back  as  the  days  of  Abraham  God 
clearly  taught  that  man's  justification  is  by  faith.  Any  other 
method  therefore  is  impossible.  But  what  is  the  stone  of  stumbling  ? 
Paul  answers  by  a  quotation  from  the  evangelical  prophet  : 

^Z-  As  it  is  written,  Behold  I  lay  in  Sion  a  stumbling  stone  and  rock 
of  offence,  and  whosoever  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be  ashamed.  This 
is  a  quotation  fi'om  parts  of  two  verses  in  different  chapters,  Isa. 
8  :  14;  28  :  16.  Both  these  verses  relate  to  the  same  matter,  the 
Saviour  of  men,  and  both  employ  the  same  figurative  language 
respecting  him.  The  phrase  make  haste  found  in  Isa.  28  :  16  is 
here  explained  as  being  ashamed.  This  latter  term  is  also  substi- 
tuted by  being  confounded.  Even  in  Old  Testament  times  the 
great  support  of  the  troubled  was  Messiah  to  come,  as  to  us  it  is 
Messiah  already  come.  Compare  Ps.  118  :  22;  Matt.  21  :  42; 
Mark  12  :  10 ;  Luke  20  :  17  ;  Acts  4:11;  Eph.  2  :  20;  i  Pet.  2  :  6, 
7.  Though  the  wicked  by  their  unbelief  make  the  coming  of 
Christ  a  means  of  a  deeper  and  more  terrible  destruction,  yet 
Christ  is  to  all  who  believe  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 
Christ  is  a  sure,  a  tried,  a  precious  corner  stone.  Blessed  be  God, 
Christ  is  a  gin  and  a  snare  to  none,  who  receive  him  in  meek  hu- 
mility and  in  holy  joy. 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  25,  26.]        THE  ROMANS.  495 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  The  Scripture  is  to  be  studied.  One  part  should  be  compared 
with  another,  v.  25.  The  two  Testaments,  like  the  cherubim 
over  the  mercy-seat,  look  towards  each  other.  The  word  of  God 
contains  more  than  appears  to  a  careless  or  superficial  reader. 
Many  read  Gen.  15:6;  Hab.  2  : 4,  and  never  learn  therefi"om  the 
way  of  justification.  Many  read  Hosea  through  and  never  learn 
that  God  is  a  sovereign.  It  is  therefore  a  great  mercy  to  have  a 
good,  competent  person  to  expound  God's  word  to  us,  as  Paul  does 
here,  and  as  Philip  did  to  the  eunuch.  Acts  8:30,  31.  Let  us 
search  the  scriptures  daily  and  candidly,  embracing  all  they  teach. 

2.  It  is  fair  to  appeal  to  scripture  as  binding  on  all  who  know 
it,  V.  25.  Paul  does  so  here.  He  did  so  in  his  address  before 
Agrippa,  Acts  26  :  27.  Jesus  Christ  taught  that  infidels  in  all 
lands,  who  know  but  reject  the  word  of  God  shall  be  judged  by 
it,  John  12:48.  All  this  is  fair.  Clarke:  "The  apostle  shows 
that  this  calling  of  the  Gentiles  was  no  fortuitous  thing,  but  from 
7i  firm  purpose  in  the  Divine  mind,  which  he  had  largely  revealed 
to  the  prophets :  and  by  opposing  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  the 
Jews,  in  effect,  renounced  th.Q\Y  prophets,  and  fought  against  God." 
The  scripture  is  God's  word,  and  the  denial  of  this  fact  no  more 
makes  it  to  be  no  fact  than  the  denial  of  a  God  puts  God  out  of 
the  universe. 

3.  God's  word  will  surely  be  fulfilled.  There  can  be  no  failure. 
Where  the  event  requires  the  free  agency  of  man,  it  is  as  freely 
and  certainly  rendered  as  where  only  inanimate  creation  bears  a 
part  in  the  fulfilling  of  his  word.  Olshausen  :  "  God's  prophecies, 
being  the  utterances  of  the  All-knowing  and  Almighty  one,  must 
needs  be  fulfilled,  not,  however,  by  destroying  the  free  will  of  the 
creature,  but  rather  through  that  very  free  will  .  .  .  Prophecies 
are  to  no  purpose,  unless  on  the  presupposition  of  St.  Paul's  doc- 
trine as  to  predestination :  it  is  not  man  that  causes  their  fulfilment, 
but  God  by  means  of  man,  and  that  precisely  by  his  free  act." 

4.  God's  people  are  in  covenant  with  him  so  that  not  only  may 
each  one  of  them  say.  Thou  art  my  God,  but  God  as  distinctly 
says,  Ye  are  my  people,  my  beloved,  my  children,  vs.  25,  26.  We 
should  never  forget  this  covenant  relation  between  God  and  us. 
It  is  our  life  and  our  joy.  "  The  beauty  of  scripture  is  in  its 
pronouns." 

5.  It  is  lawful  for  us  to  follow  the  example  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  and  freely  use  a  translation  of  the  scriptures,  even  though 
it  be  not  inspired,  as  the  Septuagint,  which  Paul  quotes,  was  neither 
inspired,  nor  always  correct. 


496  EPIS  TLE    TO         [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  25,  26. 

6.  The  original  scriptures  are  in  the  Greek  and  in  the  Hebrew, 
and  are  always  tO  be  the  final  resort  in  learning  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit,  just  as  Paul  follows  a  translation  until  it  fails  to  bring  out 
the  precise  idea  of  the  original,  most  pertinent  to  his  argument, 
then  he  refers  to  the  Hebrew.  True,  he  did  this  by  a  plenary  in- 
spiration, and  so  infallibly.  We  must  do  it  modestly,  humbly, 
with  prayer  for  divine  guidance,  and  under  a  solemn  responsibility 
to  God  and  his  people  for  our  candor  in  the  use  of  all  the  lights 
we  can  secure. 

7.  How  rich  and  free  and  glorious  is  the  grace  of  God,  which 
calls  outcast  Israelites  and  sinners  of  the  Gentiles  to  a  saving 
knowledge  of  his  Son.  How  it  overleaps  all  boundaries  that  men 
set  up,  casts  into  oblivion  the  misdeeds  of  a  wicked  life,  and 
showers  its  blessings  on  those  most  justly  doomed  to  wrath,  vs. 
25,  26.  Brown:  "  How  profane,  naughty,  and  graceless  soever  a 
place  hath  been,  and  how  infamous  soever  for  wickedness  and 
Atheism  ;  yet  that  will  not  hinder  the  Lord  from  being  gracious  to 
that  people,  when  the  time  of  love  dawneth."  Blessed  be  God, 
who  shows  mercy  to  the  chief  of  sinners,  and  brings  his  sons  from 
afar. 

8.  If  God  has  saved  us,  and  made  us  heirs  of  his  kingdom  and 
grace,  why  should  we  not  be  greatly  encouraged  to  pray  and  labor 
for  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  others.  Surely  if  God  calls 
us  beloved,  who  were  not  long  since  in  our  sins  and  under  wrath, 
he  may  save  others,  now  as  far  from  righteousness  as  we  ever 
were.  It  seems  unaccountable  that  really  converted  people  should 
have  so  little  zeal  in  saving  men's  souls.  When  first  converted 
almost  all  make  some  spirited  endeavors  in  that  direction,  but  like 
the  mild  Reformer,  they  "  find  old  Adam  too  strong  for  young 
Melancthon."  Then  they  are  in  danger  of  falling  under  the  power 
of  discouragement,  and  thenceforth  they  accomplish  little.  Scott : 
"  As  many  of  us  have  now  obtained  mercy,  and  are  the  people 
and  children  of  the  living  God,  who  once  were  far  off  from  him  ; 
so  we  may  pray,  and  hope,  and  take  encouragement  to  use  dili- 
gently all  proper  means,  that  this  may  be  the  case  throughout  the 
earth."  In  our  endeavors  to  save  others  we  should  be  mightily 
stirred  up  by  gratitude  for  the  compassion  shown  to  us  in  a 
thousand  ways.  There  is  not  a  man  upon  earth,  whose  ances- 
tors were  not  once  abominable  idolaters.  Most  of  those  who 
now  speak  the  English  language  are  descended  from  those  who 
at  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  were  as  degraded  and  debased  wor- 
shippers of  devils,  as  the  world  has  ever  seen ;  and  we  carry 
about  with  us  in  the  names  of  the  days  of  the  week  the  rags 
and  shreds  of  that  idol- worship,  which  our  forefathers  practised. 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  26-29.]       THE    ROMANS.  497 

9.  It  is  a  blessed  truth  that  our  God  is  the  living  God ;  not  dead 
wood,  and  stone,  and  silver,  and  gold ;  not  dead  men  deified  by- 
superstition,  but  the  living,  active,  moving,  efficient  God,  full  of 
all  energy  and  power,  v.  26.  Let  us  trust  him,  rejoice  in  him,  be 
persuaded  of  his  glorious  perfections  and  his  infinite  faithfulness. 

10.  It  is  sad,  it  was  so  to  the  prophets,  to  Christ,  and  to  his 
apostles  that  among  the  multitudes  of  earth,  so  few  from  age  to  age 
give  evidence  of  any  real  love  to  God,  v.  27.  Blessed  be  God  for 
the  rich  grace,  by  which  even  a  remnant  are  made  wise  unto  salva- 
tion. It  shall  not  be  so  always.  A  day  is  coming,  (Lord,  hasten 
it,)  when  the  plowman  shall  overtake  the  reaper,  when  the  light 
of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  the 
sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the  light  of  seven  days,  and  when  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea,  Isa.  11:9;  30  :  25  ;  Amos  9:13. 

11.  Sometimes  God's  patience  with  a  man  or  a  community  is 
worn  out,  and  then  in  anger  and  in  righteousness  he  cuts  short  the 
work,  and  gives  them  over  to  ruin  as  swift  as  it  is  just,  v.  28. 
When  he  does  this  he  "  makes  quick  dispatch  with  carnal  men," 
and  the  flood  of  his  wrath  sweeps  them  away  as  in  a  moment. 
They  are  extinguished  like  the  fire  of  tow.  The  suddenness  and 
overwhelming  nature  of  the  wrath  that  comes  upon  the  incorrigi- 
ble are  often  stated  in  scripture,  Pr.  29  :  i  ;  i  Thess.  5  :  3.  Brown  : 
"  When  God  is  about  to  execute  his  anger  against  a  people  for 
their  iniquities,  he  can  send  a  rod  which  shall  make  their  strength 
soon  decay  and  come  to  a  hair,  and  their  multitudes  melt  like 
snow  before  the  sun,  like  a  consumption  weakening  them  daily." 

12.  There  is  no  telling  what  a  happy  influence  even  one  man, 
and  he  once  a  wicked  man,  may  have  in  saving  a  community. 
Look  at  Moses  in  Israel,  at  old  John  Adams  in  Pitcairn's  Island, 
and  at  multitudes  of  like  cases.  Ten  righteous  men  would  have 
saved  Sodom.  A  very  small  remnant  saved  the  Jewish  nation 
from  coming  to  a  like  end  in  the  days  of  Isaiah,  v.  29.  If  it  had 
not  been  for  the  elect,  the  world  would  have  long  since  been  with- 
out inhabitants,  Matt.  24 :  22.  What  a  blessing  a  very  few  men 
may  be  to  a  great  nation. 

13.  But  a  terrible  doom  is  coming  on  all  who  are  finally  im- 
penitent. Their  state  will  soon  be  as  doleful  as  that  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah,  which  suffer  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire,  v.  29.  Com- 
pare Jude  7.  How  is  it  that  men  can  neither  be  won  by  the  most 
lovely  things,  nor  aroused  by  the  most  startling  things,  nor  alarmed 
by  the  most  terrible  things,  nor  attracted  by  the  most  glorious 
things?  O  there  is  a  mystery  in  iniquity  that  can  never  be  solved. 
Depravity  is  as  deep  as  it  is  foul. 

32 


498  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  30,  31. 

14.  God's  manner  of  bestowing  grace  on  men  is  as  sovereign 
and  admirable,  as  the  grace  itself  is  rich  and  amazing,  v.  30.  He 
is  found  of  them  that  sought  him  not,  Isa.  65  :  i.  What  a  glorious 
surprise  of  mercy  was  the  visit  of  the  gospel  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  to  Rome,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  Philippi,  Samaria,  and  many 
other  places.  What  gladness  was  diffused  in  every  place,  where 
mercy  came  to  heal  the  dying  and  rescue  the  condemned.  And 
then  all  this  is  bestowed  in  so  wondrous  a  way — Righteousness 
without  works !  Was  there  ever  a  kinder  or  more  startling  an- 
nouncement? Righteousness  by  faith  !  Why  it  is  the  very  thing 
for  the  lost — the  only  message  that  could  cheer  a  sinner.  And  all 
coming  without  money  and  without  price ;  yea  without  solicita- 
tion. Wonderful,  Wonderful,  Wonderful,  WONDERFUL 
grace.  The  like  was  never  heard  of  in  God's  dealings  with  any 
but  sinners  of  Adam's  race.  O  why  will  not  all  at  once  accept 
this  grace  and  be  saved  ? 

15.  Right  views  of  the  richness  and  freedom  of  grace  are  no 
ground  of  vain-glorious  boasting.  All  we  have,  we  have  received. 
And  all  we  have  received  was  through  unmerited  kindness.  God's 
mercy  abused  may  be  withdrawn  for  ever.  Let  us  be  humble. 
Let  .us  fear  lest  a  promise  being  left  us  of  entering  into  rest,  any 
of  us  should  seem  to  come  short  of  it,  or  abuse  it,  and  provoke  the 
Most  High  to  withdraw  it.  We  stand  by  faith,  v.  30.  Unbelief 
will  ruin  any  people  whatever  may  have  been  their  history.  See 
Matt.  21  :  43. 

16.  Great  engagedness  in  some,  yea,  in  many  of  the  outward 
duties  of  religion,  avowedly  in  quest  of  righteousness,  does  not  se- 
cure the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  acceptance  with  God,  until  the 
soul  turns  away  from  every  thing  else  to  Christ  Jesus,  as  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life,  v.  31.  All  is  fatal  error,  till  Christ  and  his 
righteousness  are  embraced — yes,  fatal  error.  Hodge :  "  Error 
is  often  a  greater  obstacle  to  the  salvation  of  men  than  careless- 
ness or  vice.  Christ  said  that  publicans  and  harlots  would 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  before  the  Pharisees  .  .  .  Let  no 
man  think  error  in  doctrine  a  slight  practical  evil.  No  road  to 
perdition  has  ever  been  more  thronged  than  that  of  false  doctrine. 
Error  is  a  shield  over  the  conscience,  and  a  bandage  over  the 
eyes."  Take  heed  how  you  ever  entertain  even  for  an  hour  a 
thought  counter  to  God's  scheme  of  saving  men  by  the  riches  of 
grace  in  Christ  Jesus.  "  Poison  kills  as  well  as  pistol ;"  and  the 
poison  of  error  m  religious  doctrine  is  worse  than  the  poison  of 
asps.  Nor  is  this  danger  slight,  particularly  in  places  where  the 
gospel  has  long  been  preached.  Brown  :  "  There  are  none  more 
ready  to  reject  God's  way  of  salvation  by  faith  in  Christ,  and  to 


Ch.  IX,  vs.  32,  33.]      THE  ROMANS.  499 

cleave  to  the  way  by  their  own  works,  than  such  as  are  within  the 
visible  church,  and  privileged  of  God  beyond  others." 

17.  Want  of  living  faith  is  as  fatal  under  the  gospel  as  under 
the  law.  It  has  always  been  the  bane  of  spurious  piety.  It  be- 
lieves not  God's  testimony  respecting  his  Son.  It  rejects  the  Son 
himself,  and  makes  him  a  stumbling-stone,  v.  32.  This  doctrine 
has  been  no  secret  in  the  church.  Whitby  quotes  the  Chaldee 
Paraphrast  as  saying  ;  "  If  they  will  not  obey,  or  receive  him,  [that 
is  Messiah,]  my  word  shall  be  to  them  for  scandal,  and  ruin  to  the 
princes  of  the  two  houses  of  Israel."  Olshausen  :  "  As  it  is  impos- 
sible to  pour  any  thing  into  a  vessel  which  is  stopped  up  and  full, 
in  like  manner  is  a  soul  full  of  pride  and  devoid  of  love  incapable 
of  receiving  the  streams  of  the  Spirit."  Chalmers:  "  A  Christian 
utterly  renounces  all  good  works,  as  having  any  value  in  them  to 
confer  a  legal  right  to  heaven.  And  yet  a  Christian  devotes  him- 
self to  the  performance  of  good  works,  as  having  in  them  that  vir- 
tue of  moral  rightness,  which  is  in  itself  the  very  essence  of 
heaven." 

18.  Since  Jesus  Christ  is  so  meek,  so  holy,  so  loving,  so  glo- 
rious as  all  the  scriptures  represent  him  to  be,  how  comes  it  to 
pass  that  he  is  a  stumbling-stone  and  rock  of  offence  to  any  ?  vs.  32, 
33.  He  is  the  joy  of  the  meek.  He  is  the  glory  of  Israel.  How 
can  any  be  offended  in  him  ?  The  reason  is  that  his  whole  work 
and  righteousness  bring  honor  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  abase 
the  sinner  in  the  dust.  If  the  Lord  Jesus  would  demand  no  abase- 
ment of  spiritual  pride  ;  if  he  would  not  call  for  the  crucifixion  of 
the  flesh  with  the  affections  and  lusts  ;  if  he  would  not  slay  the 
enmity  ;  if  he  would  not  cast  out  the  devils  of  uncleanness ;  if  he 
would  save  without  a  faith  that  works  by  love,  purifies  the  heart 
and  overcomes  the  world ;  in  short  if  he  would  save  men  in  their 
sins,  not  from  their  sins,  he  would  be  everywhere  crowned  with 
songs.  But  he  will  never  be  the  minister  of  sin.  Hence  his  very 
divinity  is  an  offence  to  some,  and  his  humanity  a  scandal  to  others. 
In  the  heavenly  race  many  dasJi  against  this  stone  and  are  broken. 
Haldane  :  "  Men  cannot  bear  the  idea  of  being  indebted  for  salva- 
tion to  sovereign  grace,  which  implies  that  in  themselves  they  are 
guilty  and  ruined  by  sin."  And  yet  any  other  scheme  of  accept- 
ance with  God  suits  none  but  sinless  beings,  and  "  there  is  no  man 
that  sinneth  not." 

^  19.  However  gloomy  and  doleful  the  prospects  of  the  incorri- 
gibly proud  and  impenitent  may  be,  let  the  heralds  of  the  cross  be 
faithful,  tender  and  urgent  in  proclaiming  the  offer  of  eternal  hfe 
to  as  many  as  shall  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  All  such 
shall  not  be  ashamed  or  confounded,  v.  33  ;  yea,  they  shall  be  for 


500  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  IX.,  V.  33. 

ever  saved.  Let  the  vilest  be  persuaded  to  come  to  Christ.  Let 
no  barrier  be  put  in  their  way.  The  air  we  breathe  is  not  more 
free  than  salvation  by  Christ  Jesus  to  all  who  accept  it.  Such 
may  have  dark  days,  niay  see  sharp  trials,  may  endure  a  great 
fight  of  affliction.  But  the  Lord  is  their  God  ;  their  defence  shall 
be  the  munitions  of  rocks ;  and  a  seat  with  Christ  on  his  throne 
their  everlasting  reward: — a  reward  none  the  less  glorious,  because 
it  is, all  of  grace. 


CHAPTER    X. 

VERSES    1-13. 

KIND  WORDS.  THE  FATAL  ERROR  OF  THE  JEWS. 
HOW  MEN  ARE  SAVED.  HOW  CHRIST  BE- 
COMES  OURS. 

Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is,  that  they  might  be 
saved. 

2  For  I  bear  them  record  that  they  have  a  zeal  of  God,  but  not  according  to 
knowledge. 

3  For  they,  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness,  and  going  about  to  establish 
their  own  righteousness,  have  not  submitted  themselves  unto  the  righteousness  of 
God. 

4  For  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth. 

5  For  Moses  describeth  the  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  That  the  man 
which  doeth  those  things  shall  live  by  them. 

6  But  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  speaketh  on  this  wise.  Say  not  in  thine 
heart.  Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven  ?  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from  above :) 

7  Or,  Who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  ?  (that  is,  to  bring  up  Christ  again 
from  the  dead.) 

8  But  what  saith  it?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  eveti  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy 
heart :   that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which  we  preach  j 

9  That  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe 
in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved. 

10  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness;  and  with  the  mouth 
confession  is  made  unto  salvation. 

1 1  For  the  Scripture  saith,  Whosoever  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be  ashamed. 

1 2  For  there  is  no  difference  between  the  Jew  and  the  Greek  :  for  the  same 
Lord  over  all  is  rich  unto  all  that  call  upon  him. 

1 3  For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved. 

BRETHREN,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is, 
that  they  might  be  saved.  Wiclif:  Britheren  the  wille  of 
myn  herte,  and  my  bisechynge  is  made  to  God  :  for  hem  in  to 
helthe ;  Peshito  :  My  brethren,  The  desire  of  my  heart,  and  my 
intercession  with  God  for  them,  is,  that  they  might   have  life ; 

(501) 


502  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  i,  2. 

Stuart :  The  benevolent  or  kind  desire  of  my  heart ;  [i.  e.  his  sin- 
cere and  hearty  wish]  is  for  their  salvation.  The  sense  is  very 
clear.  Desire,  elsewhere  rendered  good  will,  good  pleasure,  Luke 
2  :  14;  Eph.  I  :  5,  9;  Phil.  1:15;  Theophylact,  earnest  desire  ; 
Doddridge,  affectionate  desire.  Prayer,  commonly  as  here,  a  few 
times  supplication.  That  they  might  be  saved,  literally  unto  salva- 
tion. The  authorized  version  gives  the  exact  sense.  The  occa- 
sion for  this  declaration  is  that  Paul  may  assure  them  of  his  good 
will  in  stating  to  them,  as  he  has  already  done,  and  as  he  is  about 
still  further  to  do,  painful  and  unwelcome  truths.  He  assures 
them  of  his  best  wishes,  and  would  not  have  them  count  him  an 
enemy  because  he  tells  them  the  truth.  Chrysostom  :  "  Do  not 
then,  he  says,  mind  words  or  accusations,  but  observe  that  it  is 
not  in  any  hostile  spirit  that  I  say  this.  For  it  is  not  likely  that 
the  same  person  should  desire  their  salvation,  and  not  desire  it 
only,  but  pray  for  it,  and  yet  should  also  hate  them,  and  feel  aver- 
sion to  them." 

2.  For  I  bear  them  record  that  they  have  a  zeal  of  God,  but  not 
according  to  knowledge.  I  bear  record,  I  bear  witness,  I  bear  testi- 
mony, I  testify.  TJieni,  i.  e.  to  them,  in  their  favor.  ■  A  zeal  of  God. 
Wiclif :  love  of  God ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  :  a  fervent 
mynde  to  God  warde ;  Coverdale :  are  zealous  for  God's  cause. 
Some  think  a  zeal  of  God  is  a  Hebraism,  and  is  -equivalent  to  a 
great  zeal,  as  the  trees  of  God  are  great  trees.  This  gives  a  good 
sense.  But  the  meaning  more  probably  is,  that  they  thought  and 
spoke  and  acted  with  a  fervent  mind  concerning  the  things  of 
God,  the  matters  of  religion.  But  their  zeal  was  ignorant.  It 
was  not  based  on  knowledge,  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  of  his 
will  and  of  the  right  method  of  securing  his  favor  and  blessing. 
No  man  can  have  a  holy  zeal  in  a  bad  cause.  Owen  of  Thrussing- 
ton  quotes  from  Turrettin  four  particulars  in  which  the  necessity 
of  knowledge  as  the  guide  of  zeal  is  justly  stated :  "  i.  That  we 
may  distinguish  *truth  from  falsehood,  as  there  may  be  zeal  for 
error  and  false  doctrine  as  well  as  for  that  which  is  true ;  2.  That 
we  may  understand  the  comparative  importance  of  things,  so  as 
not  to  make  much  of  what  is  little,  and  make  little  account  of  what 
is  great ;  3.  That  we  may  prosecute  and  defend  the  truth  in  the 
right  way,  with  prudence,  firmness,  fidelity  and  meekness  ;  4.  That 
our  zeal  may  have  the  right  object,  not  our  own  interest  and  repu- 
tation, but  the  glory  of  God  ztnd  the  salvation  of  men."  The 
primary  error  of  these  Jews  related  to  the  object  of  their  zeal.  They 
were  busied  about  rites  and  ceremonies,  about  forms,  traditions 
and  genealogies,  and  verily  believed  they  could  commend  them- 
selves to  God  by  deeds  of  law.     From  this  great  error  flowed 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  3,  4-]  THE  ROMANS.  503 

every  thing  else  that  was  wrong-  in  their  zeal.  Augustine  :  "  It  is 
better  to  go  limping  in  the  right  way  than  to  run  with  all  our 
might  out  of  the  way." 

3.  For  they  being  ignoratit  of  God's  righteousness,  and  going  about 
to  establish  their  own  righteousness,  have  not  submitted  themselves  unto 
the  rigJiteousness  of  God.  Scott's  paraphrase  of  this  verse  is  very 
full  and  just :  "  For  they  not  knowing  the  perfect  justice  of  the  di- 
vine character,  law  and  government ;  and  the  nature  of  that  right- 
eousness which  God  has  provided  for  the  justification  of  sinners 
consistently  with  his  own  glory,  had  sought  by  various  devices 
to  '  establish  their  own  righteousness,'  as  the  meritorious  ground 
of  their  justification  ;  in  doing  which,  they  had  refused  to  submit 
to  the  justice  of  God  in  their  condemnation,  and  to  seek  righteous- 
ness as  his  free  gift  by  faith  alone."  The  word  righteousness 
throughout  this  verse  is  best  taken  in  the  sense  so  largely  ex- 
plained in  this  work.  See  above  on  Rom.  1:17  and  other  places. 
Going  about  to  establish,  literally,  seeking  to  make  stand.  Their 
righteousness  was  like  a  house  built  on  the  sand.  The  rains  were 
descending  and  threatening  to  fall  faster ;  the  winds  were  blow- 
ing and  threatening  to  blow  a  gale  ;  the  waves  were  surging  and 
showed  signs  of  increasing.  The  fabric  of  self-righteousness  was  a 
poor  affair.  It  shook  and  gave  signs  of  falling.  Meantime  the}-- 
were  plying  every  pharisaic  art  to  make  it  stand.  In  this  mood 
they  of  course  did  not  submit  to  the  righteousness  of  God.  The  word 
rendered  submit  is  elsewhere  rendered  be  subject,  or  subjected. 
See  Rom.  8  :  7,  20  ;  13:1,5.  They  would  not  bow  the  neck  and 
take  upon  them  the  yoke  of  subjection  to  the  righteousness, 
which  God  had  provided,  and  which  he  approved.  Compare 
I  Cor.  I  :  30 ;  2  Cor.  5:21;  Phil.  3:9:2  Pet.  1:1.  Calvin:  "  The 
first  step  towards  Obtaining  the  righteousness  of  God  is  to  renounce 
our  own  righteousness."  This  first  step  no  man  will  take  unless 
he  is  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  the  most  hum- 
bling act  any  mortal  ever  performs.  Divine  grace  alone  has  ever 
led  any  man  to  accept  a  gratuitous  salvation.  Yet  this  is  a  vital 
matter,  essential  to  salvation. 

4.  For  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  lazv  for  righteousness  to  every  one 
that  believetJi.  Wiclif :  For  the  ende  of  the  law  is  crist :  to  right- 
uiesnesse  to  eche  man  that  belieueth  ;  Tyndale  and  Geneva  :  Christ 
is  the  ende  of  the  lawe,  to  justifie  all  that  beleve  ;  Cranmer :  Christ 
is  the  fulfyllynge  of  the  lawe,  to  justyfye  all  that  beleue  ;  Peshito  : 
Messiah  is  the  aim  of  the  law,  for  righteousness,  unto  every  one 
that  believeth  in  him  ;  Arabic :  Forasmuch  as  Christ  is  the  end  of 
the  law  to  a  righteousness,  whereby  whosoever  believeth  in  him  is 
justified  ;  Conybeare  and  Howson  :  The  end  of  the  law  is  Christ, 


504  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch  X.,  v.  5. 

that  all  may  obtain  righteousness  who  have  faith  in  him.  The 
word  righteousness  in  this  verse  doubtless  has  the  same  meaning 
as  in  verse  3 — not  justification,  but  the  righteousness  by  which  a 
sinner  is  justified.  The  most  difficult  and  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant word  in  the  verse  is  end.  In  the  New  Testament  this  word 
has  six  meanings,  i.  In  Rom.  13:  7  it  is  twice  rendered  custom, 
meaning  a  tax  on  property.  See  also  Matt.  17:  25.  Of  course 
that  cannot  be  its  meaning  here.  2.  In  i  Pet.  3 :  8  it  is  rendered 
finally,  in  the  sense  of  summing  up  all,  or  giving  the  substance  of 
what  he  would  say.  Taking  the  word  law  in  the  sense  of  dispen- 
sation, we  might  say  that  Christ  was  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
law,  its  promises,  prophecies,  types,  rites  and  sacrifices.  3.  In  i 
Thess.  2  :  16  it  is  rendered  uttermost,  meaning  that  there  is  nothing 
beyond  it.  So  the  law  has  gone  to  the  uttermost  of  its  punitive 
inflictions,  and  of  its  demands  for  perfect  righteousness,  when  it 
reaches  Christ.  It  asks  no  more  than  his  perfect  obedience,  and 
his  infinite  sacrifice.  4.  In  Matt.  10 :  22  and  often  the  word  means 
the  termination  :  "  He  that  endureth  to  the  end  "  [the  termination 
of  his  trials,  which  will  be  coincident  with  the  termination  of  his 
life]  "shall  be  saved."  Christ  has  forever  taken  away  by  his  word 
all  hope  of  salvation  by  the  law.  He  has  in  his  flesh  abolished 
the  enmity,  even  the  law  of  commandments,  as  a  scheme  of  justi- 
fying righteousness.  He  has  forever  blotted  out  the  handwriting 
of  ordinances  that  was  against  us.  See  Eph.  2:  15;  Col.  2:  14. 
5.  In  Luke  22  :  37  the  word  means  fulfilment,  completion ;  "  I  say 
unto  you  that  this  that  is  written  must  yet  be  accomplished  in  me. 
And  he  was  reckoned  among  the  transgressors :  for  the  things 
concerning  me  have  an  end."  So  he  says:  "  Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the  prophets :  I  am  not  come  to  de- 
stroy but  to  fulfil,"  Matt.  5  :  17.  6.  In  Rom.  6  :  f  i,  22  ;  Phil.  3:19; 
Heb.  6  :  8  and  elsewhere  end  means  that  to  which  anything  leads. 
Christ  is  that  to  which  a  right  use  and  right  views  of  the  law  lead 
us.  The  law  was  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ,  that  we 
might  be  justified  by  faith,  Gal.  3  :  24.  Instead  of  detaining  the 
reader  to  discuss  which  of  the  last  five  meanings  of  the  word  is 
to  be  here  preferred,  he  may  choose  for  himself  either  one ;  or  he 
may  blend  two  or  more  of  them  together ;  for  they  are  all  true. 
Calvin  prefers  the  idea  of  completion.  So  do  some  others.  Christ 
is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness,  for  a  perfect  righteousness, 
so  that  he  is  the  Lord  our  righteousness,  to  every  one  that  believ- 
eth,  i.  e.  to  every  one  that  accepts  him  as  he  is  freely  offered,  pre- 
senting nothing  meritorious  of  his  own,  and  putting  in  no  plea  but 
that  of  the  atoning  blood  and  spotless  obedience  of  Jesus  Christ. 
5.  For  Moses  describeth  the  righteousness  ivhich  is  of  the  law,  That 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  6-9-]  THE  ROMANS.  505 

the  man  which  doeth  those  things  shall  live  by  them.  The  righteousness 
which  is  of  the  law  is  the  righteousness  which  is  by  the  deeds  of  the 
law,  or  by  personal  obedience  to  the  law,  and  is  everywhere  the. 
opposite  of  the  righteousness  of  God,  of  faith,  or  of  Christ.  Its 
great  principle  is.  Do  and  live.  The  particular  passage  in  the 
writings  of  Moses  here  referred  to  is  in  Levit.  18:5.  Compare 
Neh.  9  :  29;  Ezek.  20  :  11,  13,  21  ;  Luke  10  :  27,  28;  Gal.  3  :  12. 
The  obedience  thus  required  for  righteousness  is,  like  that  of  un- 
fallen  angels,  universal,  perpetual,  perfect,  personal,  out  of  love  and 
holy  fear.  No  mere  man  since  the  fall  ever  did  so  obey  the  law  of 
God.  Of  course  no  one  has  attained  to  righteousness  by  works. 
All  have  sinned,  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  so  are  under 
condemnation.  Calvin :  "  From  the  promise  itself  Paul  proves, 
that  it  can  avail  us  nothing,  and  for  this  reason,  because  the  condi- 
tion is  impossible."  Sinners  have  and  can  have  no  personal  right- 
eousness, equal  to  the  demands  of  the  law. 

6.  But  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  speaketh  on  this  wise, 
Say  not  in  thine  heart,  Who  shall  ascend  into  heai)en  ?  {that  is,  to  bring 
Christ  down  from  above  ;) 

7.  Or,  Who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  ?  {that  is,  to  bring  up  Christ 
again  from  the  dead.) 

8.  But  zuhat  saith  it  ?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth, 
and  in  thy  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  zvliich  we  preach  ; 

9.  That  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him.  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved. 

These  verses  are  designed  to  tell  us  both  negatively  and  posi- 
tively how  men  may  avail  themselves  of  the  righteousness  which 
is  of  faith.  In  doing  this  great  simplicity  and  directness  of  speech 
are  employed  ;  and  yet  not  without  language  that  has  perplexed 
some.  To  clear  these  verses  we  may  observe  :  i.  The  apostle  here, 
as  elsewhere  employs  the  figure  of  personification.  He  makes  the 
righteousness  of  faith  a  speaker,  gives  it  a  tongue,  and  causes  it  to 
instruct  us  in  the  way  of  life.  2.  The  apostle  had  shown  that 
righteousness  by  personal  obedience  to  the  law  was  impossible, 
wholly  out  of  the  question.  He  would  now  show  that  righteous- 
ness by  faith  is  not  impracticable.  The  heavens  need  not  to  be 
scaled.  The  fathomless  abyss  need  not  be  dived  into.  In  short 
under  the  gospel  nothing  is  required  beyond  what  any  man  may 
attain  to,  if  he  is  willing  to  renounce  his  sins,  his  self-will  and  his. 
self-righteousness,  and  accept  a  gratuitous  salvation  offered  to  him 
by  the  Lord.  3.  The  better  to  effect  his  object  he  makes  use  of  a 
passage  in  the  writings  of  Moses  quite  familiar  to  his  readers.  It 
is  found  in  Deut.  30:  12-14.     Ii^  v.  11   Moses  says:  "This  com-. 


So6  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  6-9. 

mandment  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  it  is  not  hidden  from 
thee,  neither  is  it  far  off."  The  subject  before  him  is  the  simplicity 
of  the  truth,  the  obviousness  of  their  duty,  and  the  fact  that  a  per- 
fect heart  is  all  that  is  required  to  n?eet  the  demands,  which  were 
made  on  them.  They  need  perform  no  miracles,  nor  wait  till 
God  performed  miracles.  He  then  proceeds  :  "  It  is  not  in  heaven 
that  thou  shouldst  say,  Who  shall  go  up  for  us  to  heaven,  and 
bring  it  unto  us,  that  we  may  hear  it  and  do  it  ?  Neither  is  it 
beyond  the  sea,  that  thou  shouldst  say,  Who  shall  go  over  the  sea 
for  us,  and  bring  it  unto  us  that  we  may  hear  it,  and  do  it  ?  But 
the  word  is  very  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart, 
that  thou  mayest  do  it."  The  declared  design  and  obvious  intent 
of  Moses  is  to  state  to  his  countrymen  that  they  were  not  called 
to  search  out  inscrutable  things,  but  that  their  duty  was  obvious. 
He  says  it  is  not  "  hidden,  neither  is  it  far  off;"  it  is  not  abstruse, 
recondite,  nor  hard  to  be  understood,  if  the  heart  is  right.  In  the 
words  immediately  following  he  adds  :  "  See,  I  have  set  before 
thee  this  day  life  and  good,  and  death  and  evil."  4.  Now  says  the 
righteousness  of  faith  speaking  through  Paul :  The  way  of  life 
under  the  gospel  is  just  as  clear  as  the  way  of  duty  under  the  law. 
You,  Israelites,  complain  of  the  mysterious  aspect  of  the  gospel ; 
but  I  tell  you,  it  is  not  hidden.  Christ's  ministers  make  known  the 
way  of  salvation  with  all  clearness.  In  all  the  churches  one  doc- 
trine is  preached.  Perishing  men  are  not  sent  on  pilgrimages,  or 
across  seas,  nor  are  they  bidden  to  climb  up  to  the  stars,  or  have 
visions  of  the  third  heavens.  The  gospel  was  once  a  mystery  hid- 
den from  ages,  kept  secret  since  the  world  began,  but  now  is  made 
manifest,  and  by  the  scriptures  of  the  prophets,  according  to  the 
commandment  of  the  everlasting  God,  made  known  to  all  nations 
for  the  obedience  of  faith.  A  clearer  revelation  could  not  be  made. 
Therefore,  says  the  righteousness  of  faith,  there  is  nothing  occult 
or  impracticable  in  the  terms  I  offer.  I  may  adopt,  I  do  adopt 
very  much  the  words  of  Moses,  and  say,  '  The  word  is  nigh  thee, 
even  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart :'  that  is,  the  word  of  faith 
which  is  every  where  preached.  5.  And  here  is  that  word,  That 
if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt 
believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou 
shalt  be  saved.  This  is  the  positive  form  of  the  gospel  offer.  He, 
who  accepts  it  shall  never  perish.  And  this  is  the  whole  of  it. 
Terms  could  not  be  easier,  nor  better  suit  the  condition  of  lost 
men.  The  message  brings  a  gratuitous  salvation,  rich  and  free  to 
the  palace  of  the  prince  and  to  the  cottage  of  the  poor ;  it  offers 
merc}^  to  the  robber  and  to  the  moralist ;  to  old  and  young,  bond 
and  free,  wise  and  unwise.     6.  If  these  views  are  correct,  then  the 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  6^.]  THE  ROMANS.  507 

words  of  Moses  are  not  necessarily  a  quotation  in  proof  of  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  ;  nor  are  they  used  in  a  way  of 
mere  accommodation,  as  some  think  ;  but  they  do  directly  state 
the  clearness  of  the  gospel  offer,  no  less  than  of  the  teachings  of 
Moses  ;  yea,  if  Moses  spoke  clearly,  much  more  did  Christ.  The 
object  of  a  revelation  is  to  make  things  known.  In  the  same  way 
does  Paul  in  the  i8th  verse  of  this  chapter  quote  and  use  Ps. 
19:4. 

Let  us  look  a  little  at  the  terms  and  phrases  here  employed. 
Righteousness  is  best  taken  in  the  same  sense  in  which  it  was  used 
in  vs.  3,  4  and  commonly  in  this  epistle.  This  is  made  certain  by 
the  words  which  follow,  which  is  of  faith.  The  word  rendered 
deep  is  in  Luke  8:31  rendered  as  here,  everywhere  else  bottomless, 
or  bottomless  pit.  The  meaning  evidently  is  that  we  are  not 
required  to  go  to  any  place  remote,  or  inaccessible  except  by 
miracle,  or  by  some  extraordinary  measure.  In  v.  8  What  saith 
it  ?  means  what  saith  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  ?  The 
word  of  faith  is  the  message  of  the  gospel  offered  to  our  faith  and 
accepted  by  all  believers,  and  by  none  others.  In  v.  9  confessing 
Christ  is  put  before  believing  on  him,  that  is,  the  effect  is  men- 
tioned before  the  cause.  Moses  had  put  mouth  before  heart  in  the 
place  referred  to.  But  this  leads  to  no  confusion,  for  in  the  next 
verse  the  order  of  nature  is  stated.  These  verses  (9,  10)  seem  to 
be  constructed  very  much  as  Matt.  7  :  6,  where  the  first  and  last 
clause  go  together,  and  the  two  intermediate  clauses  belong  to 
each  other.  To  confess  the  Lord  Jesus  is  to  confess  that  Jesus  is 
Lord,  and  this  can  be  done  only  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  i  Cor.  12:3. 
The  article  of  faith  essential  to  be  believed  is  that  God  raised  Christ 
from  the  dead.  This  was  the  turning  point.  See  above  on  Rom. 
I  :  4.  We  may  believe  that  Christ  lived,  and  taught,  and  wrought 
miracles  ;  but  do  we  believe  that  God  so  approved  of  his  work, 
and  so  accepted  it  as  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  the  divinity  of 
his  mission  and  the  righteousness  of  all  his  claims,  by  raising  him 
from  the  dead  ?  Do  we  in  heart  welcome  and  receive  the  Lord 
Jesus  as  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  pozver  by  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead  ?  In  this  and  the  next  verse  heart  is  to  be  taken  in 
the  usual  sense,  involving  the  taste,  the  preference,  the  active 
powers  of  the  soul.  Calvin  :  "  The  seat  of  faith  is  not  in  the  brain, 
but  in  the  heart.  Yet  I  would  not  contend  about  the  part  of  the 
body  in  which  faith  is  located  :  but  as  the  word  heart  is  often  taken 
for  a  serious  and  sincere  feeling,  I  would  say  that  faith  is  a  firm 
and  effectual  confidence,  and  not  a  bare  notion  only."  If  we  are 
not  persuaded  as  well  as  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  our 
faith  will  not  save  us. 


5o8  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  ic^i2. 

10.  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness ;  and  with 
the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation.  The  two  things  here 
said  to  be  essential  to  salvation  are  faith  and  confession.  We 
learned  the  same  in  verse  9,  though  in  a  transposed  order.  Parens : 
"God  knows  our  faith  ;  but  it  is  made  known  to  man  by  confes- 
sion." Christ's  kingdom  is  built  on  testimony,  first  on  the  testi- 
mony of  God  concerning  Christ,  i  John  5  :  9-12 ;  then  on  the  tes- 
timony of  his  people  to  his  grace  and  faithfulness,  Luke  24  :  48  ; 
Acts  1:3;  5  :  32  ;  10  :  41  ;  13:31.  If  all  who  profess  to  believe 
in  Christ  were  to  make  a  secret  of  their  supposed  love  to  him,  he 
would  soon  have  no  kingdom  in  the  world.  Faith  is  unto  righteous- 
ness, not  only  in  order  to  righteousness,  but  to  the  actual  attain- 
ment of  it.  The  righteousness  here  spoken  of  is  that,  which  is  the 
ground  of  a  sinner's  justification,  the  righteousness  mentioned  so 
often  in  this  chapter  and  in  this  epistle.  Unto  salvation  ;  not  only 
is  confession  made  in  order  to  salvation,  but  when  made  in  faith  it 
secures  salvation. 

1 1 .  For  the  Scripture  saith,  whosoever  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be 
ashamed.  These  words  are  the  same  found  in  Rom.  9  :  3,  and 
quoted  from  Isa.  28  :  16.  Compare  Isa.  49  :  23  ;  i  Pet.  2  :  6.  See 
above  on  Rom.  9  :  3.  The  scripture,  meaning  the  holy  writings,  of 
which  there  were  many  penmen,  and  all  of  which  were  of  divine 
authority,  because  holy  men  spoke  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  On  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  taught  in  this  quota- 
tion he  sets  up  the  gospel  banner.  Many  Jews  had  refused  the 
gracious  offer,  sincerely  made  to  them.  The  apostle  now  pro- 
ceeds to  invite  and  welcome  all  who  come  to  Christ,  whatever 
their  history  or  nationality.  The  indiscriminate  character  of  the 
offer  is  clearly  involved  in  the  word  Whosoever,  each  one,  or  every 
one. 

12.  For  there  is  no  difference  between  the  Jew  and  the  Greek: 
for  the  same  Lord  over  all  is  rich  unto  all  that  call  upon  him.  For 
Greek  several  versions  have  Gentile.  This  gives  the  sense.  The 
authorized  version  is  literal.  There  is  no  difference;  no  difference 
in  origin,  all  sprang  from  Adam ;  no  difference,  as  to  the  guilt  of 
original  sin  or  the  want  of  original  righteousness ;  no  difference, 
as  to  their  need  of  a  salvation  wholly  gratuitous,  by  atoning  blood 
and  imputed  righteousness ;  no  difference,  as  to  the  sincerity  of 
the  offer  made,  nor  as  to  the  readiness,  promptness,  and  blessedness 
of  the  reception  given  by  God  to  all  who  accept  the  proffered 
grace  ;  and  no  difference,  as  to  the  consequences  of  such  faith,  jus- 
tification, adoption,  renewal,  sanctification  and  glorification  in- 
variably following  a  hearty  reception  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  renderins:  of  the  Peshito  is :    And  in   this  it   discriminateth 


Ch.  X.,  V.  13-]  THE  ROMANS.  509 

neither  Jews  nor  Gentiles  ;  Arabic :  There  is  no  distinction  separat- 
ing between  the  Jew  and  the  Greek.  For  the  same  Lord  over  all  is 
rich  unto  all  that  call  upon  him.  Peshito :  For  there  is  one  Lord 
over  them  all,  who  is  rich  towards  every  one  that  calleth  on  him ; 
Tyndale  and  Cranmer :  For  one  is  Lorde  of  all  which  is  rich  unto 
all  that  call  on  him  ;  Conybeare  and  Howson :  Because  the  same 
[Jesus]  is  Lord  over  all,  and  he  gives  richly  to  all  who  call  upon 
him.  Rich,  not  only  in  kindness  and  wisdom,  in  truth  and  faithful- 
ness, in  power  and  resources,  but  also  in  blessings  actually  be- 
stowed, pardon,  peace,  purification  and  all  spiritual  privileges. 
The  truth  of  this  statement  Paul  knew  by  revelation,  and  so  gives 
it  to  us.  But  it  is  a  truth  supported  by  the  whole  tenor  of  scrip- 
ture.    He  particularly  cites  the  son  of  Pethuel. 

1 3.  For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved, 
Joel  2  :  32.  Peter  quotes  the  same  words  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
and  gives  them  the  same  interpretation,  Acts  2  :  21.  The  quotation 
is  most  pertinent.  It  is  taken  from  the  Septuagint,  which  closely  fol- 
lows the  Hebrew.  The  last  verb  signifies  to  rescue  or  deliver ;  and 
is  not  salvation  a  marvellous  rescue,  a  great  deliverance  ?  In  com- 
parison of  it  nothing  else  deserves  to  be  called  a  deliverance.  In 
the  prophet  Joel  the  word  for  Lord  is  Jehovah,  the  incommunica- 
ble name  of  the  Most  High  ;  and  here  Paul  is  speaking  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  has  for  several  verses  been  speaking  of  no  other 
divine  person,  so  that  here  we  have  proof  of  the  supreme  divinity 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

f 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  It  is  no  part,  nor  mark  of  true  piety  to  harden  our  hearts 
against  our  kindred,  nor  to  disown  them,  however  far  they  may 
wander  from  Christ,  or  however  they  may  oppose  us,  v.  i.  Gen- 
uine charity  suffereth  long,  and  is  kind,  seeketh  not  her  own  and 
is  not  easily  provoked.  Paul  has  set  us  a  good  example  of  patience 
with  perverse  men.     Let  us  follow  it. 

2.  Let  us  cultivate  benevolent  desires,  hearty  good  wishes  to- 
wards all  men,  pitying  their  folly,  praying  for  their  salvation  and 
seeking  their  highest  good,  v.  i.  The  first  part  of  most  of  Paul's 
epistles  contains  such  kind  thoughts.  Often  in  the  midst  of  an 
argument  he  turns  aside  to  say  like  things,  as  here  and  in  Rom. 
9 :  1-3.  Men  are  apt  to  go  through  the  world  either  blessing  or 
cursing.  The  doing  of  one  of  these  is  a  hindrance  to  the  doing 
of  the  other.  It  is  to  be  lamented  that  sometimes  out  of  the  same 
mouth  come  both  blessing  and  cursing,  Jas.  3  :.io.  But  these 
things  ought  not  so  to  be.     We  ought  in  all  our  prayers  to  be 


5IO  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  v.  i. 

careful  to  be  honest  and  sincere.  Chalmers  :  "  Unless  the  desire 
of  the  heart  goes  before  the  prayer,  it  is  no  prayer  at  all.  Prayer 
is  the  utterance  of  desire,  and  without  desire  is  bereft  of  all  its 
significancy.  The  virtue  does  not  lie  in  the  articulation — but  alto- 
gether in  the  wish  which  precedes,  or  rather  which  prompts  it. 
Prayer  is  an  act  of  the  soul ;  and  the  bodily  organ  is  but  an  in- 
strument and  not  the  agent  of  this  service.  The  soul  which  thinks 
and  wills  and  places  its  hopes  or  its  affections  on  any  given  object 
— this  and  this  alone  is  the  agent  in  prayer." 

3.  Christ's  real  ministers  are  full  of  pity  and  compassion  to- 
wards even  those,  who  injure  them,  and  revile  them,  and  perse- 
cute them.  Even  when  their  duty  requires  them  to  denounce  the 
judgments  of  God  against  the  wicked,  they  still  weep  between 
the  porch  and  the  altar,  and  cry  that  sparing  mercy  may,  if  pos- 
sible, be  granted. 

4.  Brown  :  "  It  is  an  old  stratagem  of  the  devil  to  raise  jealous- 
ies and  suspicions  in  the  hearts  of  people  at  their  pastors,  and 
piake  them  suspect  their  affection,  and  conclude  their  free  lan- 
guage and  inveighing  against  their  courses,  to  flow  from  malice 
and  ill  will,  and  thus  raise  a  thick  mist,  which  may  hinder  them 
from  receiving  the  light  of  truth."  Ministers  ought  to  do  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  disarm  such  prejudices  and  to  persuade 
men  of  their  hearty  good  will,  v.  i. 

5.  Unless  we  have  good  cause  for  believing  that  one  has  com- 
mitted the  sin  unto  death,  we  may  and  must  follow  men  with  our 
hearty  prayers  for  their  personal  and  eternal  salvation,  v.  i.  Com- 
pare I  John  5:16.  Paul  and  the  early  Christians  generally  knew 
that  the  fall  of  the  Jewish  state  was  unalterably  determined.  We 
have  no  evidence  that  they  ever  prayed  for  the  prolongation  of 
their  political  existence.  But  they  knew  not  which  individual 
person  would  prove  incorrigible.  Many  had  been  converted  and 
saved.  They  prayed  that  others  might  be.  This  was  right. 
Ordinarily  while  there  is  life  there  is  hope.  Let  us  not  give  up 
men,  till  God  gives  them  up.  Haldane  :  "  We  should  never  cease 
to  pray  for,  and  use  all  proper  means  for  the  conversion  of  those, 
who  either  oppose  the  gospel  with  violence,  or  from  some  pre- 
conceived opinion.  Secret  things  belong  to  God,  and  none  can 
tell  whether  or  not  they  are  among  the  number  of  the  elect.  No 
one  among  the  Jews  was  more  opposed  to  the  gospel  than  Paul 
himself  had  been ;  and  every  Christian,  who  knows  his  own  heart, 
and  who  recollects  the  state  of  his  own  mind  before  conversion, 
should  consider  the  repugnance  he  once  felt  to  the  doctrine  of 
grace." 

6.  It  is  instructive  to  see  how  the  mind  of  Paul  overleaps  all 


Ch.  X,  vs.  I,  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  511 

intermediate  and  minor  matters,  and  concentrates  its  good  will, 
its  benevolent  affections  and  its  ardent  prayers  on  the  salvation  of 
those,  whose  case  awakened  his  sorrows,  v.  i.  This  is  right.  No- 
thing considerable  is  done  for  any  man  till  his  salvation  is  secured. 
A  sense  of  this  great  truth  would  cure  in  us  many  a  folly. 

7.  We  all  ought  promptly  and  cheerftilly  to  admit  any  good  or 
any  appearance  of  good  in  others,  even  when  they  and  we  widely 
differ  even  in  fundamentals,  v.  2.  Paul  has  set  us  the  example. 
Augustine  followed  it,  admitting  the  good  repute  of  Pelagius.  It 
is  always  well  to  remember  that  the  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the 
righteousness  of  God.  The  cause  of  truth  is  never  a  gainer  by 
our  bad  manners,  nor  by  our  bad  tempers. 

8.  Godly  sincerity  is  a  great  excellence  of  chairacter,  and  can- 
not be  too  diligently  cultivated  ;  and  mere  natural  sincerity  is 
lovely  when  compared  with  its  opposites,  chicanery  and  hypoc- 
risy ;  but  there  is  often  a  malignant  sincerity  which  makes  a  man 
all  the  worse  for  not  doubting  of  the  propriety  of  his  course.  It 
would  be  a  great  mercy  if  many  men  in  this  world  we're  less  sin- 
cere than  they  are  in  their  hatred,  their  envy,  their  ill  will,  their 
ingratitude  to  God  and  man,their  unbelief  and  perverseness.  The 
sincerity  of  Paul  the  apostle  was  probably  no  greater  than  that  of 
Saul  the  persecutor.  But  it  was  of  a  different  character.  His 
sincerity  as  a  Christian  was  founded  in  a  sound  knowledge  of 
God's  word,  in  a  heart  full  of  gentleness  and  love,  in  a  piety  as  fer- 
vent as  it  was  meek.  His  sincerity  as  a  persecutor  was  blind,  fu- 
rious, malignant,  devilish.  Mere  sincerity  evinces  no  grace.  Hal- 
dane :  "  How  often  is  it  said  that  if  a  man  be  sincere  in  his  belief, 
his  creed  is  of  no  importance."  But  there  can  be  no  greater  error. 
Many  of  the  heathen  are  sincere  when  they  worship  devils.  That 
does  not  save  their  idolatry  from  being  abominable  to  God. 

9.  While  every  thing  ilrges  us  to  be  candid  and  kind,  and  to 
say  all  the  good  things  which  the  truth  and  the  occasion  will  allow  ; 
we  are  never  at  liberty  to  flatter  or  deceive  our  fellow  men,  v.  2. 
If  they  are  in  the  wrong,  we  may  not  say  they  are  in  the  right, 
and  if  a  fit  occasion  offers  we  should  fearlessly  warn  them  of  their 
danger.  Scott :  "  Careless  and  shameless  profligates,  infidels,  and 
blasphemers  are  not  the  only  persons  who  throng  the  broad  road 
to  destruction,  but  many  also  who  have  a  zeal  for  God  and  reli- 
gion." Let  us  heal  slightly  no  hurt.  Let  us  remember  that  God 
looks  more  at  kind  and  quality  than  at  degree  and  quantity.  A 
little  religious  emotion  of  the  right  kind  is  in  God's  eyes  of  greater 
price  than  all  the  bigoted,  hateful,  malignant,  ignorant  zeal  ever 
felt  respecting  God  and  religion.  Men  may  be  very  serious  and 
busy,  not  only  about  the  externals  of  religion,  but  may  talk  much 


512  EPISTLE    TO  .[Ch.  X.,  vs.  2,  3. 

of  vital  piety,  bemoan  indwelling  sin,  and  express  great  love  for 
Christ,  and  yet  have  no  newness  of  spirit,  no  grace  and  no  real, 
liveliness  in  spiritual  affairs.  Let  every  man  speak  the  truth  in 
his  heart.  Let  none  handle  the  word  of  the  Lord  deceitfully.  We 
may  as  well  have  no  zeal  in  religion  as  a  false  wicked  fury  in  serv- 
ing God  and  promoting  his  cause.  Stuart:.  "There  may  be  zeal 
without  knowledge ,  which  is  superstitious,  persecuting,  hostile  to  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  the  community  ;  and  there  may  be  knowledge 
without  zeal,  which  is  cold,  skeptical,  unfeeling,  and  which  devils 
may  possess  as  well  as  men.  An  actual  union  of  both  is  accom- 
plished only  by  sincere  piety ;  and  a  high  degree,  only  by  ardent 
piety."  Hodge  :  "  The  character  of  zeal  is  easily  ascertained  by 
noticing  its  effects,  whether  it  produces  self-righteousness  or  hu- 
mility, censoriousness  or  charity  ;  whether  it  leads  to  self-denial 
or  to  self-gratulation  and  praise  ;  and  whether  it  manifests  itself  in 
prayer  and  effort,  or  in  loud  talking  and  boasting," 

10.  Beware  of  ignorance,  vs.  2,  3.  It  is  neither  the  mother  of 
devotion,  nor  of  any  thing  else  that  is  good.  Men  are  never  right, 
never  wise  unto  salvation  until  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  shines  unto  them.  How 
can  one  do  his  duty  when  he  does  not  know  what  it  is  ?  How  can 
one  go  to  heaven,  when  he  has  never  learned  the  way  ?  Why 
should  one  go  to  Christ,  when  he  is  so  ignorant  of  his  own  sins  and 
his  lost  estate,  as  not  to  know  that  he  needs  redemption  by  atoning 
blood  ?  Where  no  vision  is,  the  people  perish.  An  ignorant  zeal 
carries  men  to  hell,  not  to  heaven. 

11.  There  are  many  ways  of  proving  men  alike  sinful  and  op- 
posed to  God.  One  of  these  ways  is  found  in  their  self-righteous- 
ness and  their  aversion  to  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  Here  is  a 
ruined  race,  of  which  every  man,  so  long  as  left  to  himself,  expects 
to  commend  himself  to  God  by  something  he  has  done  or  expects 
to  do;  and  so  refuses  to  submit  to  the  righteousness  of  God. 
Such  conduct  is  as  foolish  as  it  is  vile  and  ungrateful.  It  is  as  if 
the  inhabitants  of  a  city  were  perishing  in  a  famine,  and  some 
good  and  rich  man  should  send  them  abundant  supplies,  and  offer 
them  to  the  people  without  money  and  without  price  ;  and  they 
should  say,  they  had  need  of  nothing ;  they  were  well  supplied ; 
or  at  least  they  could  not  accept  of  his  charity.  Such  an  illustra- 
tion but  feebly  sets  forth  the  folly  of  all  carnal  men,  touching  the 
gospel  scheme  of  salvation.  Were  men  not  mad  upon  their  sins 
and  blinded  by  their  pride,  they  would  never  cease  to  admire  the 
grace  and  mercy  manifested  in  the  gospel ;  yea,  they  would  cer- 
tainly yield  themselves  to  God.  Olshausen  :  "  True  piety  fixes  its 
love  on  God,  not  on  his  gifts." 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  3-9-]  THE  ROMANS.  513 

12.  There  is  no  salvation  but  by  God's  plan,  and  righteousness, 
vs.  3,  4.  No  other  scheme  proposes  that  men  shall  enter  heaven 
but  by  their  own  merits,  or  by  the  Judge  of  all  conniving  more  or 
less  at  sin.  No  other  scheme  provides  any  adequate  satisfaction 
to  divine  justice  or  any  decent  covering  for  the  nakedness  of  the 
sinner.  All  penitent  souls  know  that  this  is  so.  Brown  ;  "  What- 
ever course  an  humbled,  self-condemned  sinner  can  take  for  relief, 
when  sin  stareth  him  in  the  face,  and  is  borne  home  upon  his  con- 
science, there  is  no  peace  to  be  had  with  God,  till  Christ  be  closed 
with,  and  laid  hold  on ;  no  justification  but  in  him  ;  no  absolution 
but  through  him  ;  no  righteousness  but  from  him."  The  schemes 
for  saving  souls  most  popular  in  the  world,  are  no  more  suited  to 
that  end  than  are  filthy  rags  to  make  a  beauteous  robe. 

13.  The  present  and  urgent  duty  of  every  man  is  to  come  to 
Christ,  embrace  him  and  rely  solely  on  his  finished  work  for  sal- 
vation, vs.  3,  4.  If  this  duty  press  us  not,  nothing  does.  This  is 
the  true  way  ;  it  is  God's  appointed  way ;  it  is  the  only  way  ;  and 
it  is  a  clear  way.  Our  necessities  declare  for  it.  Hodge  :  "  Christ 
is  every  thing  in  the  religion  of  the  true  believer." 

14.  There  is  no  other  way  of  commending  us  to  God  that  is  not 
irreconcilable  with  the  way  pointed  out  in  scripture,  vs.  3,  5. 
Clarke  :  "  \yhere  the  law  ends,  Christ  begins.  The  law  ends  with 
representative  sacrifices ;  Christ  begins  with  the  real  offering. 
The  law  is  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ ;  it  cannot  save, 
but  it  leaves  us  at  his  door,  where  alone  salvation  is  to  be  found." 
Haldane :  "  To  live  by  the  law  requires,  as  Moses  had  declared, 
that  the  law  be  perfectly  obeyed.  But  this  to  fallen  man  is  im- 
possible. The  law  knows  no  mercy,  it  knows  no  mitigation,  it 
overlooks  not  the  smallest  breach,  or  the  smallest  deficiency.  One 
guilty  thought  or  desire  would  condemn  forever."  If  salvation  is  . 
by  grace,  it  is  not  by  works ;  if  it  is  by  works,  it  is  not  by  grace. 
No  two  things  are  more  opposite. 

15.  The  very  simplicity  of  the  gospel  plan  of  salvation  is  to 
some  an  offence,  vs.  6-9.  Chrysostom  :  "  There  is  no  long  journey 
to  go,  no  seas  to  sail  over,  no  mountains  to  pass,  to  get  saved.  But 
if  you  be  not  minded  to  cross  the  threshold,  you  may  even  while 
you  sit  at  home  be  saved."  Doddridge :  "  Great  reason  have  we 
to  adore  the  Divine  goodness,  and  to  congratulate  ourselves,  and 
one  another,  upon  our  great  happiness  in  this  respect,  that  God 
hath  given  us  a  revelation,  so  obvious  and  intelligible  in  all  the 
grand  points  of  it."  Naaman  was  offended  with  the  very  sim- 
plicity of  the  method  of  cure  prescribed  by  the  prophet.  He 
wanted  some  great  thing  done.     He  turned  away  in  a  rage.     So 


33 


514  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  IX.,  vs.  6-10. 

to  many  it  is  a  great  offence  to  be  called  on  simply  to  rest  the 
whole  weight  of  their  salvation  on  the  crucified  Redeemer. 

16.  In  illustrating  and  enforcing  divine  truth  we  may  use  the 
boldest  metaphors,  comparisons  and  personifications  in  order  to 
arouse  attention,  and  show  men  their  danger  and  their  remedy. 
We  give  to  the  law,  to  sin,  and  to  righteousness  a  tongue,  and  put 
them  to  teaching,  warning  and  exhorting  men,  and  guiding  them 
in  the  right  way,  vs.  6-9.  Brown  :  "  Ministers  may  and  ought  to 
use  such  a  way  of  exhorting  and  dealing  with  people,  as  may  be 
most  rousing  and  upstirring  ;  people  being  ordinarily  careless  and 
indifferent  hearers  even  of  truths  of  great  concernment." 

17.  Reader,  art  thou  a  minister?  Then  what  doctrine  dost 
thou  give  the  people  ?  Dost  thou  preach  the  word  of  faith  I  Or 
dost  thou  give  to  the  people  old  wives'  fables,  politics,  metaphy- 
sics, thy  own  quiddits,  or  any  thing  else  in  the  place  of  saving  and 
necessary  truth  ?  The  awful  charge  under  which  thou  boldest  thy 
commission  is  thus  expressed  :  "  The  prophet  that  hath  a  dream, 
let  him  tell  a  dream,  and  he  that  hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my 
word  faithfully.  What  is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord  ;  " 
"  Preach  the  preaching  that  I  bid  thee  ;  "  "  Preach  the  gospel ;  " 
Jer.  23  :  28  ;  Jonah  3:2;  Mark  16  :  15.  Brown  :  "  Ministers  should 
stick  close  by  their  commission,  and  should  not  conceal  any  thing 
of  it  for  either  feud  or  favor ;  but  should  boldly,  faithfully,  and 
plainly,  with  majesty,  constancy,  and  freedom,  declare  the  whole 
counsel  of  God  without  exception  ;  for  they  are  heralds,  and  should 
behave  themselves  as  heralds." 

18.  The  scriptures  make  nothing  clearer  than  the  necessity  of  a 
real,  hearty,  abiding  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — a  gracious 
persuasion  that  he  is  the  only  and  all-sufficient  Saviour,  vs.  9,  10. 
This  is  every  way  indispensable.  "  Without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  God."  It  has  been  so  from  the  days  of  Abel.  It  will  be 
so  to  the  end  of  the  world.  Even  the  elect  are  not  freed  from  the 
condemning  sentence  of  the  law  till  they  do  from  the  heart  receive 
the  Lord  Jesus  as  he  is  freely  offered  in  the  gospel.  It  is  always 
necessary  that  men  do  receive  the  Lord  Jesus.  Otherwise  they 
are  under  wrath.  Faith  is  not  a  condition  meritorious,  but  it  is  a 
condition  sme  quq  non,  without  which  there  is  no  salvation. 

19.  And  as  sure  as  faith  is  genuine  and  evangelical,  it  will  show 
itself  by  corresponding  fruit.  In  particular,  it  will  in  due  time 
lead  to  an  open  confession  of  Christ  and  profession  of  subjection  to 
him,  vs.  9,  10.  Joseph  of  Arimathea  may  for  a  while  be  a  disciple 
secretly  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  but  because  the  root  of  the  matter  is 
in  him,  he  will  on  fair  trial  be  as  bold  as  any.  At  the  crucifixion 
he  could  no  longer  conceal  his  love  to  Christ.     The  scriptures  very 


Ch.  IX.,  vs.  9-1 3-]  THE  ROMANS.  515 

clearly  insist  on  both  a  hearty  and  an  avowed  attachment  to  the 
Lord  Jesus,  Matt,  10 :  32-39  ;  Luke  12:8,9;  17:1 2-19 ;  John  15:  14 ; 
I  John  4:15.  Calvin :  "  He  rightly  confesses  the  Lord  Jesus,  who 
adorns  him  with  his  own  power,  acknowledging  him  to  be  such  an 
one  as  he  is  given  of  the  Father,  and  described  in  the  gospel." 
Theophylact :  "  The  heart  requires  the  help  of  the  mouth,  for  then 
faith  shines  forth,  and  many  are  benefitted ;  but  the  mouth  also 
needs  the  heart,  for  there  are  many  who  profess  Christ  in  hypoc- 
risy." With  vain  lips  crying,  Lord,  Lord,  will  save  no  man.  "  My 
son,  give  me  thine  heart."  Hodge :  *'  The  public  profession  of  re- 
ligion or  confession  of  Christ  is  an  indispensable  duty."  We  can- 
not sneak  into  heaven.  Christ  loved  us  openly,  and  bore  spitting 
and  shame  and  death  for  us.  We  must  love  him  in  our  hearts. 
We  must  make  no  secret  of  our  love  to  him.  Why  should  any 
hesitate  to  otvn  him,  in  whom  he  trusts  ?  Scott :  "  We  should  not 
trust  in  a  faith  of  which  we  are  afraid  or  ashamed  to  make  an  open 
confession :  much  less  ought  we  to  depend  on  any  mere  confession 
of  faith,  or  assent  to  divine  truths,  which  we  do  not  believe  in  our 
hearts."  When  Paul  wrote,  a  public  confession  of  Christ  was  at- 
tended by  perils  of  every  kind,  even  the  loss  of  all  earthly  things, 
and  it  was  only  he  that  endured  to  the  end  that  should  be  saved. 
Matt.  10  :  22.  Faith  is  necessary  to  our  obtaining  justifying  right- 
eousness. Confession  is  necessary  to  prove  that  we  have  laid  hold 
on  Christ.  As  the  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,  so  faith  with- 
out confession  is  dead  also,  being  alone,  fruitless  and  unprofitable. 

20.  We  must  steadfastly  hold  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion, V.  9.  If  we  are  unsettled  here,  we  are  at  sea  about  every 
thing  vital,  i  Cor.  15  :  17-19.  If  Christ  be  not  risen  we  have  no 
assurance  of  a  judgment-day,  or  of  a  heaven  to  come.  Acts  17  :  31. 
If  Christ  were  still  dead,  we  could  no  more  safely  trust  him  than 
any  other  dead  man.  He  was  dead,  but  he  is  alive  for  evermore, 
Rev.  1:18.  Thus  we  must  believe,  or  our  faith  is  powerless.  Cal- 
vin :  "  Though  redemption  and  satisfaction  were  effected  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  through  which  we  are  reconciled  to  God,  yet  the 
victory  over  sin,  death,  and  Satan  was  attained  by  his  resurrec- 
tion ;  and  hence  also  come  righteousness,  newness  of  life,  and  the 
hope  of  a  blessed  immortality." 

21.  Nothing  could  be  more  happy  than  the  result  of  a  genuine 
faith  in  Christ  and  an  honest  confession  of  his  name.  They  are 
followed  by  salvation,  vs.  9,  10,  13.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  both 
Testaments. 

22.  The  offers  of  mercy  are  indiscriminately  made,  vs.  11,  13. 
What  could  be  more  general  than  the  terms  employed — "  Whoso- 
ever," "  Every  one,"  "  Any  man,"  &c.  ?     No  language  could  be 


5i6  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  12,  13. 

more  large  and  free  and  inviting.  Compare  Isa.  55:1;  John  4:4; 
7  :  37  ;  Rev.  21  :,6;  22  :  17.  Chrysostom  :  "  The  whosoever  '\^  put  in 
all  cases,  that  they  might  not  say  aught  in  reply."  Self-emptiness 
is  the  only  qualification  for  coming  to  Christ.  The  full  soul  he 
sendeth  empty  away. 

23.  In  God's  regard  all  the  distinctions  -set  up  by  national 
boundaries,  by  factitious  arrangements,  by  social  compact,  posi- 
tion, etc.,  are  utterly  worthless,  as  touching  acceptance  with 
heaven,  v.  12.  This  was  all  settled  by  Peter's  vision.  Acts  10 :  9- 
18,  28  ;  11:8.  Indeed  it  was  settled  long  before  by  the  course  of 
God's  providence. 

24.  Christ's  riches  are  unsearchable,  and  he  is  rich  unto  all  that 
call  upon  him,  v.  12.     Compare  Eph.  3:8. 

25.  The  gospel  was  preached  in  Old  Testament  times,  as  well 
as  in  our  day.  Isaiah  and  Joel  are  cited  here.  But  the  same  is 
true  of  all  the  prophets,  Acts  3  :  24;  10 :  43. 

26.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  truly  and  supremely  divine.  He 
is  Jehovah,  and  whosoever  shall  call  on  his  name — worship  him  as 
his  Lord  and  his  God-— shall  be  saved,  v.  13.  Slade :  "  Here  then 
we  have  two  arguments  for  the  divinity  of  Christ:  i.  That  what 
is  spoken  of  Jehovah  is  ascribed  to  him  ;  2.  That  he  is  made  the 
object  of  our  religious  invocation."  'Blessed  be  God,  true  saving 
faith  asks  no  more  proof  of  Christ's  divinity  than  what  is  given  us 
in  all  the  scriptures.     It  is  abundant.     We  need  no  more. 


CHAPTER  X. 

VERSES  14-21. 

PREACHING   NECESSARY.      THE    PROPHETS    FORE- 
TOLD THESE  THINGS. 


14  How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed?  and 
how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  and  how  shall  they 
hear  without  a  preacher  ? 

15  And  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent  ?  as  it  is  written,  How  Beau- 
tiful are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach  the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings  of 
good  things ! 

16  But  they  have  not  all  obeyed  the  gospel.  For  Esaias  saith,  Lord,  who  hath 
believed  our  report  ? 

17  So  then  faith  cometk  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God. 

18  But  I  say,  Have  they  not  heard  ?  Yes  verily,  their  sound  went  into  all  the 
earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  ends  of  the  world. 

19  But  I  say,  Did  not  Israel  know?  First  Moses  saith,  I  will  provoke  you  to 
jealousy  by  them  that  are  no  people,  and  by  a  foolish  nation  I  will  anger  you. 

20  But  Esaias  is  very  bold,  and  saith,  I  was  found  of  them  that  sought  me  not ; 
I  was  made  manifest  unto  them  that  asked  not  after  me. 

21  But  to  Israel  he  saith.  All  day  long  I  have  stretched  forth  my  hands  unto  a 
disobedient  and  gainsaying  people. 

M       HOW  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  zvhorn  they  have  not  be- 
•   lieved?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have 
not  heard?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ? 

15.  And  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent  ?  as  it  is  written. 
How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach  the  gospel  of  peace,  and 
bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things  !  In  Rom.  8  :  28,  29,  Paul  gives  us 
a  golden  chain  of  several  links,  the  first  of  which  is  the  divine 
purpose  ;  and  the  last,  glorification.  In  these  two  verses  he  gives 
us  the  golden  chain  of  means  used  for  m^n's  salvation.     We  have  : 

1.  Hearty  prayer  offered  in  faith  and  springing  from  it; 

2.  True  faith  in  him  of  whom  the  message  speaks ; 

3.  The  report  heard  is  not  vague  but  by  heralds ; 

(517) 


5i8  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  i6,  17. 

4.  These  heralds  are  not  upstarts,  but  are  divinely  appointed 
and  sent ; 

5.  The  substance  of  the  message  sent  by  the  heralds  is  the  gos- 
pel of  peace — glad  tidings  of  good  things ; 

6.  This  arrangement  must  be  approved,  looked  upon  as  beauti- 
ful.    The  glad  tidings  must  be  welcomed  ; 

7.  All  this  relates  to  Christ,  Jehovah.  The  prayer  is  to  him 
or  through  him  ;  the  faith  is  in  him  ;  the  report  respects  him  ;  the 
heralds  are  his  messengers  ;  the  sum  of  all  they  proclaim  relates 
to  his  person,  work,  offices  and  grace ;  he  is  himself  the  chiefest 
among  ten  thousand  and  altogether  lovely. 

These  things  being  so,  surely  the  apostles  and  others  chosen 
of  God  were  not  to  blame  for  going  beyond  Jewry,  and  making 
known  Christ  wherever  they  went.  The  quotation  in  v.  15  is  from 
Isa.  52  :  7.  Some  think  the  prophet  Isaiah  had  a  primary  reference 
to  the  release  of  the  Jews  from  Babylonish  captivity.  This  is 
probably  true.  But  that  great  event  prefigured  a  much  greater — 
the  redemption  of  men  from  a  worse  than  Chaldaic  bondage,  even 
salvation  by  Christ  Jesus ;  so  that  the  passage  loses  none  of  its 
force  or  pertinency  by  its  application  to  gospel  times.  Indeed  its 
chief  reference  was  to  our  day  as  any  one  can  see  by  reading  that 
part  of  Isaiah,  Paul's  inspired  interpretation  of  it  is  to  Christians 
an  end  of  all  dispute. 

16.  But  they  have  not  all  obeyed  the  Gospel.  For  Esaias  saith,  Lord, 
who  hath  believed  our  report  f  The  quotation  is  from  Isa.  53  :  i,  a 
passage  unquestionably  lying  in  among  the  most  blessed  evangeli- 
cal prophecies.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  many  of  the  Jews 
were  slow  to  leave  Babylon  for  their  own  land,  even  when  full 
permission  was  given.  Some  seem  never  to  have  gone  back.  But 
much  more  have  Jews  and  Gentiles  been  slow  to  welcome  the 
Prince  of  peace.  So  Isaiah  prophetically  lamented.  Jesus  Christ 
deplored  the  unbelief  of  his  time,  Luke  19  :  42.  The  evangelists 
tell  of  the  little  success  attending  Christ's  ministry,  John  12  :  37. 
His  apostles  bewailed  their  want  of  greater  success.  The  perti- 
nence of  this  quotation  is,  that  as  the  gospel  was  not  universally 
or  even  generally  hailed  as  glad  tidings  by  mankind,  some  might 
object  that  it  was  not  of  divine  origin,  else  it  would  be  by  all,  in 
particular  by  Jews,  received  with  joy.  But  Paul  says  that  Isaiah 
had  foretold  this  very  unbelief.  We  ought  not  therefore  to  be  dis- 
heartened by  the  fact  that  even  many  are  indifferent  to  the  most 
weighty  and  glorious  tidings  ever  borne  to  mortals; 

17.  So  then  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of 
God.  This  verse  seems  to  be  closely  connected  with  vs.  14,  15, 
and  gives  the  sum  of  what  had  been  there  said,  salvation   is  by 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  i8,  19.]         THE  ROMANS  519 

faith  in  the  truth  revealed  from  heaven  and  made  known  by  God's 
ministers.  Several  of  these  verses,  especially  in  the  Greek, 
clearly  teach  that  hearing  is  the  great  means  of  believing.  A  re- 
port has  gone  forth.     That  report  must  be  listened  to  and  obeyed. 

18.  But  I  say,  Have  they  not  heard  ?  Yes  verily,  their  sound  went 
out  into  all  tJie  earth,  and  their  tvords  unto  the  ends  of  the  xvorld.  The 
body  of  this  verse  is  taken  from  Psalm  19:4.  The  quotation  is 
from  the  Septuagint  version.  The  truth  thus  set  forth  is  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  among  the  nations,  so  that  men  generally 
had  heard  of  Christ  Jesus.  The  same  is  abundantly  set  forth  in 
other  places,  see  Matt.  24 :  14  ;  28  :  19 ;  Mark  16  :  15  ;  Col.  i  :  6,  23. 
The  method  and  object  of  quoting  from  the  Old  Testament  are 
the  same  as  in  vs.  6-8.  That  is,  words,  which  were  true  in  refer- 
ence to  a  matter  fully  set  forth  in  the  place  where  they  are  first 
found,  are  as  applicable  and  as  true  in  regard  to  the  matter  now 
in  hand — the  wide-spread  of  the  report  of  salvation  by  Jesus 
Christ.  Chrysostom  :  "  The  whole  world,  and  the  ends  of  the 
earth  have  heard."  There  is  no  need  of  restricting  the  sense  so 
that  it  shall  be  understood  that  the  declaration  1-egards  the  Jews 
only.  It  is  as  applicable  to  the  Gentiles.  Indeed  the  chief  refer- 
ence is  to  the  Gentiles.  The  words  in.Ps.  19 :  4,  taken  in  their 
original  sense  and  intent,  show  that  God  had  not  left  himself  with- 
out witness  among  the  nations.  He  had  all  along  taught  them  the 
lessons  of  natural  religion.  The  sun,  moon  and  stars  had  shone 
as  brightly  in  heathen  lands  as  in  Judea.  God  had  all  along  filled 
the  heart  of  the  heathen  with  food  and  gladness,  Acts  14:17. 
It  ought  then  to  awaken  no  envy  nor  surprise  that  he,  who  had  for 
many  ages  showed  much  providential  kindness  to  the  Gentiles, 
should  now  send  them  the  gospel.  As  the  truths  of  natural  relig- 
ion had  all  along  been  widely  diffused,  so  now  were  the  saving 
truths  of  the  gospel. 

1 9.  But  I  say.  Did  not  Israel  know  ?  First  Moses  saith,  I  will 
provoke  you  to  jealousy  by  them  that  are  no  people,  and  by  a  foolish  nation 
will  I  anger  you.  This  quotation  is  from  Deut.  32  :  21,  which  in 
Hebrew  is  poetry.  Paul  puts  "you"  for  "them  ;"  otherwise  the 
quotation  is  literally  from  the  Septuagint,  which  closely  follows 
the  Hebrew.  To  give  the  striking  contrast  found  in  the  verse. 
Owen  of  Thrussington  gives  the  whole  of  it : 

They  have  made  me  jealous  by  a  no-God, 
They  have  provoked  me  by  their  foolish  idols  : 
And  I  will  make  them  jealous  by  a  no-people, 
By  a  foolish  nation  will  I  provoke  them. 

This  verse  refers  to  the  Jews  (for  Israel  is  named,)  but  refers  to 


520  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  20,  21. 

them  to  show  that  their  great  prophet  foretold  that  the  day 
would  come  when  God  would  bring  the  Gentiles  to  a  saving 
knowledge  of  himself.  The  provocations  given  by  the  Jews  to 
the  Almighty  had  ^jeen  many  and  long  continued.  Often  had 
they  fallen  into  idolatry  ;  often  had  they  despised  his  ordinances ; 
often  had  they  refused  to  hear  his  reproofs.  At  the  coming  of 
Christ,  they  had  disowned  the  true  God  by  denying  his  Son, 
who  was  his  express  image,  so  that  he  who  had  seen  Jesus  had 
seen  the  Father,  John  14 :  7,  9.  He  that  denieth  the  Son,  the 
same  hath  not  the  Father,  2  John  9.  Rejecting  the  true  God, 
in  the  brightest  manifestation  he  had  ever  made  of  himself,  is 
it  surprising  that  he  rejected  them  ?  The  chief  doubt  in  inter- 
preting this  verse  respects  the  meaning  of  the  question.  Doth 
not  Israel  know  ?  Some  think  it  means,  Doth  not  Israel  know 
the  Gospel  ?  Have  not  the  Jews  had  it  preached  among  them  ? 
This  would  make  good  sense,  and  be  pertinent  also  but  for  the 
connection.  A  better  sense  is  obtained  by  making  the  question 
refer  to  the  main  matter  in  hand  :  Doth  not  Israel  know  by  the 
teaching  of  their  own  prophets  that  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  and 
the  calling  of  the  Gentiles  were  events  to  be  looked  for?  First, 
that  is  the  first  prophet  I  will  cite  is  Moses  himself.  Then  another 
great  prophet,  who  wrote  several  hundred  years  later,  spoke  no 
less  distinctly  on  the  same  subject : 

20.  But  Esaias  is  very  bold,  and  saith,  I  was  found  of  tJiem  that 
sought  me  not :  I  was  made  manifest  unto  them  that  asked  not  after 
me. 

21.  But  to  Israel  he  saith,  All  day  long  have  I  stretched  forth  my 
hands  unto  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people. 

Esaias  is  very  bold,  or  comes  out  very  boldly,  and  plainly,  speak- 
ing in  a  manner  quite  unmistakeable.  The  passage  cited  is  found 
in  Isa.  65  :  I,  2.  There  is  a  transposition  of  the  first  and  second 
clauses,  as  well  as  other  variations  from  both  the  Hebrew  and 
Septuagint  ;  but  the  sense  is  clearly  given.  In  v.  20  the  quotation 
is  made  to  show  that  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles  was  predicted. 
That  in  V.  21  gives  the  cause  of  the  rejection  of  the  Jews.  The 
stretching  forth  of  the  hands  is  a  striking  figure.  Conybeare  and 
Howson  think  it  is  taken  from  a  mother  opening  her  arms  to  call 
back  her  child  to  her  embrace.  But  it  is  not  used  in  this  way 
elsewhere.  When  Paul  stretched  out  his  hand,  he  beckoned  to 
the  people  that  he  might  cause  silence  and  secure  attention,  Acts 
21  -.40.  Sometimes  stretching  out  the  hand  is  for  rescue  and  de- 
liverance, Deut.  26  :  8.  Sometimes  it  is  to  offer  and  bestow  bene- 
fits, Isa.  26:  10,  II.  Sometimes  it  is  the  gesture  of  threatening, 
chastising,  displaying  power  as  in  miracles,  Deut.  4  :  34.      Some- 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  14,  17.]  THE  ROMANS.  521 

times  it  points  to  the  way  in  which  we  should  walk  or  run.  No 
gesture  is  more  natural  than  this.  Again  stretching  out  the  hand 
is  the  posture  of  earnest  address  and  imploring  supplication.  To 
Israel  God  had  stretched  out  his  hand,  demanding  their  attention, 
giving  them  many  a  great  deliverance,  bestowing  on  them  many 
favors,  chastising  and  punishing  them,  pointing  out  the  way  in 
which  he  would  have  them  go,  and  entreating  them  to  quit  their 
foolish  and  wicked  ways  and  lay  hold  on  his  mercies ;  but  after 
all  they  were  to  a  sad  extent  a  disobedient,  unbelieving,  unconfid- 
ing  people.  They  were  also  a  gainsaying  or  contradicting  peo- 
ple, like  a  bad  servant  answering  back,  and  speaking  against  God. 
We  have  the  cognate  noun  in  Jude  11. 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  Men  must  pray.  They  must  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
V.  14.  This  prayer  must  be  hearty,  else  it  is  not  efficacious. 
Calvin  :  "  Hypocrites  pray,  but  not  unto  salvation  ;  for  it  is  with 
no  conviction  of  faith.  Paul  assumes  this  as  an  acknowledged  ax- 
iom, that  we  cannot  rightly  pray  unless  we  are  surely  persuaded  of 
success.  For  he  does  not  here  refer  to  hesitating  faith,  but  to  that 
certainty  which  our  minds  entertain  respecting  his  paternal  kind- 
ness, when  by  the  gospel  he  reconciles  us  to  himself,  and  adopts  us 
for  his  children."  Brown  :  "  Humble  depending  on  God,  and  seek- 
ing him  and  his  help  in  all  our  straits  and  necessities,  is  necessary 
unto  life,  by  virtue  of  a  command,  so  as  such  who  scorn  to  call  on 
God,  have  no  warrant  to  expect  life,  but  do  certainly  exclude 
themsel.ves  therefrom."  Men  must  either  pray  or  perish.  They 
must  either  betimes  call  upon  the  Lord  Jesus,  or  at  last  call  upon 
the  rocks  and  mountains  to  fall  on  them  and  hide  them  from  the 
face  of  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb. 

2.  Men  must  have  faith,  and  that  faith  must  be  lively  and  not 
dead,  genuine  and  not  spurious,  intelligent  and  not  ignorant,  vs. 
14,  17.  Men  never  act  more  wisely  than  when  with  a  true  heart 
they  commit  their  souls  to  Jesus  Christ.  Nay,  the}^  never  act 
wisely  till  they  do  that  very  thing.  A  poor  lost  sinner  has  the 
best  reason  in  the  world  for  accepting  the  salvation  offered  him. 

3.  Nor  is  it  reasonable  to  expect  that  men  will  be  brought  tO' 
exercise  saving  faith,  who  refuse  to  listen  to  the  calls  of  the  gos- 
pel, vs.  14,  17.  The  arts  of  the  wicked  in  evading  the  force  of  truth 
and  the  dire  consequences  of  so  doing  are  very  graphically  de- 
scribed by  one  who  lived  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago : 
"  They  refused  to  hearken,  and  pulled   away  the  shoulder,  and. 


522  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  14-17. 

stopped  their  ears,  that  they  should  not  hear.  Yea,  they  made 
their  hearts  as  an  adamant  stone,  lest  they  should  hear  the  law, 
and  the  words  which  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sent  in  his  Spirit  by 
the  former  prophets :  therefore  came  a  great  wrath  from  the  Lord 
of  hosts.  Therefore  it  is  come  to  pass,  that  as  he  cried,  and  they 
would  not  hear ;  so  they  cried,  and  I  would  not  hear,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,"  Zech.  7  :  11-13.  Oh  hear  and  your  soul  shall  live. 
It  is  now  dead,  and  unless  you  hear  it  will  remain  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  in  sins. 

4.  But  understand,  it  is  not  hearing-  the  instruction  that  causeth 
to  err,  that  will  save  your  soul.  This  honor  is  reserved  to  the 
word  of  God,  v.  17.  Nothing  but  the  engrafted  word  received 
with  meekness  is  able  to  save  your  soul,  Jas.  1:21.  God's  word 
is  a  fire,  and  a  hammer,  that  breaketh  the  rock  in  pieces,  Jer.  23  : 
29.  All  thoughts  and  imaginings  of  human  devising  are  as 
nothing  compared  to  the  word  of  the  Lord.  A  writer  of  the 
XVIIIth  century  complains  that  in  his  time  often  the  text  was 
taken  from  Paul,  and  the  sermon  from  Epictetus.  In  our  day  the 
sermon  sometimes  has  a  much  lower  origin  than  that,  being 
taken  from  the  poorest  periodical  literature  of  our  times.  "  Sanc- 
tify them  through  thy  truth;  thy  word  is  truth,"  John  17  :  17. 

5.  It  is  therefore  a  good  thing  to  preach  the  gospel,  to  pro- 
claim abroad  all  that  God  has  spoken  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for 
instruction,  for  correction  in  righteousness.  Preaching  is  neces- 
sary, vs.  14,  15.  Preaching  and  praying  are  the  greatest  things 
done  in  this  world.  Acts  6  :  4.  They  are  greater  than  serving  the 
poor,  excellent  as  that  work  is.  Paul  thanked  God  that  he  had 
baptized  but  a  few  persons  at  Corinth,  but  he  never  expressed 
gratitude  for  having  prayed  or  preached  but  a  little.  The  appro- 
priate work  of  the  ministry  is  a  most  blessed  calling.  "  If  a  man 
desire  the  office  of  a  bishop,  he  desireth  a  good  work,"  i  Tim.  3:1. 
"  Faith  comes  by  hearing,"  not  solely  but  chiefly.  God  may  and 
does  bless  the  reading  of  his  word  to  men's  salvation.  Of  the 
darkest  book  of  Scripture  it  is  said :  "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth, 
and  they  that  understand  the  words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep 
those  things  which  are  written  therein,"  Rev.  i  :  3.  When  the 
Lord  chooses  he  can  make  any  part  of  his  word  quick  and  power- 
ful, and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword.  Doddridge  :  "Blessed 
be  God  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  so  necessary  to  that  faith 
without  which  we  can  have  no  well  grounded  hope  of  salvation. 
Blessed  be  God  therefore  for  the  mission  of  his  ministers,*  and  for 
his  abundant  goodness  in  sending  them  to  us  sinners  of  the  Gcn- 
iiles."  Brown  :  "  Though  God  may  sometimes  bless  the  labors  of 
parents  in  educating  their  children,  Gen.  18  :  19  ;  Eph.  6  :  4,  and  of 


Ch.X.,  V.  15.]  THE  ROMANS.  523 

masters  in  instructing  their  scholars,  and  of  private  Christians  in 
instructing  their  neighbors,  yet  God's  ordinary  way  of  begetting 
faith  in  souls  is  by  the  preaching  of  men  in  office,  who  are  author- 
ized, not  only  by  gifts  alone,  but  also  by  an  authoritative 
mission." 

6.  M\.  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  in  the  world  cannot  impart 
to  men  the  gift  of  preaching  aright.  They  must  have  an  unction 
to  teach  them  all  things.  They  must  be  called  and  sent  by  the 
Lord  himself  There  is  much  cause  to  fear  that  some  refuse  to 
preach  who  are  duly  called ;  and  that  others  obtrude  themselves 
into  the  sacred  office  without  any  divine  mission.  By  an  old 
prophet  God  says,  "  I  have  not  sent  these  prophets,  yet  they  ran  ; 
I  have  not  spoken  to  them,  yet  they  prophesied,"  Jer.  23:21.; 
This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  at  length  the  matter  of  a  call  to  the 
ministry.  Good  treatises  on  that  subject  are  not  wanting.  But 
let  none  forget  the  danger  of  running  when  one  is  not  sent,  or  of 
refusing  to  run  when  he  is  sent. 

7.  While  the  scriptures  make  it  obligatory  on  ministers  sea- 
sonably to  present  all  revealed  truth,  and  to  keep  back  nothing 
that  is  profitable  for  their  hearers,  yet  they  do  also  carefully 
enjoin  them  to  give  great  prominence  to  those  truths  which  im- 
mediately relate  to  their  salvation.  Perhaps  the  example  of  a  cer- 
tain man  was  not  good,  but  the  result  of  his  experience  is  instruc- 
tive. He  spent  nine  months  in  a  large  city  going  from  church  to 
church.  In  that  time  he  heard  many  fine  essays  on  ethics,  some 
dark  texts  explained,  and  some  ingenious  disquisitions ;  but  in  no 
case  did  he  hear  the  way  of  salvation  so  explained  that,  if  he  had 
been  a  perishing  sinner,  he  could  have  learned  what  he  must  do 
to  be  saved.  Many  sermons  and  hearers  and  preachers  will 
perish  together  in  the  fires  of  the  last  conflagration.  The  great 
prominent  theme  of  the  gospel  is  Jesus  Christ.  His  person,  his 
natures,  his  obedience,  his  sufferings,  his  offices,  his  grace  and  his 
glory  ought  to  have  great  prominence  in  all  ministrations  of  the 
pulpit.  Even  the  old  prophets  were  full  of  that  theme.  Much  more 
may  it  be  justly  expected  that  preachers  of  the  gospel  will  dwell 
upon  it,  Acts  4:2,  17 ;  8  :  35  ;  i  Cor.  i  :  23  ;  2:2;  Gal.  3  :  i  ;  6: 
14.  This  theme  furnishes  inexhaustible  stores  of  the  best  thoughts. 
Nor  do  perishing  men  need  to  hear  of  anything  so  much  as  of  sal- 
vation by  grace  through  a  Redeemer.  Unless  such  matters  are 
prominently  before  their  minds,  all  other  thoughts  a^e  barren  and 
useless. 

8.  People  everywhere  should  welcome  good  preaching,  v.  15. 
The  feet  of  them  that  bring  the  message  should  be  beautiful,  as 
are  the  feet  of  all  who  bring  us  good  tidings,  v.  15.      Macknight: 


524  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  X.,  vs.  16-21. 

"This  figurative  idea  was  not  peculiar  to  the  Hebrews.  Bos  tells 
us  that  Sophocles  represents  the  hands  and  feet  of  them  who  came 
on  some  kind  errand,  as  beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  them  who  are 
profited  thereby.  The  figure,  as  applied  by  Isaiah,  is  extremely 
proper.  The  feet  of  those  who  travel  through  dirty  or  dusty 
roads  are  a  sight  naturally  disagreeable.  But  when  they  are 
thus  disfigured  by  travelling  a  long  journey,  to  bring  good  tidings 
of  peace  and  deliverance  to.  those  who  have  been  oppressed  by 
their  enemies,  they  appear  beautiful."  If  this  is  true  of  the  messen- 
gers of  secular  good  tidings,  much  more  is  it  true  of  them,  who 
preach  the  gospel.  Surely  it  is  right  to  esteem  them  very 
highly  in  love  for  their  works'  sake,  i  Thess.  5:13. 

9.  Preachers  are  often  discouraged  by  the  want  of  success.  It 
has  long  and  in  many  a  country  been  so.  Isaiah  had  this  trial  as 
well  as  many  others,  v.  16.  It  is  sad  indeed  when  the  witnesses 
must  testify  in  sackcloth.  Whether  men  will  hear  or  whether 
they  will  forbear,  God's  servants  must  be  faithful  in  bearing 
testimony  to  the  truth.  But  the  heart  of  many  a  good  man 
sinks  and  almost  dies  within  him,  when  he  sees  the  chief  appar- 
ent effect  of  his  ministry  to  be  that  of  hardening  men  against  the 
truth. 

10.  The  reason  why  men  are  not  saved,  is  not  that  there  are  no 
Saviour,  no  message  of  mercy  to  the  lost,  or  no  heralds  of  glad 
tidings  to  the  perishing,  v.  18.  If  men  were  not  vile  and  rebellious 
against  God,  they  would  at  once  hear  and  accept  the  pure  gospel. 
The  news  would  spread  like  other  glad  tidings.  The  winds  would 
lend  their  wings  to  make  known  the  good  news,  and  all  flesh 
would  turn  to  the  Lord. 

M.  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  and  in  particular  the 
opposition  to  the  saving  truth  of  God  is  old,  and  was  spoken  of 
by  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  vs.  19-21.  ''  Surely  the  Lord  God 
will  do  nothing,  but  he  revealeth  it  unto  his  servants  the  prophets," 
Amos,  3  :  7.  He  lon^  since  warned  gospel  ministers  of  all  their 
trials,  in  particular  of  their  want  of  success.  Ministers  should  de- 
sire success  and  labor  for  it ;  but  if  they  attain  it  not,  let  them  re- 
member they  are  not  responsible  for  the  effect  of  their  ministry, 
but  only  for  the  right  use 'of  all  the  appointed  means. 

12.  How  vile  is  the  depraved  heart  of  man,  that  it  can  be  made 
to  burn  with  jealousy  and  rage  at  the  conversion  of  men  to  God, 
V.  19.  How  terribly  the  malice  of  the  human  heart  breaks  out 
against  the  truth  is  not  only  foretold  by  prophets,  but  recorded  in 
history.  Acts  13  :  45  ;  17:5,  13  ;  22  :  22,  23.  Like  things  are  oc- 
curring all  the  time  in  this  wicked  world.  The  malice  of  the  heart 
against  God  and  his  truth  has  no  holidays,  and  never  grows  obso- 


Ch.  X.,  vs.  19-21.]         THE  ROMANS.  525 

lete,  but  burns  on  from  age  to  age,  unless  it  is  extinguished  by  the 
waters  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

13.  But  the  opposition  of  the  carnal  heart  to  God's  truth  is  no 
reason  for  mincing  it,  or  preaching  it  timidly  ;  but  God's  ministers 
should  be  fearless  and  outspoken,  even  as  Isaiah  was  very  bold, 
V.  20.  It  cost  that  great  and  good  man  his  life  to  speak  so  fear- 
lessly. Jerome  says  he  was  sawn  asunder.  That  is  a  very  general 
tradition.  Some  think  he  is  specially  referred  to  in  Heb.  11  :  37. 
But  it  is  better  to  enter  "into  life  by  any  means  than  to  be  faithless 
to  the. truth  of  God. 

14.  It  is  God's  plan,  in  punishing  the  wicked,  to  send"  them  re- 
tribution in  kind.  If  men  persist  in  loving  cursing,  it  at  last  comes 
into  their  bowels  like  water.  Israel  broke  covenant  with  God  and 
committed  horrid  abominations  with  idols.  God  forsook  them 
and  he  took  himself  mainly  to  the  Gentiles,  as  his  espoused  people, 
v.  19.  Israel  will  not  have  Jehovah  for  a  God,  Jehovah  will  not 
have  Israel  for  a  people.  Let  the  wicked  beware  how  they  lay  up 
wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath,  or  heap  treasure  together  for  the 
last  day. 

15.  The  riches  of  divine  grace  are  very  gloriously  displayed 
when  God  brings  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  himself  a  man  or  a 
people,  who  seem  never  to  have  sought  him  till  he  in  his  mercy 
called  them  to  the  knowledge  of,  his  Son,  v.  20.  In  all  cases  it  is 
the  Lord's  preventing  grace  that  brings  any  soul  to  Christ,  and 
the  pious  delight  in  so  confessing.  Where  is  the 'good  man,  who 
will  not  say,  "  What  I  am,  I  am  by  the  grace  of  God  ?"  But  in 
some  cases  the  change  is  so  great  and  so  surprising,  that  even 
careless  men  are  almost  ready  to  say.  Behold,  here  is  the  finger 
of  God,  and  there  is  a  power  in  the  gospel  to  save  men's  souls. 

16.  How  obstinately  and  perversely  some  men  sin  and  rebel 
against  God,  v.  21.  There  have  often  been  cases  of  a  very  sad 
description,  men  resisting  truth  and  their  own  convictions  to  an  in- 
fatuation. In  the  days  of  the  weeping  prophet  the  Lord  spake 
unto  Israel,  rising  up  early  and  speaking,  but  they  heard  not ;  and 
he  called  but  they  answered  not.  Yea,  he  earnestly  protested 
unto  Israel  from  the  days  of  Moses  for  a  thousand  years  and  more, 
yet  they  obeyed  not,  nor  inclined  their  ear,  but  walked  every  one 
in  the  imagination  of  their  evil  heart,  Jer.  7:13;  11  :  7,  8.  Chry- 
sostom  :  "  What  pardon  then  do  they  deserve,  who  exhibit  such 
excessive  obstinacy  ?     None." 

■17.  This  whole  section  has  a  powerful  bearing  on  the  subject 
of  missions.  Let  the  candid  read  it  over  with  this  thought  in  his 
mind,  and  he  will  not  fail  to  be  convinced.  Other  scriptures 
teach  the  same.     The  only  outline  of  prayer  given  by  our  Lord 


526  EPISTLE.  [Cb.  IX.,  V.  21. 

to  his  disciples  has  in  it  seven  petitions.  Of  these  three,  and  those 
the  first  three  relate  to  a  spread  of  the  knowledge  and  kingdom  and 
worship  of  God  in  the  world.  What  an  example  of  zeal  and 
patient  endurance  in  spreading  the  knowledge  of  God  were  the 
apostles  themselves,  all  of  them  but  John  actually  dying  a  martyr's 
death,  and  the  life  of  John  attempted  to  be  taken  away,  and  him- 
self actually  banished  to  that  wretched  penal  colony,  or  rather 
prison,  Patmos.  "Thomas  seems  to  have  travelled  eastward,  to 
Parthia,  Media,  Persia  and  India."  Some  think  he  even  went  into 
China.  Jude  long  held  up  the  banner  of  the  cross  at  Edessa. 
Bartholomew  bore  the  glad  tidings  to  Arabia.  Matthew  pub- 
lished the  Gospel  in  modern  Persia,  while  Paul  went  as  far  as 
Spain,  and,  some  think,  as  far  as  Britain.  Wonderfully  does  God 
honor  men  and  communities,  who  honor  him  by  spreading  his 
gospel.  This  day  the  fame  of  Bishop  Heber  depends  more  on  his 
missionary  hymn  than  on  all  else  he  ever  wrote.  Let  us  stir  our- 
selves up  to  this  good  work.  Let  us  rejoice  at  even  a  little  pro- 
gress made  by  the  gospel.  No  obligation  resting  on  those,  who 
have  received  Christ,  is  stronger  than  that  of  making  known  the 
glory  of  Immanuel. 

PRAYER. 

Blessed  and  Glorious  God,  send  forth  thy  light  and  thy  truth. 
Command  the  nations  that  they  obey  thy  Son.  Send  forth  labor- 
ers into  thy  harvest.  Fill  the  whole  earth  with  the  knowledge  of 
God.  Stir  up  the  zeal  of  thy  people  every  where  in  making 
known  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  Hasten  the  time  when  the 
Jews  and  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  brought  in.  Let 
nothing  obstruct  the  wheels  of  the  chariot  of  salvation.  Oh  send 
forth  thy  Spirit  in  large  measure  on  all  the  earth,  awakening 
human  attention  and  inquiry  respecting  the  things  of  God.  Oh 
let  thy  word  run  very  swiftly,  and  the  whole  earth  come  to  the 
brightness  of  Immanuel's  rising  ;  and  to  thy  name  shall  be  all  the 
praise  world  without  end.     Amen. 


CHAPTER   XI. 


VERSES  1-1  o. 

ALL   ISRAEL   NOT    CAST   AWAY.     THE   SAD   STATE 
OF  THE  REJECTED. 

1  SAY  then.  Hath  God  cast  away  his  people  ?  God  forbid.  For  I  also  am  an 
Israelite,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin. 

2  God  hath  not  cast  away  his  people  which  he  foreknew.  Wot  ye  not  what 
the  Scripture  saith  of  Elias  ?  how  he  maketh  intercession  to  God  against  Israel, 
saying, 

3  Lord,  they  have  killed  thy  prophets,  and  digged  down  thine  altars ;  and  I 
am  left  alone,  and  they  seek  my  life. 

4  But  what  saith  the  answer  of  God  unto  him  ?  1  have  reserved  to  myself 
seven  thousand  men,  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  the  image  of  Baal. 

5  Even  so  then  at  this  present  time  also  there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the 
election  of  grace. 

6  And  if  by  grace,  then  is  il  no  more  of  worjcs  :  otherwise  grace  is  no  more 
grace.  But  if  it  be  of  works,  then  it  is  no  more  grace  :  otherwise  work  is  no  more 
work. 

7  What  then  ?  Israel  hath  not  obtained  that  which  he  seeketh  for ;  but  the 
election  hath  obtained  it,  and  the  rest  were  blinded 

8  (According  as  it  is  written,  God  hath  given  them  the  spirit  of  slumber,  eyes 
that  they  should  not  see,  and  ears  that  they  should  not  hear;)   unto  this  day. 

9  And  David  saith,  Let  their  table  be  made  a  snare,  and  a  trap,  and  a  stum- 
blingblock,  and  a  recompense  unto  them  : 

10  Let  their  eyes  be  darkened,  that  they  may  not  see,  and  bow  down  their 
back  alway. 

II  SA  V  then,  Hath  God  cast  away  his  people  ?  God' forbid.  For 
,  /  also  am  an  Israelite,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin.  Hitherto,  when  an  objection  was  to  be  stated,  Paul  did 
not  own  it  as  his.  But  here  he  states  it  in  his  own  name.  The 
import  of  the  question  seems  to  be  this  :  Has  God  so  rejected  the 
descendants  of  Abraham  as  to  have  among  them  no  genuine  chil- 
dren ?  Are  they  all  outside  of  the  pale  of  the  covenant  ?  This  ques- 
tion is  answered  with  an  emphatic,  No  !  On  God  forbid  see  above 
on  Rom.  3  :  4.     The  proof  he  offers  is  himself,  q.  d.     I  have  not 

(527) 


528  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  2-4. 

been  reje(;ted  by  the  Lord.  He  has  had  mercy  on  me.  I  am^an 
illustrious  example  of  his  compassion  to  my  nation.  Any  man, 
seeing  how  God  has  shown  mercy  to  me,  a  bitter  relentless  perse- 
cutor, need  never  despair  of  salvation  by  grace.  And  I  am  an 
Israelite,  not  a  proselyte  to  the  Jews'  religion,  but  a  descendant 
of  Abraham,  and  it  is  known  to  my  nation  that  I  am  of  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin.  '  Compare  Phil.  3:5.  My  lineage  is  not  denied.  It 
can  be  proved.  So  that  if  there  were  no  case  but  mine,  (blessed 
be  God  •  there  are  many  other  converted  Jews,)  none  would  have 
cause  to  say  that  God  now  accepts  none  but  Gentiles.  I  teach  no 
such  doctrine.  The  hope  of  salvation  is  not  taken  from  any 
Israehte,  who  will  submit  to  the  righteousness  of  God. 

2.  God  hath  not  cast  away  his  people  which  he  foreknew.  Wot  ye 
not  what  the  scripture  saith  of  Elias  ?  how  he  niaket]i  intercession  to 
God  against  Israel,  saying.  On  foreknew,  see  above  on  Rom.  8  :  29, 
where  the  same  word  occurs.  The  meaning  is,  God  does  not 
change  his  plans  or  purposes.  He  never  accepted  all  the  descend- 
ants of  Abraham,  or  even  of  Jacob  as  in  a  saving  covenant  with 
him.  It  can  be  shown  that  in  the  history  of  the  Jews,  they  have 
often  sadly  and  even  generally  revolted  against  God,  but  even  then 
the  Lord  did  not  cast  off  all.  Wot,  a  word  now  nearly  obsolete,  for 
know,  in  the  past  tense  wist.  The  phrase  to  make  intercession 
against  is  unusual.  In  respect  to  Israel  would  be  a  better  render- 
ing. It  is  true  the  prophet's  appeal  to  God  showed  a  state  of 
things  in  his  judgment  utterly  desperate  and  so  what  he  said,  so 
far  as  it  was  well  founded,  was  against  them.  But  the  preposition 
is  best  rendered  as  above  indicated.  The  prophet's  complaint  and 
God's  answer  can  be  seen  in  full  in  i  Kings  19:9-18.  The  sad 
words  are  : 

3.  Lord,  they  have  killed  thy  prophets,  and  digged  down  thine 
altars  ;  and  I  am  left  alone,  and  they  seek  my  life.  Elijah  lived  dur- 
ing the  days  of  that  bloody  and  beastly  idolater  Ahab,  who  was 
egged  on  by  that  monster  of  depravity  Jezebel.  The  worship  of 
Baal  was  publicly  established.  The  land  swarmed  with  priests  of 
the  false  religion.  The  public  and  solemn  worship  of  Jehovah  had 
ceased.  A  horrible  persecution  against  the  true  religion  was 
raging.  No  man,  nor  set  of  men  came  forward  to  avow  sympathy 
with  Elijah  either  in  his  doctrine  or  in  his  sufferings.  The  error 
of  the  prophet  in  his  statement  was  expressed  in  the  words,  /  am 
left  alone.  The  Hebrew  is  very  strong — And  I,  I  only,  am  left. 
This  opinion  of  the  prophet  was  incorrect. 

4.  But  what  saith  the  answer  of  God  unto  him  ?  I  have  reserved 
to  myself  seven  thousand  men,  ivho  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  the 
image  of  Baal.     This  verse  gives  the  sense  of  the  original,  but  is 


Ch.  XI,  vs.  5,  6.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  529 

not  taken  from  the  Septiiagint,  nor  is  it  a  literal  rendering  of  the 
Hebrew,  which  in  the  authorized  version  reads  :  "  Yet  I  have  left 
me  seven  thousand  in  Israel,  all  the  knees  which  have  not  bowed 
unto  Baal,  and  every  mouth  which  hath  not  kissed  him."  The 
pertinence  of  introducing  this  matter  is  to  show  that  even  in  the 
darkest  days  in  Israel  there  were  a  chosen  few  who  were  under 
the  power  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  that  by  the  foreordination  of 
God.  This  is  the  use  the  apostle  himself  makes  of  it,  as  we  see  in 
the  next  verse,  so  that  the  suspicion  that  God  had  so  wholly  cast 
oif  Israel  that  a  Jew  could  not  be  saved,  was  no  part  of  Paul's  doc- 
trine, nor  was  it  true. 

5.  Even  so  then  at  this  present  time  also  there  is  a  remnant  according 
to  the  election  of  grace.  There  were  about  three  thousand  Jews  con- 
verted on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  Acts  2:  41.  Soon  after  we  read 
that  the  number  of  the  men,  who  believed,  was  about  five  thousand, 
Acts  4:  4.  Still  later  we  read:  "Thou  seest,  brother,  how  many 
thousands  of  Jews  there  are  which  believe,"  Acts  21  :  20.  In  this 
last  place  the  Greek  word  is  not  thousands,  but  myriads  or  tens  of 
thousands.  In  most  places  where  churches  were  planted  among 
the  early  converts  to  Christ  were  many  Israelites.  So  that  in 
Paul's  time  there  were  many  more  of  them  cleaving  to  God  in 
Christ,  than  had  remained  firm  to  the  true  worship  of  God  in  the 
days  of  Elijah.  Some,  however,  think  that  seven  thousand  in  i 
Kings  19: 1 8  and  here  also  designates  an  indefinite  though  large  num- 
ber. This  opinion  is  not  wholly  improbable  as  among  the  Jews 
seven  was  a  number  of  perfection.  Yet  it  is  hardly  safe  to  lay 
much  stress  upon  that  point.  But  when  this  epistle  was  written 
the  great  mass  of  the  Jewish  people  stood  aloof  from  the  gospel. 
There  was  but  a  rejtmant,  a  small  number,  who  believed  in  Jesus. 
That  remnant  constituted  the  body  of  elect  Jews  at  that  time,  or 
was  according  to  the  election  of  grace.  All  of  God's  chosen  are 
elected  through  ^r^^-r^,  or  unmerited  favor.  No  man  is  chosen  of 
God  for  any  merits  he  has  or  ever  shall  have,  but  wholly  and 
purely  out  of  undeserved  pity.     This  point  the  apostle  next  proves : 

6.  And  if  by  grace,  then  is  it  no  more  of  zuorks :  otherivise  grace  is 
no  more  grace.  But  if'it  be  of  ivorks,  then  is  it  no  more  grace :  other- 
ivise work  is  no  more  zvork,  In  the  early  part  of  this  epistle  the 
apostle  in  various  ways  proved  the  contrariety  of  works  and  of 
grace  in  justification.  Here  he  declares  that  election  to  salvation 
flows  from  mere  kindness  and  pity  on  the  part  of  God,  and  not  at 
all  from  good  works  seen  or  foreseen.  He  says  that  this  view 
must  be  taken;  otherwise  we  confound  grace  and  work,  than 
which  no  two  things  are  more  opposite.  Some  drop  the  latter 
half  of  the  verse  from  the  text,  and  it  is  wanting  in  several  manu- 

34 


530  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  7-10. 

scripts;  nor  does  its  omission  destroy  Paul's  argument.  But  in 
places  considered  parallel  the  apostle  brings  in  both  sides  of  his 
statement,  from  Rom.  4  14,  5.  Peshito,  Arabic,  Tyndale,  Cranmer, 
Genevan,  Beza  and  Parens  retain  both  clauses  entire. 

7.  What  then  ?  Israel  hath  tiot  obtained  that  which  he  seekcthfor  ; 
but  the  election  hath  obtained  it,  and  the  rest  were  blinded.  What  then  ? 
the  same  question,  in  an  abbreviated  form,  so  often  asked  in  this 
epistle,  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  What  is  a  fair  conclusion  from 
all  this  ?  Here  is  the  answer :  Israel,  as  a  nation,  has  not  succeeded 
in  securing  the  divine  favor ;  but  the  election,  that  is  the  entire 
number,  the  whole  mass  of  elect  persons,  who  had  been  chosen 
and  called  through  God's  mere  mercy,  have  obtained  God's  bless- 
ing. And  the  rest  were  blinded.  The  general  tenor  of  remark  on 
the  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart  in  chapter  IX.  is  applicable  to 
the  blinding  of  Israel.  No  doubt  they  blinded  their  own  e^^es  and 
were  willingly  ignorant  of  much  that  they  should  have  known.  But 
beyond  a  reasonable  doubt  there  is  a  reference  to  a  judicial  act  of 
God,  by  which  they  were  blinded.  Indeed  the  word  here  ren- 
dered blinded  is  three  times  in  the  Gospels  rendered  hardened, 
Mark  6  :  52  ;  8  :  17  ;  John  12  :  40.  The  cognate  noun  is  in  Mark 
3  :  5  rendered  hardness.  God  does  sometimes  give  men  over  to 
blindness,  perverseness  and  obstinacy.  This  Paul  immediately 
proceeds  to  prove  : 

8.  {According  as  it  is  written,  God  has  given  them  the  spirit  of 
slumber,  eyes  that  they  should  not  see,  and  ears  that  they  should  not 
hear  ;)  unto  this  day.  The  last  three  words  probably  belong  not  to 
the  parenthesis,  but  are  best  connected  with  v.  7.  The  quotations 
embrace  the  substance  of  several  places  in  the  Old  Testament,  Isa. 
29 :  10  ;  Deut.  29  :  4  ;  Isa.  6  :  9,  10.  Parallel  passages  are  found  in 
Jer.  5 :  21;  Ezek.  12:2;  Matt.  13:  14,  15;  John  12:  39,40;  Acts 
28 :  26,  27.  Indeed  the  sum  of  what  is  here  said  is  often  spoken  of 
Israel,  sometimes  historically  and  sometimes  prophetically.  There 
is  no  safe  or  satisfactory  way  of  interpreting  the  verse  unless  we 
understand  it  as  containing  a  curse  brought  on  Israel  by  their  un- 
belief and  obstinacy.  This  rejection  was  therefore  just,  because  it 
was  for  their  iniquities.  The  words  quoted  are  generally  plain, 
being  often  found  and  sometimes  explained  in  scripture. 

9.  And  David  saith,  Let  their  table  be  made  a  snare,  and  a  trap, 
and  a  stumbling-block,  and  a  recompense  unto  them  : 

10.  And  let  their  eyes  be  darkened,  that  they  may  not  see,  and  bow 
down  their  back  alway.  This  quotation  is  from  Psalm  69:  22,  23. 
Theodoret  says  that  Psalm  "  is  a  prediction  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  and  the  final  destruction  of  the  Jews  on  that  account." 
There  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  highly  Messianic  and  prophetic.     Au- 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  I,  2.]  THE  ROMANS.  531 

gustine :  "  These  things  are  not  said  by  Avay  of  wishing,  but,  un- 
der the  form  of  wishing,  by  way  of  prophecy."  The  quotation  is 
very  much  made  from  the  Septuagint,  but  with  considerable  vari- 
ations in  the  first  of  the  two  verses.  By  table  we  may  understand 
the  most  ordinary  and  necessary  enjoyments.  When  these  are 
made  a  snare,  a  trap,  a  stumbling-block  and  a  recompense  to  men, 
their  wretchedness  is  complete.  Olshausen  :  "  Where  they  least 
expect  it,  let  the  snare  of  destruction  come  upon  them  by  way  of 
recompense."  The  authorized  version  makes  the  last  clause  in 
Ps.  69  :  22  very  elliptical.  Paul  doubtless  gives  the  sense  of  it 
here.  To  bow  down  their  back  alway  is  the  Septuagint  version 
of  the  Hebrew,  make  their  loins  continually  to  shake.  The  mean- 
ing of  the  two  phrases  is  the  same.  Whoever  is  weak  in  the  loins 
is  fit  for  no  hard  service,  and  is  sorely  afflicted  indeed.  How  the 
Jews  have  as  a  people  been  crushed  and  oppressed  both  by  their 
sins  and  the  judgments  of  God  all  history  for  eighteen  hundred 
years  declares.  Paul's  object  in  these  quotations  is  to  prove  that 
what  has  befallen  Israel  was  predicted  by  their  own  prophets,  both 
as  to  the  wickedness  and  the  misery  of  their  state ;  and  therefore 
their  rejection  ought  to  be  no  ground  of  offence  to  a  Jew,  for  his 
own  scriptures  record  things  of  the  same  kind  in  their  history, 
and  predict  these  very  things  under  the  reign  of  Messias. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  God  never  casts  away  his  own  people,  who  are  his  by  cove- 
nant, vs.  I,  2.  All  reasonings,  which  beget  the  belief  that  God  is 
slack  concerning  his  promises,  or  changeable  in  his  purposes,  are 
false.  Brown :  "  God  may  be  avenged  on  a  hypocritical  nation, 
and  for  their  contempt  of  the  gospel  may  unchurch  them,  and 
take  the  gospel  from  them,  and  yet  be  as  good  as  his  word  unto 
any  true-hearted  seeker  of  his  face  in  that  land."  Let  no  man 
therefore  fear  that  God  will  ever  forsake  one,  who  puts  all  his  trust 
in  Jehovah. 

2.  There  is  no  telling,  at  one  view,  how  many  aspects  one  event 
may  have,  or  how  many  truths  one  conversion  may  prove.  One 
case,  either  of  severe  justice  or  of  great  clemency,  may  marvel- 
lously illustrate  what  a  government,  human  or  divine,  is  in  its 
real  nature,  v.  i.  How  many  truths  are  strikingly  presented  by 
the  great  change  in  the  life  of  Paul.  How  he  stood  as  a  glorious 
monument  of  the  riches,  power,  height,  depth,  length,  breadth  and 
sovereignty  of  divine  grace.  Though  allusions  to  ourselves  should 
be  modest,  yet  when  they  are  to  the  glory  of  God's  grace  and 
mercy  we  may  make  them.     What  has  brought  such  matters  into 


532  EPISTLE    TO  Ch.  XI.,  vs.  2,  3.] 

disesteem  has  been  the  self-conceit  and  affectation  with  which  many 
have  spoken  of  themselves.  If  a  reference  to  our  own  case  will 
either  settle  or  illustrate  a  great  truth,  let  it  in  all  humility  be 
made. 

3.  God's  true  church  is  made  up  of  those  whom  he  hath  loved 
with  an  everlasting  love,  v.  2.  Compare  Jer.  31  :  3.  Pool:  "By 
such  as  are  foreknown  of  God,  Paul  means  those  that  are  elected 
and  predestinated  to  eternal  life."  Such  doctrine  should  not  dis- 
turb us.  God  is  wise  and  good  and  almighty.  His  plans  are  holy 
and  infallible.  Such  doctrine  is  very  humbling  to  the  pride  and 
offensive  to  the  enmity  of  the  human  heart ;  but  if  God  teaches  it 
in  his  word,  it  is  true ;  it  is  wise  to  believe  it ;  it  will  have  a  sanc- 
tifying power.  Why  should  it  not?  Hath  not  God  chosen  us  in 
Christ,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy 
and  without  blame  before  him  in  love  ?  Eph.  i  :  4.  Where  is  the 
danger  of  believing  every  word  that  God  has  spoken  ?  Compare 
Rom.  8  :  29,  30. 

4.  The  same  wicked  principles  are  acted  out  by  bad  men  from 
age  to  age,  vs.  2,  3.  The  manner  of  displaying  hatred  to  God  and 
his  people  differs  somewhat  at  divers  times;  but  evil  men  have  no 
devices  entirely  new.  Sometimes  it  is  by  scorn,  sometimes  by  ridi- 
cule, sometimes  by  slander,  sometimes  by  hue  and  cry,  sometimes 
b}'^  murderous  purposes  and  practices  that  sinful  men  oppose  all 
that  is  good  ;  but  the  root  of  bitterness  is  always  there,  till  divine 
grace  makes  the  change. 

5.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  know  the  scriptures,  and  to  build  all  our 
hopes  and  all  our  doctrines  upon  them.  Even  inspired  men  often 
set  us  an  example  in  this  matter,  v.  2.  Indeed  our  Lord  himself 
said  to  the  tempter.  It  is  written,  it  is  written,  it  is  written,  just  as 
Paul  says  here.  Many  a  man  is  foiled  in  battle  by  not  knowing 
the  scripture  with  which  to  meet  the  enemy.  Nor  is  any  portion 
of  God's  word  useless  to  such  ends.  Brown  :  "Acquaintance  with 
the  state  of  the  church  in  former  ages,  recorded  in  scripture,  is 
very  necessary  to  the  people  of  God,  and  will  tend  much  to  edify 
and  comfort  them  in  their  conditions."  Many  a  saint  has  revived 
when  he  found  himself  where  Elisha,  or  David,  or  Jeremiah,  or 
Paul  had  been  long  before  him. 

6.  It  is  a  great  mercy  to  be  kept  from  a  time  of  persecution,  v.  3. 
When  the  phrenzied  demagogue,  the  bigoted  ecclesiastic,  the  cun- 
ning politician,  the  furious  sectary,  the  whining  hypocrite,  the 
abandoned  woman,  the  potentate  and  the  pauper  unite  to  hunt 
good  men,  their  lives  are,  but  for  the  supports  of  divine  grace,  in- 
tolerable. No  public  service,  no  age,  no  sex,  no  old  friendships, 
no  principle  of  humanity  have  any  power  with  men  urged  on  by 


Ch.  XI.,  vs.  3,  4-]  THE  ROMANS.  533 

the  hatred  of  mahce  or  the  heat  of  bigotry.  Brown :  "  So  cruel 
and  insatiable  is  the  rage  of  the  enemies  of  Christ,  that  if  there 
were  but  one  remaining  to  give  testimony  against  their  corrup- 
tions, they  cannot  be  at  rest  till  that  one  be  made  a  sacrifice  to 
their  beastly  savage  cruelty." 

7.  The  cries  of  such  suffering  ones  enter  into  the  ears  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  and  the  answer  of  God  is  sure  to  come  in  words  or 
deeds?  in  mercy  or  wrath  to  the  wicked,  but  always  in  mercy  to 
the  righteous,  v.  4.  None  can  tell,  as  the  old  saint  can,  how  won- 
drously  God  comforts  such.  The  prison  meditations  of  the  saints 
form  a  choice  library  of  practical  divinity. 

8.  There  are  in  every  age  some  good  men,  perhaps  even  more 
than  many  suppose,  v.  4.  Evans :  "  Things  are  often  much  better 
with  the  church  of  God  than  wise  and  good  men  think  they  are. 
They  are  ready  to  conclude  hardly,  and  to  give  up  all  for  gone, 
when  it  is  not  so."  The  reason  why  general  defections  do  not  be- 
come universal  is  not  that  believers  are  in  themselves,  or  by  nature, 
better  than  others  ;  but  because  the  Lord  reserves  them  to  himself, 
renews,  restrains,  teaches  and  supports  them  in  a  right  way.  It  is 
seldom  that  we  escape  error  when  we  form  estimates  of  men  in  the 
mass.  Goodness  is  often  outlawed.  No  doubt  many,  who  saw 
Joseph  led  to  the  dungeons  of  Egypt,  honestly  thought  he  was  a 
bad  man.  Chrysostom  :  ''  If  you  do  not  know  who  they  are  that 
believe,  this  is  no  wonder,  for  that  prophet,  who  was  so  great  and 
good  a  man,  did  not  know."  Let  this  be  our  rejoicing,  "  The  Lord 
knoweth  them  that  are  his."     That  secures  salvation. 

9.  Oftentimes  the  chief  thing  that  the  people  of  God  can  do  is 
to  retire  from  public  notice,  weep  in  secret  places,  or  before  men 
evince  their  godly  principles  by  a  refusal  to  conform  to  the  sinful 
practices  of  their  times,  v.  4.  The  chief  thing  that  could  be  done 
in  the  days  of  Elias  by  his  pious  countrymen  was  to  refuse  to  bow 
the  knee  to  Baal,  or  to  kiss  his  image.  Often  "the  best  evidence 
of  integrity  is  a  freedom  from  the  present  prevailing  corruptions 
of  the  times  and  places  we  live  in.  .  .  Sober  singularity  is  commonly 
the  badge  of  true  sincerity."  Blessed  is  he,  who  escapes  the  con- 
tamination of  the  sins  of  his  age  and  generation,  and  refuses  to  go 
with  a  multitude  to  do  evil.  The  most  terrible  monster  in  this 
world  is  a  blind  and  furious  set  of  men,  given  over  of  God  to  their 
malignant  passions.     No  wild  beast  is  so  dangerous. 

10.  In  all  ages,  in  all  forms  and  under  all  names  idolatry  is  an 
abomination.  It  digs  down  altars ;  it  kills  God's  true  ministers,  it 
degrades  human  nature,  it  sinks  nations  into  sottishness,  vs.  3,  4. 
All  this  is  illustrated  in  every  form  of  idolatry  ever  practised.  It 
was  so  in  the  worship  of  Baal.     This  seems  to  have  been  a  name 


534  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  5, 6. 

common  to  many  idols.  Brown  of  Haddington  thinks  that  in  the 
earlier  ages  it  was  a  name  given  to  the  true  God.  A  more  proba- 
ble opinion  is  that  it  was  derived  from  Belus,  or  Bel,  the  great  idol 
of  Chaldea.  This  among  the  male  deities  held  the  same  place  as 
Ashtaroth  among  the  female  divinities.  Sometimes  we  have  the 
plural  form  Baalim,  because  there  were  many  Baals,  or  at  least 
many  images  of  Baal.  The  rites  used  in  the  service  of  these  idols 
were  cruel,  lewd,  bloody  and  disgusting.  From  the  feminine  arti- 
cle found  in  verse  4,  some  good  scholars,  and  our  translators  also, 
think  the  word  image  or  statue  is  to  be  understood  before  Baal. 
If  this  is  not  so,  there  must  be  a  mistake  in  one  letter,  or  Baal 
must  sometimes  be  used  as  a  name  of  a  goddess.  If  men  in  Chris- 
tian lands  find  it  so  hard  to  resist  a  torrent  of  worldliness,  what 
must  it  be  to  stand  out  against  the  raging  violence  of  a  popular 
system  of  devil  worship  ?  Hodge :  "  Those  only  are  safe  whom 
the  Lord  keeps.  Those,  who  do  not  bow  the  knee  to  the  image  of 
Baal,  are  a  remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace,  and  not  ac- 
cording to  the  firmness  of  their  own  purposes." 

11.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  us  to  have  clear  and  right  views  of 
God  and  of  the  scriptures  unless  we  have  clear  and  right  views 
of  the  doctrine  of  election,  of  which  the  scriptures  say  much,  v.  5. 
Macknight  commenting  on  2  Pet.  i  :  10  says  with  an  air  of  great 
confidence,  "  How  can  the  election  of  individuals  to  eternal  life  be 
made  more  sure  than  it  is  by  the  divine  decree  ?"  The  answer  is 
that  to  God  nothing  is  more  sure  than  his  own  purposes.  But 
when  we  are  exhorted  to  make  our  calling  and  election  sure,  it  is 
to  make  them  sure  to  ourselves.  We  know  not  the  §ecret  purpose 
of  God.  We  are  concerned  with  present  personal  duty,  not  with 
the  hidden  counsels  of  God.  Nor  can  any  man  be  rightly  per- 
suaded of  his  own  salvation,  except  by  having  grace  to  perfect 
holiness  in  the  fear  of  God.  The  election  of  God  is  sure  to  pre- 
vail. It  is  mighty.  It  secures  the  salvation  of  all  whom  it 
selects,  because  in  its  evolutions  it  brings  such  to  Christ,  trans- 
forms their  natures,  and  fits  them  for  heaven.  This  election 
is  of  grace,  i.  e.  it  is  gratuitous.  God  chooses  whom  he  will, 
not  for  their  sakes,  but  for  his  own  name's  sake.  If  any  say 
that  this  doctrine  is  a  high  mystery,  so  it  is.  Adoration  and 
praise  rather  than  a  bold  prying  curiosity  become  us  on  many  a 
theme  of  revealed  truth.  Let  us  bow  in  awful  submission  to  his 
sovereign  and  adorable  will  and  glorious  majesty.  Let  us  not 
cavil,  nor  dispute  with  God. 

12.  It  is  a  sad  mistake  when  we  confound  grace  and  work, 
human  deservings  and  divine  mercies,  v.  6.  And  yet  this  is  no 
uncommon  error  among  men.       Chrysostom  :     "  Why    are  you 


Ch.  XL,  V.  7-]  THE  ROMANS.  535 

afraid  of  coming  over  since  you  have  no  works  demanded  of  you  ? 
Why  are  you  bickering  and  quarrelsome,  when  grace  is  before 
you,  and  why  keep  putting  the  law  forward  to  no  purpose  what- 
ever ?  For  you  will  not  be  saved  by  that,  and  will  mar  this  gift 
also ;  since  if  you  pertinaciously  insist  on  being  saved  by  it  you 
do  away  with  this  grace  of  God."  Why  will  men  set  up  their 
will  and  wisdom  against  the  counsel  of  God  ?  If  any  man  is  ever 
saved  it  must  be  by  grace  from  first  to  last.  Slade  :  "  A  claim  from 
works,  and  grace  through  faith  is  incompatible."  None  can  stand 
on  two  foundations  so  utterly  opposite,  so  immensely  remote,  as 
grace  and  works.  Compare  Rom.  4:4,  5  ;  9:  11.  If  justification 
is  by  grace,  of  course  election  is  of  undeserved  kindness.  And 
so  God  has  all  the  glory  of  a  sinner's  salvation,  and  boasting  is 
excluded.  Brown  :  "  Whoever  expects  anything  of  God  for  his 
works,  or  by  way  of  merit,  quite  destroys  the  nature  of  grace." 

13.  God's  chosen  shall  be  saved  ;  they  shall  infallibly  be  saved, 
and  obtain  what  they  seek  after,  glory,  honor  and  eternal  life,  v.  7. 
The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  them.  No  weapon 
formed  against  them  shall  prosper.  They  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the 
second  death.  God  will  be  their  God  for  ever  and  ever.  They 
enjoy  God's  special  favor.  They  cannot  come  short  of  heavenly 
glory  without  a  failure  in  God's  counsel.  They  were  not  chosen 
for  their  works.  They  are  not  justified  by  their  works.  They 
overcome  not  by  their  own  power  and  holiness.  Yet  they  overcome, 
are  justified  and  chosen.  They  cannot  fail  of  eternal  glory  because 
the  Lord  changes  not. 

14.  None  can  be  too  careful  in  guarding  against  the  blinding 
and  hardening  effects  of  sin,  v.  7.  Insensibility  is  as  alarming  a 
symptom  as  ever  appears  in  any  case.  It  is  wonderful  that  multi- 
tudes are  not  terror-stricken  by  their  own  stupidity.  When  a 
wounded  limb  gives  no  more  pain,  it  is  a  sign  that  mortification 
has  set  in.  Owen  of  Thrussington  :  "  The  hardening  or  blinding 
spoken  of  by  the  prophets  is  uniformly  stated  as  a  punishment  for 
previous  unbelief  and  impenitence."  Nor  has  God  any  sorer  evil 
to  inflict.  Morison  :  "  Judicial  blindness  is  heaven's  frequent 
punishment  for  abused  privileges."  If  anything  should  awaken 
the  liveliest  interest  and  stir  up  all  that  is  within  us  to  the  mightiest 
activity,  it  is  the  vast  concern  of  salvation. 

15.  It  is  mournful  to  think  what  multitudes  seek  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  utterly  fail,  v.  7.  i.  There  is  a 
large  class,  who  do  not  seek  until  it  is  too  late.  They  defer 
the  whole  matter  till  once  the  master  of  the  house  is  risen  up  and 
hath  shut  to  the  door.  Then  their  cries  are  loud  and  lusty  ; 
but  they  are  too  late.     The  opportunity  is  gone  for  ever.     Our 


536  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XI.,  vs.  7,  8. 

Lord  clearly  warned  such  of  their  impending  doom,  Luke  13  :  24, 
25.  2.  There  is  another  class,  who  go  to  work  ignorantly.  They 
know  not  God,  nor  Jesus  Christ,  nor  the  Holy  Ghost.  They 
worship  they  know  not  what.  They  work  entirely  in  the  dark. 
They  grope  for  the  wall  at  noon-day.  They  are  blind  and  love 
the  instruction  that  causeth  to  err.  This  class  is  not  small, 
3.  Others  seek  languidly.  Their  hearts  are  not  wholly  in  the 
matter,  as  God  requires  they  should  be,  Jer.  29:  13.  They  seek 
but  not  by  prayer,  or  any  real  humiliation.  Their  every  act 
indicates  spiritual  sloth.  The  divine  life  is  a  race.  They  never 
run.  It  is  a  conflict.  They  never  fight.  4.  Others  have  no 
perseverance  in  their  quest  of  life.  They  do  not  diligently  seek 
God.  At  times  they  seem  to  be  in  earnest,  but  soon  they  turn 
aside  to  vanity.  Their  goodness  is  like  the  morning  cloud  and 
the  early  dew.  5.  Others  never  seek  the  Lord  supremely.  All 
the  time  something  else  is  uppermost  in  their  minds.  6.  Others 
seek  proudly.  They  have  a  great  conceit  of  themselves.  They 
do  not  and  will  not  humble  themselves  under  the  mighty  hand 
of  God.  They  have  none  of  the  spirit  of  the  publican.  They 
are  Pharisees.  They  are  self-righteous.  They  come  to  God 
in  their  own  names,  not  in  the  name  of  Christ.  But  to  the  hum- 
ble, the  hearty,  the  diligent,  the  instructed,  who  come  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  seeking  salvation,  God  always  gives  a  blessing,  as 
he  has  promised  in  many  places.  Compare  Matt.  J'-T,  21  :22; 
John  14:  13;  15  :  16;  16:  24;  Jas.  I  :  6;  4  :  3  ;  Rom.  9  :  31,  32,  and 
parallel  passages. 

16.  It  is  a  dreadful  art  that  some  acquire  of  having  eyes  and 
not  seeing,  of  having  ears  and  not  hearing,  of  sleeping  on  when 
heaven,  earth  and  hell  are  making  their  souls  a  battle-field,  v.  8. 
Brown :  "  As  there  is  a  natural  hardness,  stupidity  and  senseless- 
ness, which  lieth  upon  all  by  nature  till  grace  remove  it ;  so  there 
is  an  acquired  and  habitual  hardness,  which  is  contracted  through 
a  customariness  in  sinning."  When  to  these  God  adds  the  judi- 
cial blindness,  which  he  sometimes  sends  in  punishment  for  con- 
tempt of  his  mercies,  men  are  undone. 

17.  The  scriptures  cut  off  all  ground  of  boasting.  No  man  has 
anything  whereof  he  may  glory  before  God,  vs.  7,  8.  When  men 
set  themselves  against  the  divine  plan  of  saving  sinners,  they  as 
terribly  provoke  God  as  if  they  had  set  themselves  against  his 
holy  law.  Indeed  he,  who  opposes  God's  method  of  saving  sin- 
ners is  opposed  to  both  law  and  gospel.  He  is  all  wrong  and 
wholly  out  of  the  way.  No  man  sincerely  obeys  the  law,  unless 
he  first  obeys  the  gospel. 

18.  Every  religious  sentiment  held  or  taught,  every  doctrine 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  8-IO.]  THE  ROMANS.  537 

believed  or  inculcated,  every  practice  observed  or  enjoined  ought 
to  have  the  sanction  of  the  will  of  God,  made  known  in  his  word, 
either  by  direct  teaching  or  by  fair  inference,  v.  8.  If  it  is  zvritten 
in  the  scripture,  that  is  an  end  of  all  dispute.  If  it  is  not  written, 
no  human  wisdom  or  authority  can  make  it  binding.  God's  word 
is  the  judge  of  all  controversies,  the  resolver  of  all  doubts,  the 
only  and  the  unerring  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

19.  When  the  curse  comes,  it  is  neither  causeless  nor  power- 
less, vs.  9,  10.  To  such  as  provoke  his  anger  and  wear  out  his 
patience  God  says,  I  will  curse  your  blessings,  Mai.  2  :  2,  Then 
the  sweetest  milk  at  once  turns  sour,  and  the  best  wine  becomes 
the  poison  of  dragons,  the  sweetest  savors  exhale  death,  and  life 
itself  is  continued  only  to  fit  the  vessels  of  wrath  for  the  more  dire 
ruin.  Blessings  are  blessings  only  while  God  makes  them  so. 
When  his  mercy  is  withdrawn,  all  common  bounties  lose  their 
power,  or  vanish  away.  Evans :  "  Of  all  judgments  spiritual 
judgments  are  the  sorest,  and  most  to  be  dreaded,  though  they 
make  the  least  noise."  Let  every  man  beware  how  he  pulls  down 
vengeance  on  his  own  soul. 

20.  If  any  are  disturbed  at  the  language  of  apparent  impreca- 
tion in  these  verses  (9,  10)  he  is  referred  for  explanation  to  the 
author's  "  Studies  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,"  Introduction  §  6.  They 
are  not  imprecations,  but  predictions  of  God's  righteous  retribu- 
tions. 

21.  The  state  of  the  Jews  is  more  and  more  appalling,  as  well 
as  instructive  from  age  to  age.  In  Babylon  they  suffered  for  their 
sins  seventy  years  ;  in  Egypt  over  four  hundred  years  ;  but  though 
they  have  never  practised  any  visible  form  of  idolatry  since  they 
were  delivered  from  Babylonish  captivity,  yet  for  eighteen  centu- 
ries they  have  endured,  more  than  any  other  people,  the  displea- 
sure of  heaven,  and  yet  there  seems  to  be  no  end.  Their  temple 
is  gone,  sacrifices  have  ceased,  they  are  scattered  and  peeled,  and 
God  preserves  them  a  distinct  people.  Is  there  not  some  great 
sin  resting  at  their  door?  Is  not  that  sin  the  rejection  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  as  Messiah  ?  O  Israel,  blindness  hath  happened  to  thee. 
Wilt  thou  not  own  thy  Redeemer,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ? 


CHAPTER    XI. 

VERSES    11-24. 

THE  FALL  OF  ISRAEL  NOT  FINAL.  IT  BROUGHT 
GOOD  TO  US  GENTILES.  WE  SHOULD  NOT 
BOAST.      ISRAEL  SHALL  BE   RESTORED. 

11  I  say  then.  Have  they  stumbled  that  they  should  fall?  God  forbid  :  but 
rather  through  their  fall  salvation  is  come  unto  the  Gentiles,  for  to  provoke  them 
to  jealousy. 

1 2  Now  if  the  fall  of  them  be  the  riches  of  the  world,  and  the  diminishing  of 
them  the  riches  of  the  Gentiles;  how  much  more  their  fulness  ? 

1 3  For  I  speak  to  you  Gentiles,  inasmuch  as  I  am  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  I 
magnify  mine  office  : 

14  If  by  any  means  I  may  provoke  to  emulation  them  which  are  my  flesh,  and 
might  save  some  of  them. 

15  For  if  the  casting  away  of  them  be  the  reconciling  of  the  world,  what  shall 
the  receiving  of  them,  be,  but  life  from  the  dead  ? 

16  For  if  the  first  fruit  be  holy,  the  lump  is  also  holy :  and  if  the  root  be  holy, 
so  are  the  branches. 

17  And  if  some  of  the  branches  be  broken  ofF,  and  thou,  being  a  wild  olive  tree, 
wert  grafled  in  among  them,  and  with  thern  partakest  of  the  root  and  fatness  of  the 
olive  tree ; 

18  Boast  not  against  the  branches.  But  if  thou  boast,  thou  bearest  not  the 
rootj  but  the  root  thee. 

19  Thou  wilt  say  then,  The  branches  were  broken  off,  that  I  might  be  graffed 
in. 

20  Well ;  because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  off,  and  thou  standest  by  faith. 
Be  not  high-minded,  but  fear  : 

2 1  For  if  God  spared  not  the  natural  branches,  take  heed  lest  he  also  spare  not 
thee. 

22  Behold  therefore  the  goodness  and  severity  of  God  :  on  them  which  fell, 
severity ;  but  coward  thee,  goodness,  if  thou  continue  in  his  goodness  :  otherwise 
thou  also  shalt  be  cut  off. 

23  And  they  also,  if  they  abide  not  still  in  unbelief,  shall  be  graffed  in  :  for 
God  is  able  to  grafF  them  in  again. 

24  For  if  thou  wert  cut  out  of  the  olive  tree  which  is  wild  by  nature,  and 
wert  graffed  contrary  to  nature  into  a  good  olive  tree ;  how  much  more  shall  these, 
which  be  the  natural  branches,  be  graffed  into  their  own  olive  tree  ? 

(538) 


Ch.  XL,  V.  II.]  THE  ROMANS.  539 

nl  SA  V  then,  Have  they  stumbled  that  they  should  fall  ?  God 
•  forbid :  but  rather  through  their  fall  salvation  is  come 
unto  the  Gentiles,  for  to  provoke  them  to  jealousy.  Stumbled,  nowhere 
else  so  rendered,  but  offend,  Jas.  2  :  10;  3:2;  or  fall,  2  Pet.  i  :  10. 
It  denotes  a  failure  in  duty  or  in  efforts.  Fall  occurs  again  in  v. 
22 ;  also  in  many  places.  It  is  very  uniformly  rendered  as  here, 
or  fall  down.  It  is  applied  to  the  fall  of  a  house,  of  seed,  of  a  man 
to  worship,  of  the  stars,  of  a  hair,  of  a  city.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  word  itself  that  is  emphatic.  If  we  take  it  in  its  usual  signi- 
fication then  Paul's  question  has  this  sense :  Have  they  stumbled 
for  no  purpose  and  to  no  end  but  for  their  own  ruin  ?  Was  there 
no  wise  and  benevolent  design  in  their  fall?  This  makes  good 
sense,  and  requires  no  straining  of  words.  But  if  we,  as  many  do, 
contrast  stumbling  and  falling,  then  the  latter  is  emphatic.  Pe- 
shito  :  Have  they  so  stumbled  as  to  fall  entirely  ?  Cranmer :  Have 
they  therfore  stombled,  that  they  shuld  vtterly  fall  a  waye  to- 
gether? Locke:  Have  they  so  stumbled,  as  to  have  fallen  past 
recovery  ?  Stuart :  Have  they  stumbled  so  as  utterly  to  fall  ? 
Grotius  appeals  to  Rev.  18  :  2  to  show  that  the  word  fall  may 
be  emphatic.  Calvin,  Erasmus,  Scott,  Haldane,  Hodge  and 
many  others  prefer  this  mode  of  exposition.  Either  method  pre- 
sents weighty  matter  of  thought.  Each  may  be  easily  made  to 
agree  with  the  context.  The  former  is  the  more  obvious.  The 
latter  is  more  generally  accepted,  and  is  fully  warranted.  God  for- 
bid, see  above  on  Rom.  3:4.  It  is  a  strong  form  of  denial.  The 
word  fall  in  the  second  clause  of  the  verse  is  not  cognate  to  the 
verb  so  rendered  in  the  first  clause,  nor  is  it  elsewhere  rendered 
as  here  except  in  v.  12,  but  fault,  offence,  trespass.  See  Matt.  6  : 
14,15;  Rom.  5  :  15-18.  The  offence  of  the  Jews  resulted  in  a  great 
good  to  others.  Persecuting  Christians  and  all  preachers  of  the 
gospel  at  Jerusalem  drove  them  out  from  the  old  mother  church, 
and  they  that  were  scattered  abroad  went  every  where  preaching 
the  word,  but  confining  their  ministrations  at  first  to  the  Jews. 
Compare  Acts  8  :  4;  11  :  19.  It  was  not  till  God  gave  that  great 
vision  to  Peter  (Acts  10  :  9-18,  26-29)  that  the  door  seemed  fairly 
open  to  preach  the  gospel  to  any  but  Jews.  And  often,  if  not 
commonly,  it  was  not  until  the  Jews  of  a  city  expressed  their  un- 
willingness to  receive  the  salvation  of  God,  that  its  early  preach- 
ers adressed  themselves  directly  to  the  Gentiles.  Compare  Acts 
13  :  46;  18:6;  28  :  28.  Christ  foretold  this  very  thing.  Matt.  21  : 
43.  In  the  first  of  these  places  Paul  says,  "  It  was  necessary  that 
the  word  of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken  to  you."  The  ne- 
cessity here  spoken  of  arose  from  the  prophecies,  which  required 
that  the  word  of  the  Lord  should  go  forth  from  Jerusalem.     The 


540  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XL,  v.  12. 

great  body  of  the  Jews  rejected  the  gospel  themselves,  and  were 
quite  averse  to  its  being  preached  to  others,  i  Thess.  2:15,  16. 
The  acceptance  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  his  gospel  by  the  Gentiles 
stirred  up  the  jealousy  of  the  Jews.  To  provoke  to  jealousy  is  in 
Greek  one  word,  a  verb,  so  rendered  in  Rom.  10  :  19;  i  Cor.  10: 
22  ;  but  in  Rom.  1 1  :  14  it  is  rendered  provoke  to  emulation.  In 
Rom.  10  :  19  it  is  commonly  taken  in  a  bad  sense,  as  an  awakening 
of  the  malignant  passions.  In  i  Cor.  10:  22  where  it  is  spoken  of 
the  Lord  it  refers  to  the  pursuit  of  such  a  course  as  was  suited  to 
excite  the  just  and  sore  displeasure  of  God.  But  in  this  place 
(and  in  v.  14)  many  take  it  in  a  good  sense,  as  awakening  a  desire 
to  secure,  as  the  Gentiles  had  done,  the  blessings  of  the  gospel. 
Jealousy  is  commonly  the  rage  of  a  man  or  woman ;  but  when  a 
virtuous  woman  fears  she  has  not  the  love  and  confidence  of  her 
good  husband,  then  her  jealousy  may  take  the  direction  of  unu- 
sual zeal  and  effort  to  deserve  and  to  win  his  affections  and  entire 
approbation.  This  is  probably  the  sense  of  the  verb  here  and  in 
v.  14.  But  how  did  the  rejection  of  the  gospel  by  the  Jews  pro- 
mote the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles  ?  The  answer  is  i.  It  gave  the 
preachers  of  God's  word  great  encouragement  to  labor  among  the 
Gentiles,  who  were  not  so  utterly  prejudiced.  2.  It  prevented 
the  judaizers  in  the  primitive  church  from  having  the  power  to 
bring  in  the  law  of  Moses,  as  many  were  disposed  to  do,  and  re- 
quire circumcision  etc.  to  be  observed  by  Gentile  converts. 

12.  Notv  if  the  fall  of  tJicm  be  the  riches  of  the  world,  and  the  di- 
minishing of  them,  the  riches  of  the  Gentiles  :  how  much  more  their  ful- 
ness. Fall,  as  in  V.  1 1 .  Riches,  the  same  in  both  clauses  of  the  verse, 
meaning  the  means  of  rich  blessings.  World,  the  word  so  rendered 
in  Rom.  4 :  13,  on  which  see  above.  Diminishing,  it  occurs  but  twice  ; 
in  the  other  place  rendered  fault,  i  Cor.  6  :  7.  That  rendering 
would  suit  very  well  here,  expressing  the  parallelism  with  fall.  But 
if  it  is  to  be  taken  in  opposition  to  fullness,  the  authorized  version 
may  as  well  be  followed,  for  the  word  may  mean  an  inferior  state  or 
a  worse  condition.  Fullness,  the  common  rendering  of  the  Greek 
word,  as  the  fullness  of  time,  the  fullness  of  God,  the  fullness  of 
the  blessing,  Romans  15  :  29  ;  Gal.  4:4;  Eph.  3  :  19.  In  verse  25 
below  it  is  applied  to  the  Gentiles,  as,  here  it  is  to  the  Jews.  Three 
explanations  of  the  word  are  offered :  i.  Some  think  it  means  that 
which  fills  up  the  intervening  space.  It  is  used  in  this  sense  in 
Matt.  9  :  16 ;  Mark  2:21;  for  that  which  is  put  in  to  fill  up  a  rent  in 
a  garment.  2.  Some  think  it  here  means  a  great  multitude,  a  vast 
number  as  i  Cor.  10:  26,  28;  where  it  means  the  vast  number  of 
things  which  are  on  the  earth.  3.  The  best  explanation  of  the 
word  in  this  connection  is  that  it  means  all  comprehended  in  the 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  13,  14.]      THE  ROMANS.  541 

divine  purpose,  just  as  the  fullness  of  time  in  Gal.  4  :  4  means  all 
the  days  embraced  in  the  divine  purpose,  touching  that  matter. 
So  the  time  had  come  wherein  God  had  determined  to  brins:  his 
Son  into  the  world.  Thus  when  all  the  chosen  seed  of  Jacob 
shall  be  brought  in,  even  the  fullness  thereof,  it  will  be  a  blessing 
to  the  Gentiles  far  greater  than  the  temporary  rejection  of  the 
Jews :  though  even  that  sad  event  has  been  overruled  by  God  and 
has  become  the  occasion  of  rich  spiritual  advantages  to  the  world. 

13.  For  I  speak  to  you  Gentiles,  inasmuch  as  I  am  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  I  magnify  mine  office.  Paul  did  not  mean  to  say  that  he 
had  no  authority  or  desire  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  his  country- 
men ;  for  he  did  so  often.  But  he  meant  to  say  that  he  had  a 
special  call  and  charge  from  God  to  carry  the  glad  news  of  salva- 
tion to  the  nations.  This  was  his  main  work,  announced  to  him 
early  in  his  Christian  life,  revealed  afterwards  and  often  asserted. 
Compare  Acts  9:  15  ;  13:2,3;  14:26;  22:21;  Eph.  3  : 7,  8,  ;  i 
Tim.  2:7;  2  Tim.  i  :  1 1  ;  Heb.  5  :  4.  Paul  here  says  that  his 
ministry  was  specially  to  the  Gentiles,  but  that  did  in  no  wise 
hinder  the  conversion  of  the  Jews.  The  more  Gentiles  converted, 
the  better  for  well  disposed  Jews.  The  bringing  in  of  the  Gentiles 
proved  the  divine  mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  in  two  ways — ■ 
I.  It  showed  the  gospel  to  be  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  ;  2. 
It  fulfilled  the  predictions  of  the  prophets.  The  conversion  of  the 
Jews  would  in  like  manner  have  no  bad  effect  on  the  Gentiles,  but 
would  promote  their  spiritual  interests.  So  that  all  animosity 
between  Jews  and  Gentiles  should  cease.  They  should  rejoice  at  the 
conversion  of  men,  whoever  they  may  be.  Magnify,  so  rendered  no 
where  else,  several  times  honor,  more  commonly  glorify.  We  may 
exalt  an  office  by  commending  it,  by  bestowing  just  praise  upon 
it,  or  by  so  devoting  our  energies  to  the  fulfilling  of  its  duties  that 
it  shall  become  great  in  fact  as  well  as  in  the  eyes  of  others. 
Office,  so  rendered  here  only,  sometimes  service,  more  commonly 
ministry, 

14.  If  by  any  tneans  I  may  provoke  to  emulation  thern  which  are 
7ny  flesh,  and  might  save  some  of  them.  On  provoking  to  emulation 
see  above  on  v.  11,  where  the  same  verb  is  rendered  provoke 
to  jealousy.  My  flesh,  my  kindred  according  to  the  flesh.  All 
Paul's  labors  aimed  at  the  salVation  of  men,  even  of  the  most  bitter 
opposers  ;  and  though  his  special  call  was  to  labor  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, he  never  forgot  to  do  what  he  could  do  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Jews.  The  two  objects  were  not  hostile  to  each  other.  The 
salvation  of  the  Gentiles  did  not  obstruct,  but  promoted  the  salva- 
tion of  the  Jews ;  and  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  would  be  the 
signal  for  the  conversion  of  all  nations. 


542  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  15,  i6. 

15.  For  if  the  casting  away  of  them  be  the  reconciling  of  the  world, 
tvhat  shall  the  receiving  of  them  be,  bnt  life  from  the  dead?  The 
word  rendered  casting  away  is  in  Acts  27  :  22  rendered  loss.  The 
cognate  verb  is  rendered  cast  away,  Mark  10:50;  Heb.  10:35. 
Beyond  doubt  it  refers  to  that  rejection  which  was  neither  total 
nor  final,  but  which  for  a  time  gave  the  Gentiles  the  greatest 
prominence  in  the  church.  World,  as  in  v.  12.  Reconciling,  the 
word  commonly  so  rendered  ;  it  cannot  point  to  atonement,  as  in 
Rom.  5:11  or  the  cause  of  reconciliation,  but  to  the  means,  by 
which  God  and  the  Gentiles  were  made  to  be  at  one.  Receiving, 
here  only,  well  rendered.  Life  from  the  dead,  a  resurrection,  that 
is  a  change  which  like  a  resurrection  imparts  life  to  the  dead. 
This  life  from  the  dead  is  to  the  Gentiles.  And  so  this  verse  is  but 
a  repetition  in  other  words  of  what  Paul  had  said  in  v.  12.  From 
the  fipfure  of  a  resurrection  some  learn  no  more  than  that  the  con- 
version  of  the  Jews  will  be  a  very  joyful  event,  but  there  is  no 
objection  to  including  the  idea  that  it  will  greatly  illustrate  the 
power  of  God  in  raising  up  those  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins,  and  so  making  them  alive  unto  God.  Owen  of  Thrussing- 
ton  :  "  The  restoration  of  the  Jews  unto  God's  favor  will  occasion 
the  revival  and  spread  of  true  religion  through  the  whole  world. 
This  is  clearly  the  meaning."  Hodge  :  "  The  conversion  of  the 
Jews  will  be  attended  with  the  most  glorious  consequences  for  the 
whole  world."  It  is  but  seldom  that  we  meet  a  prophecy,  yet 
unfulfilled,  so  clear  and  unmistakable  as  this. 

16.  For  if  the  first  frtiit  be  holy,  the  lump  is  also  holy  .•  and  if  the 
root  be  holy,  so  are  tlie  branches.  The  connection  of  this  with  pre- 
ceding verses  is  clear.  The  apostle  had  spoken  of  the  future  con- 
version of  the  Jews  as  an  event  of  great  importance  and  rightly 
to  be  expected.  He  now  gives  a  reason  why  it  was  to  be 
expected,  viz  :  God's  dealings  with  that  people  of  old  as  well  as  of 
late.  He  had  made  many  of  their  forefathers  and  in  fact  many  of 
the  then  existing  generation  the  subjects  of  his  saving  grace.  All 
these  were*the  first  fruit,  and  no  more  ;  the  pledge  and  earnest 
of  what  should  yet  be,  for  the  harvest  of  the  earth  should  yet  be 
gathered.  Stuart  and  others  prefer  to  make  the  first  fruits  refer 
to  the  portion  of  dough  (Num.  15  :  20)  which  was  holy  unto  the 
Lord.  There  is  no  objection  to  this  explanation.  It  was  a  first 
fruit  also.  In  i  Cor.  5  :  6,'j  ;  Gal.  5  :  9  the  word  rendered  lump 
refers  to  the  mass  of  kneaded  and  leavened  dough.  But  it  may 
be  applied  to  the  bulk  of  any  thing.  In  Rom.  9 :  2  the  mass  of 
fallen  men  are  called  a  lump.  By  the  root  some  understood  the 
early  fathers  of  the  Jewish  people,  and  for  proof  refer  to  Paul's 
own  exposition  given  in  subsequent  verses,  especially  in  verse  28 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  17-20.]       THE  ROMANS.  543 

where  he  expressly  speaks  of  the  fathers.  But  every  pious 
Israelite,  whose  descendants  shall  be  alive  when  the  latter  day 
glory  dawns,  may  so  far  be  called  the  holy  root  of  the  people  then 
to  be  gathered  in,  and  made  holy,  as  branches  of  that  pious  stock 
from  which  they  shall  have  sprung.  Paul's  argument  is  that  in 
the  piety  and  grace  granted  to  Jews  already  God  has  given  a 
pledge  of  the  future  conversion  of  the  body  of  that  people. 

17.  And  if  some  of  the  branches  be  broken  off,  and  thou,  being  a 
wild  olive  tree,  wert  graffed  in  among  tJiem,  and  with  them  partakest 
of  the  root  and  fatness  of  the  olive  tree.  It  is  not  easy  to  interpret 
so  highly  figurative  portions  of  scripture  without  over-straining 
them.  The  general  conception  is  clear.  If  we  would  rest  satisfied 
with  that,  there  would  be  no  difficulty.  First,  certain  branches 
are  broken  off — certain  Jews  for  their  sins  are  rejected — being 
wholly  severed  from  the  true  church  of  God,  which  has  its  per- 
petuity in  Christ.  Then,  some  people,  hitherto  alien  from  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel,  and  wholly  diverse  from  it,  were  brought 
into  union  with  Christ's  church,  as  if  a  wild  olive  were  ingrafted 
into  a  good  olive,  and  so  derived  sap  and  nourishment  from  it. 
Tholuck  and  others  have  collected  some  curious  testimonies  to 
shew  that  the  law  of  ingrafting  whereby  the  scion  gets  only  life 
and  nourishment  from  the  stock,  but  continues  to  be  barren,  or 
productive  of  only  the  kind  of  fruit  it  had  borne  before,  is  in  the 
case  of  the  olive  reversed,  so  that  the  scion  bears  the  kind  of  fruit 
natural  to  the  stock.  Were  these  testimonies  sufficient,  then 
indeed  we  could  hardly  press  too  far  the  figure  of  our  apostle. 
But  such  a  remarkable  exception  to  the  laws  of  nature,  as  evinced 
in  fruit  trees  all  over  the  world,  needs  confirmation,  before  build- 
ing an  interpretation  upon  it. 

18.  Boast  not  against  the  branches.  But  if  thou  boast,  thou  bear  est 
not  the  root,  but  the  root  thee.  Boast  not  against  the  branches,  that 
is  the  branches  that  were  broken  off.  If  thou  hadst  had  thy  just 
deserts,  thou  wouldst  have  been  withered  too.  God's  sovereign 
and  unmerited  favor  has  made  the  difference.  The  last  clause  of 
the  verse  is  elliptical,  but  the  ellipsis  is  easily  supplied.  The  word 
remember  after  boast  would  relieve  it  of  all  want  of  conformity 
to  English  idiom. 

19.  Thou  wilt  say  then.  The  branches  zvere  broken  off,  that  I  might 
be  graffed  in.  The  fact  here  stated  is  indisputable.  But  the  tone 
and  connection  show  that  it  is  spoken,  or  might  be  spoken  in  self- 
conceit.  There  is  no  room  for  boasting  exultation,  but  much 
cause  for  humility,  gratitude  and  godly  fear.  It  was  no  goodness 
in  the  Gentiles,  that  caused  them  to  be  called  and  saved. 

20.  Well ;  because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  off,  and  thou  stand- 


544  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XI.,  vs.  21,  22. 

est  by  faith.  Be  not  high-minded,  but  fear.  Well,  equivalent  to  this, 
The  fact  is  as  thou  hast  stated,  or  It  is  undeniably  so.  The  same 
word  is  so  used  in  Mark  12  :  32  ;  John  13  :  13.  Peshito  :  Very 
true.  But  remember  it  was  not  thy  superior  merit,  no,  nor  thy 
merit  at  all,  that  caused  Israel  to  be  broken  off,  but  only  their  un- 
belief in  rejecting  their  own  prophets,  and  above  all  in  rejecting 
the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Messiah.  Thy  own  standing,  or  continued 
membership  in  God's  church,  is  by  faith,  not  by  thy  own  virtues 
or  merits.  By  believing  in  Christ  thou  confessest  that  all  thy 
righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags,  and  that  but  for  God's  great 
love  thou  wouldest  be  for  ever  undone.  Therefore  be  not  high- 
minded,  the  rendering  is  literal  to  an  unusual  degree.  We  have 
the  same  verb  in  i  Tim.  6:17.  It  means  Be  not  proud,  or  arro- 
gant ;  \iw\.  fear.  "  Happy  is  the  man  that  feareth  always,"  Pr.  28  : 
14.  There  is  a  slavish  fear  that  hath  torment;  there  is  a  salutary 
fear  that  is  a  fountain  of  life  to  depart  from  the  snares  of  death, 
I  John  4:18;  Pr.  14  :  27.  Compare  Heb.  3  :  12  ;  4  :  i,  13  ;  12:15 
and  parallel  places. 

2 1 .  For  if  God  spared  not  the  natural  branches,  take  heed  lest  he 
spare  not  thee.  The  great  mass  of  the  Gentile  converts  in  Paul's 
day  had  no  pious  ancestry  to  look  back  upon.  Most  of  them  did 
not  know  that  there  had  ever  been  a  prayer  lodged  for  them  in 
heaven  by  a  pious  progenitor.  But  the  Jews  could  look  back  for 
many  long  centuries  to  men  whom  God  had  publicly  accepted, 
and  say,  These  were  our  forefathers.  If  the  Jews  were  rejected, 
much  more  may  the  Gentiles  be ;  for  God's  love  once  settling  on 
a  people  is  slow  to  forsake  them  and  seek  new  objects. 

22.  Behold  therefore  the  goodness  and  severity  of  God :  on  them 
which  fell,  severity ;  but  toivard  thee,  goodness,  if  thou  continue  in  hts 
goodness  :  othcrtvise  thou  also  sJialt  be  cut  off.  Goodness,  the  same 
word  three  times  in  this  one  verse.  We  met  it  in  Rom.  2  :  4,  on 
which  see  above.  Elsewhere  it  is  once  rendered  gentleness,  four 
times  kindness.  It  occurs  in  Paul's  epistles  only.  Peshito  and 
Locke  :  benignity  ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan  and  Stuart :  kind- 
ness ;  severity,  twice  in  this  verse  ;  nowhere  else  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament ;  literally  a  cutting  ofT,  then  decisiveness,  and  so  severity. 
Wiclif:  fersness  ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  :  rigorousness  ; 
Locke :  rigor.  On  them  xvhich  fell,  severity,  not  harshness,  but  a 
righteous  decisiveness,  a  just,  though  an  awful  retribution.  Their 
sins,  especially  their  unbelief  in  rejecting  Messiah,  fully  justified 
everything  God  had  done.  Their  rejection  was  condign.  But 
to  the  believing  Gentile  these  acts  of  sovereignty  marked  great 
goodness,  even  a  saving  goodness,  if  he  did  liot  abuse  it,  but  by 
faith  and  humility  continued  in  the  enjoyment  of  it.     Otherwise 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  23,  24.]         THE  ROMANS.  545 

he  would  be  rejected  as  the  Jew  had  been.  Cut  off,  more  exactly 
cut  down,  or  hewn  down,  as  in  Matt.  3  :  10;  7  :  19 ;  Luke  3:9; 
13  :  7,  9.  Sin,  in  particular  unbelief  will  ruin  any  man,  whatever 
may  have  been  his  lineage  or  his  history. 

23.  And  they  also,  if  they  abide  not  still  in  U7ibelief,  shall  be  graffed 
in  :  for  God  is  able  to  graff  them  in  again.  Ever  since  the  days  of 
Paul,  whenever  an  Israelite  has  given  up  his  wicked  unbelief  and 
taken  upon  him  the  yoke  of  Messiah  he  has  been  as  readily  ac- 
cepted, as  any  Gentile.  And  at  this  day  there  are  living  thous- 
ands of  Israelites,  who  believe  in  Jesus  and  are  accepted  of  God. 
Able,  this  word  is  often  used  to  express  ability  and  to  suggest 
readiness  to  do  a  thing  ;  see  Rom.  4:21;  14  :  4 ;  2  Cor.  9:8)2 
Tim.  I  :  12. 

24.  For  if  thou  wert  cut  out  of  the  olive  tree  which  is  wild  by  nature, 
and  wert  graffed  contrary  to  nature  into  a  good  olive  tree  ;  how  much 
tnore  shall  these,  which  be  the  natural  branches,  be  graffed  into  their 
own  olive  tree  f  This  is  a  summing  up  of  the  argument  he  had 
been  conducting  for  several  verses.  There  is  no  new  matter  in  it. 
Stuart :  "  If  God  had  mercy  on  Gentiles,  who  were  outcasts 
from  his  favor  and  strangers  to  the  covenant  of  his  promise,  shall 
he  not  have  mercy  on  the  people  whom  he  has  always  distin- 
guished as  being  peculiarly  his  own,  by  the  bestowment  of  many 
important  privileges  and  advantages  upon  them  ?  " 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  Ministers  should  not  state  the  doctrines  and  facts  of  the  gos- 
pel with  needless  harshness;  but,  in  announcing  the  most  awful 
truths  and  judgments,  should  show  the  holy,  just  and  wise  ends 
of  God  in  sending  wrath  upon  any  of  the  race,  v.  11.  Ministers 
have  a  call  to  answer  all  fair  or  reasonable  objections  to  their  doc- 
trines, but  let  them  not  reprove  a  scorner.  It  is  useless.  It  is  not 
fidelity  to  state  any  doctrine  of  scripture  so  as  to  give  needless 
offence.  The  human  heart  hates  the  truth  very  dreadfully  and  we 
ought  not  to  present  it  in  a  distorted  manner. 

2.  It  is  amazing  wisdom,  power  and  grace  that  bring  good 
out  of  evil,  salvation  to  some  by  the  rejection  of  others,  vs.  11,  14. 

3.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  ministerial  address  and  so  to 
state  things,  that  if  men  shall  misunderstand  or  misuse  them,  the 
fault  shall  be  theirs,  not  ours.  Chalmers  :  "  One  of  Paul's  maxims 
was,  that,  for  the  sake  of  the  gospel,  he  should  be  all  things  to  all 
men  ;  and,  more  especially,  that  to  the  Jew  he  should  be  as  a  Jew. 
No  one  could  practise  with  greater  skill  or. delicacy  than  he  did, 
the  art   of  conciliating   those   whom   he  addressed — though,  of 

35 


546  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XI.,  vs.  11-28. 

course,  he  only  carried  this  so  far  as  truth  and  principle  would 
let  him." 

4.  Blessed  be  God,  the  salvation  of  one  man  in  no  way  hinders 
the  salvation  of  others,  v.  1 1.  If  sinners  of  the  Gentiles  are  brought 
to  Christ,  let  the  Jews  be  stirred  up  to  take  hold  of  the  great  sal- 
vation too.  For  a  long  time  the  Jews  retained  and  preserved  the 
true  religion  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  Now  of  a  long  time  the 
Gentiles  only,  in  large  numbers,  have  possessed  the  true  faith  for 
the  good  of  their  own  posterity,  and  for  the  final  conversion  of  the 
Jews. 

5.  We  have  hitherto  looked  at  Paul  in  various  characters. 
Here  we  are  called  to  contemplate  him  as  a  prophet,  vs.  12,  15. 
Nor  is  this  the  only  place  where  he  has  predicted  great  events, 
2  Thess.  2  :  3-5.  His  prophetical  teachings  respecting  the  resur- 
rection and  the  judgment-day  are  also  very  clear. 

6.  A  facility  for  direct  and  earnest  personal  address  to  indi- 
viduals and  classes  is  a  great  talent,  and  ought  to  be  earnestly 
sought  after,  v.  13  compared  with  Acts  26  :  2-29  and  many  other 
places.  Platitudes  and  generalities  impress  no  one.  "  Deceit  lies 
in  generals."  Let  us  arouse  men  by  the  most  solemn,  direct  and 
tender  appeals.  When  everlasting  things  depend  on  our  course 
here,  and  may  depend  on  a  word  fitly  spoken,  let  us  constantly 
pray  for  gifts  and  graces  to  make  us  wise  in  winning  souls. 

7.  Do  we  make  our  office  in  the  church  to  be  respected  by 
men  ?  do  we  magnify  our  calling?  v.  13.  Many  have  a  great  de- 
sire to  obtain  a  high  office  in  the  church,  and  after  they  get  it,  they 
do  not  honor  their  office,  nor  does  it  honor  them.  It  is  better  to 
hold  the  humblest  station  and  adorn  it,  than  to  fill  the  highest 
and  disgrace  it.  High  station  is  not  essential  to  extensive  use- 
fulness. 

8.  It  is  a  great  honor  to  be  the  means  of  saving  even  one  soul. 
Paul  was  willing  to  use  any  means,  if  he  might  save  some,  v.  14.  In 
this  matter  his  judgment  and  his  heart  were  both  right.  He  is 
the  best  fisherman  who  catches  the  most  fish.  He  is  the  best 
hunter  who  brings  in  the  most  game.  He  is  the  wisest  preacher 
who  wins  the  most  souls.  If  all  the  church  of  God  were  animated 
with  a  true  zeal  and  a  right  spirit  surely  many  more  souls  would 
be  converted.  True,  the  rash,  fiery,  ignorant  zeal  of  some  has 
brought  great  reproach  on  proper  efforts  to  save  men's  souls ;  but 
the  folly  of  a  few  cannot  justify  the  many  in  their  languor  or  in- 
difference to  the  salvation  of  men. 

9.  Though  the  severity  of  God,  when  his  patience  is  exhausted, 
is  truly  terrible,  yet  his  mercy  transcends  all  names  and  forms  of 
kindness,  vs.  16,  28.     Though  he  visits  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  17-24-]       THE  ROMANS.  $47 

upon  the  children  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation,  yet  he  shews 
mercy  to  thousands  of  generations  of  them  that  love  him  and  keep 
his  commandments.  This  is  not  because  of  any  merit  in  pious 
ancestors,  but  wholly  of  the  constancy  of  God's  love  in  keeping 
covenant  with  his  chosen.  Men  may  with  awful  and  daring  wicked- 
ness renounce  the  God  of  their  fathers  and  so  bring  on  themselves 
swift  destruction.  But  God  never  casts  off  the  descendants  of 
those  who  are  in  covenant  with  him  till  they  first  reject  him.  Nay 
oftentimes  generations  of  wicked  men  intervene,  and  God  remem- 
bers his  covenant  of  old,  and  so  brings  back  the  long  lost  children, 
Deut.  7:8;  10  :  15  ;  Acts  2  :  39. 

10.  None,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  have  in  themselves  anything 
whereof  to  glory,  vs.  17,  18.  Calvin:  "The  Gentiles  could  not 
contend  with  the  Jews  respecting  the  excellency  of  their  race 
without  contending  with  Abraham  himself;  which  would  have 
been  extremely  unbecoming,  since  he  was  like  a  root  by  which 
they  were  borne  and  nourished.  As  unreasonable  as  it  would  be 
for  the  branches  to  boast  against  the  root,  so  unreasonable  would 
it  have  been  for  the  Gentiles  to  glory  against  the  Jews."  We 
ought  to  take  great  pains  to  cultivate  right  views  of  our  sinful  and 
helpless  estate  and  never  fail  to  remember  that  if  there  is  any  dif- 
ference between  us  and  others  it  is  entirely  owing  to  the  rich 
and  unmerited  favor  of  God  bestowed  in  a  manner  wholly  sov- 
ereign. 

11.  The  church  of  God  is  one  and  not  many.  She  is  the  same 
in  all  ages  and  under  all  dispensations,  vs.  17-24.  We  have  the 
same  true  old  olive  stock  from  Adam  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
Various  indeed  are  her  aspects  and  the  degrees  of  lustre  with 
which  she  shines  ;  but  she  is  still  the  same.  Christ  never  had  but 
one  spouse  and  she  was  his  beloved.  Uniformity  is  not  unity  nor 
is  it  essential  thereto. 

12.  Unbelief  is  a  dreadful  sin  in  all  its  aspects  and  in  all  its  con- 
sequences, vs.  19,  20.  It  has  been  the  bane  of  every  good  thing 
since  the  world  began.  It  was  an  element  in  the  sin  of  our  first 
parents.  It  unchurched  the  Jewish  nation  and  is  now  bringing 
swift  destruction  on  great  multitudes.  No  plausible  profession, 
no  decent  exterior,  no  fair  morality,  no  costly  ritual  can  ever  save 
a  poor  soul  on  which  unbelief  has  taken  fast  hold.  It  is  easy  for 
men  to  be  excessively  afraid  of  poverty,  of  reproach  or  of  bodily 
pain;  but  no  man  was  ever  too  much  afraid  of  unbelief. 

13.  No  exhortation  that  God  has  ever  given  is  more  uniformly 
seasonable  to  men  in  every  situation  of  life  chan  that  deduced  by 
Paul  from  God's  dealings  with  the  Jews  :  Be  not  high-minded,  but 
fear,  v.  20.     The  fear  here  commended  is  not  the  terror  of  dismay, 


548  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XL,  vs.  17-22. 

nor  the  offspring  of  unbelief,  but  that  pious  self-distrust  which 
results  from  the  knowledge  of  ourselves  and  of  the  Most  High. 
Chrysostom  :  "The  thing  is  not  matter  of  nature,  but  of  belief 
and  unbelief  .  .  Haughtiness  genders  a  contempt  and  listless- 
ness."  Brown  :  "  Pride  and  haughtiness  of  spirit  is  altogether 
unbeseeming  any  who  profess  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  and  yet  the 
greater  their  profession  be,  if  there  be  not  a  true  and  lively  faith 
at  the  root,  the  greater  will  the  pride  of  their  heart  be." 

14.  Very  glorious  and  awful  is  the  sovereignty  of  God  in  pro- 
viding no  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  for  fallen  angels,  but  in  making 
known  a  way  of  life  to  perishing  men  :  and  not  to  all  men  at  once, 
but  as  he  has  seen  fit  to  one  nation  and  not  another :  sometimes 
exercising  the  awful  prerogative  of  taking  the  truth  from  one 
people,  who  long  have  known  it,  and  giving  it  to  another,  who 
had  known  it  not,  vs.  17-21.  Pool :  "  If  God  proceeded  with  so 
much  severity  against  his  ancient  people  the  Jews,  you  Gentiles 
may  in  reason  expect  as  great  severity,  if  you  take  not  heed  to 
yourselves,  and  to  your  standing." 

15.  How  marvellously  both  in  his  word  and  in  his  ways  hath 
God  displayed  both  goodness  and  severity,  setting  one  over 
against  the  other  in  such  a  way  that  none  need  despair,  and  none 
may  presume,  v.  22.  O,  how  terrible  is  that  severity  !  How  im- 
mense and  adorable  is  that  goodness  !  But  how  amazingly  is  that 
severity  outstripped  by  the  goodness.  Theodoret  :  "  For  if, 
whilst  the  majority  disbelieved,  such  of  them  as  did  believe  con- 
veyed to  the  Gentiles  the  riches  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  it  is 
clear,  that  supposing  all  to  have  believed,  they  would  have  be- 
come the  authors  of  still  greater  blessings  to  the  whole  human 
race.  For  all  would  have  more  readily  believed,  if  they,  in  place 
of  denying,  had  preached  the  truth  along  with  us." 

16.  No  beginnings  in  a  religious  way  whether  among  persons 
or  communities,  however  bright  and  promising  they  may  be,  can 
at  all  supersede  the  necessity  of  persevering  in  faith  and  upright- 
ness, V.  22.  Chrysostom  :  "  For  the  blessings  now  yours  will  not 
continue  immovably  so,  if  you  are  careless  and  indolent,  just  as 
little  as  their  evils  will  to  them,  if  they  reform.  For  thou  also,  he 
says,  shalt  be  cut  off,  unless  thou  continuest  in  the  faith." 
Hodge  :  "  The  security  of  every  individual  Christian  is  suspended 
on  his  continuing  in  faith  and  holy  obedience ;  which  is  indeed 
rendered  certain  by  the  purpose  and  promise  of  God." 

17.  If  ministers  of  the  Gospel  would  be  faithful  to  the  souls 
committed  to  their  charge,  and  save  them  from  supineness  and 
despair,  they  must  present  both  rousing  and  consolatory  truths, 
v.  22.     It  is  no  easy  work  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth  and 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  1 1-24.]        THE  R  O  MA  N  S .  549 

give  to  each  his  portion  in  due  season.  If  men  are  not  soundly 
troubled  it  is  probable  they  will  not  be  soundly  converted.  If  all 
religious  experience  is  of  a  highly  cheerful  character,  there  will 
pretty  certainly  be  a  lack  of  sobriety  and  humility.  If  we  have 
no  acquaintance  with  the  depths  to  which  we  have  sunk,  it  will 
not  be  easy  for  us  to  estimate  the  heights  to  which  divine  grace 
can  raise  us.     He  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted. 

18.  It  is  great,  yea  it  is  infinite  grace  that  seeks  wanderers 
from  the  path  of  duty  and  brings  them  home  to  God  and  gives 
them  good  hope  through  grace,  and  raises  them  to  the  full  and 
everlasting  enjoyment  of  God  in  heaven,  v.  23. 

19.  It  would  mightily  strengthen  the  faith  of  all  God's  people 
if  they  would  look  back  and  survey  the  course  of  Providence 
towards  ancient  believers  and  nations,  v.  24.  Not  a  page  of 
the  history  of  God's  Providence  but  teaches  some  truth  instruc- 
tive and  salutary.  Blessed  is  he  that  learns  the  lessons  thus  taught 
him. 

20.  What  an  amazing  study  is  presented  to  us  in  the  history 
of  the  Jews  from  the  calling  of  Abraham  to  this  day,  vs.  11-24. 
What  infinite  kindnesses  have  been  showered  upon  them  !  What 
strange  reverses  in  their  national  state !  How  bright  their  star 
has  sometimes  shone !  Again,  how  dismal  their  prospects  have 
been  ?  Doddridge :  "  Let  us  cherish  the  most  benevolent  and 
tender  disposition  towards  the  house  of  Israel,  to  whose  spiritual 
privileges  we  are  raised  ;  and  let  us  earnestly  pray  that  they  may 
be  awakened  to  emulation ;  especially  as  their  fullness  is  to  be  the 
riches  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the  receiving  them  again,  as  life  from 
the  dead  to  the  languishing  and  decayed  church."  Why  is  it  that 
Jewish  '  hopes  of  the  Messiah  on  whom  they  still  calculate  as  a 
Prince  and  Deliverer  yet  to  come,  other  than  Jesus  Christ  the 
only  Son  of  God,  do  not  every  year  become  more  languid  and  as 
all  the  periods  of  their  computation  run  out,  do  not  finally  ex- 
pire ?' .  Oh  that  it  might  once  be.  This  wonderful  people  shall 
yet  in  a  body  bow  their  necks  and  own  Messiah  ;  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it  by  many  prophets ;  by  Paul  in  particular 
in  this  chapter.  It  has  brought  no  blessing  on  the  Gentiles  that 
they  have  despised  and  persecuted  the  Jews.  Let  all  good  men 
be  kind  to  them,  and  compassionate  their  sad  condition,  and  pray 
that  their  eyes  may  be  opened.  This  great  event  is  so  abundantly 
predicted  that  no  sober  interpretation  of  prophecy  will  allow  us 
to  expect  any  thing  less.  Whether  the  Jews  shall  return  to  Pal- 
estine, and  there  form  a  body  politic  and  a  national  church,  is  a 
matter,  concerning  which  there  is  a  wide  difference  of  opinion, 
which  will  probably  continue  till  the  event  shall  decide  the  mat- 


550  EPISTLE.  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  11-24. 

ter.     But  it  is  impossible  to  believe  the  prophets,  and  not  expect 
the  conversion  of  this  people  to  Christ.     It  shall  surely  be. 

"  The  wandering  sons  of  Heber,  purged  from  dross. 
With  loud  laments  shall  cluster  round  the  cross; 
In  deep  and  willing  penitence  bow  down. 
And  to  their  Messiah  yield  the  crown — 
And  o'er  the  joyful  hills  of  Palestine 
The  holy  light  of  God  again  shall  shine." 

Let  Christians  never  cease  to  pray  that  Jewish  prejudice  may 
speedily  give  place  to  Christian  hope,  and  peace  in  believing  on 
Jesus. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

VERSES  25-36. 

SAME  SUBJECT  CONTINUED.  ISRAEL  SHALL  YET 
BE  SAVED.  GOD'S  PURPOSES  FIXED  AND  HIS 
WAYS  INSCRUTABLE. 


25  For  I  would  not,  brethren,  that  ye  should  be  ignorant  of  this  mystery,  lest 
ye  should  be  wise  in  your  own  conceits,  that  blindness  in  part  is  happened  to  Israel, 
until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in. 

26  And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved  :  as  it  is  written.  There  shall  come  out  of 
Sion  the  Deliverer,  and  shall  turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob : 

27  For  this  is  my  covenant  unto  them,  when  I  shall  take  away  their  sins. 

28  As  concerning  the  gospel,  they  are  enemies  for  your  sakes  :  but  as  touching 
the  election,  they  are  beloved  for  the  fathers'  sakes. 

29  For  the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  repentance. 

30  For  as  ye  in  times  past  have  not  believed  God,  yet  have  now  obtained  mercy 
through  their  unbelief: 

3 1  Even  so  have  these  also  now  not  believed,  that  through  your  mercy  they 
also  may  obtain  mercy. 

32  For  God  hath  concluded  them  all  in  unbelief,  that  he  might  have  mercy 
upon  all. 

33  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  ! 
how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out ! 

34  For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord  ?  or  who  hath  been  his 
counsellor  ?  • 

35  Or  who  hath  first  given  to  him,  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  unto  him 
again  ? 

36  For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him  are  all  things:  to  whom  be  glory 
for  ever.      Amen. 

(^  p:^  FOR  I  would  not,  brethren,  that  ye  should  be  ignorant  of  this 
LJtJ  t  mystery,  lest  ye  should  be  wise  in  your  own  conceits,  that  blind- 
ness in  part  is  happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be 
come  in.  Mystery,  a  word  that  occurs  nearly  thirty  times  in  the 
New  Testament  and  in  the  authorized  version  is  rendered  with 

(551) 


552  EPIS  TLE    TO         [Ch.  XL,  vs.  26,  27. 

entire  uniformity.  In  this  place  it  seems  to  mean  something 
wrapped  in  obscurity  but  capable  of  explanation.  The  rejection 
of  the  Jews  was  an  awfully  dark  event,  displaying  in  a  manner 
suited  to  humble  every  man  the  severity  and  sovereignty  of  God. 
But  it  is  capable  of  being  understood,  and  it  is  so  instructive  that 
Paul  would  not  have  the  Gentile  converts  ignorant  of  the  lessons 
it  teaches.  When  understood  aright,  it  is  very  well  suited  to  take 
the  self-conceit  out  of  men,  and  it  contains  an  awful  warning 
against  unbelief  The  blindness  here  spoken  of  is  the  same  as  that 
mentioned  in  v.  7.  The  noun  here  is  cognate  to  the  verb  there. 
This  blindness  was  not  to  all  Israel  but  only  to  a  part.  In  Mark 
3  :  5  the  same  word  is  rendered  hardness.  Fulness,  see  above  on 
V.  12.  It  seems  to  have  the  same  meaning  here  as  there.  It  will 
not  do  to  give  it  the  sense  of  the  mass  or  great  body  of  the  Gen- 
tiles; for  verses  12,  15  clearly  assert,  as  nearly  all  admit,  that  the 
conversion  of  the  Israelites  is  the  precursor  of  the  conversion  of 
all  nations ;  so  that  the  Gentiles  brought  into  Christ's  kingdom 
after  the  Jews  shall  generally  turn  to  God  will  be  far  more  numer- 
ous than  before,  and  the  great  change  in  Israelites  will  be  life  from 
the  dead  to  other  nations.  The  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  then  means 
the  whole  number  determined  on  by  God,  who  were  to  live  be- 
fore the  conversion  of  the  Jews.  The  learned  reader  is  aware 
that  this  verse  has  been  the  battle  field,  where  the  great  contro- 
versy of  the  XVI  and  XVII  centuries  respecting  Millenarianism 
was  conducted.  The  Millenarians  generally  took  the  ground  that 
the  passage  with  the  context  contains  a  prediction  of  the  future 
and  general  conversion  of  the  Jews.  In  this  they  were  so  far 
right,  though  they  pressed  this  matter  into  wrong  uses.  Their 
opponents  took  opposite  ground,  contending  that  all  that  was  pre- 
dicted was  that  the  door  of  mercy  should  still  be  kept  open  to  the 
Jews  and  that  many  of  them  should  return.  Those,  who  wish  to 
get  a  view  of  the  course  of  the  controversy,  may  consult  Bud- 
daeus.  Hodge  has  given  a  very  good  summary  of  the  argument 
in  favor  of  the  correct  interpretation.  Indeed  the  whole  context 
seems  conclusive. 

26.  A7id  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved:  as  it  is  written,  There  shall 
come  out  of  Sion  a  Deliverer,  and  shall  turn  away  ungodliness  front 
Jacob  : 

27.  For  this  is  my  covenant  unto  them,  when  I  shall  take  away  their 
sins. 

These  verses  contain  a  quotation  from  Isa.  59 :  20,  21,  a  very 
remarkable  prophecy  respecting  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  par- 
ticularly its  establishment  among  the  descendants  of  Jacob.  It 
was  exactly  pertinent  to  the  matter  in  hand.      Paul  was  proving 


Ch.  XI,  vs.  28,  29-]       THE  ROMANS.  553 

that  the  dark  cloud  which  was  hanging  over  the  Jewish  people 
should,  in  God's  own  time,  be  dispersed,  and  that  all  Israel  should 
be  saved.  He  cites  proof  from  a  prophet  whom  all  received  as 
speaking  by  inspiration  of  God.  There  is  a  difference  as  to  the 
meaning  of  '  all  Israel.'  Calvin  extends  it  to  all  the  people  of 
God.  If  this  be  the  correct  view,  we  may  understand  the  "  all " 
in  an  absolute  sense.  Then  '  all  Israel '  in  this  verse  embraces  all 
believers,  whatever  their  lineage  and  nationality  may  be  and  that 
to  the  end  of  time.  "  All  are  not  Israel,  which  are  of  Israel." 
"  He  is  a  Jew,  which  is  one  inwardly,"  Rom.  2  :  29 ;  9:6.  The 
other  view  makes  '  all  Israel '  to  mean  the  mass  of  the  Jewish 
nation.  In  that  case  the  word  all  must  be  taken  in  no  absolute 
sense,  as  it  simply  designates  the  great  body  of  Jacob's  descend- 
ants, who  shall  be  living  when  the  Jews  shall  turn  to  the  Lord  and 
accept  their  Messiah.  This  is  pretty  certainly  the  correct  view 
of  the  passage.  The  quotation  is  chiefly  in  the  very  words  of  the 
Septuagint,  omitting  one  or  two  particles,  and  in  v.  27  Paul  quotes 
with  a  slight  change  from  the  Septuagint  the  words  "  when  I  shall 
take  away  their  sins,"  as  found  in  Isa.  2y  :  9.  Some  however  think 
that  a  part  of  the  quotation  is  made  to  conform  to  Ps.  14:7.  The 
main  point  is  that  Paul  gives  the  sense  of  the  prophet,  when  he 
predicts  the  conversion  of  the  Jewish  people,  as  a  body  ;  a  con- 
version that  should  be  by  a  kinsman-Redeemer,  whose  blessed 
work  should  have  the  effect  of  removing  both  guilt  and  depravity, 
sin  and  ungodliness,  and  that  by  a  covenant,  ordered  in  all  things 
and  sure. 

28.  As  concerning  the  gospel  t\\&y  are  enemies  for  your  sakes ;  but 
as  touching  the  election,  they  are  beloved  for  the  fathers  sakes.  As 
concerning  the  gospel  means  that  so  far  as  the  gospel  now  preached 
is  concerned.  Enemies,  hostile  in  fact,  or  treated  as  enemies.  Both 
senses  correspond  with  facts ;  but  the  latter  best  suits  the  argu- 
ment, for  enemies  in  this  clause  is  in  antithesis  to  beloved  in  the- 
latter.  And  as  they  shall  be  brought  home  as  the  beloved  of  God, 
so  now  are  they,  for  their  sins,  treated  as  enemies.  For  your  sakeSy 
that  is  to  your  advantage,  or  that  the  gospel  might  have  free  course 
among  you.  The  same  idea  is  presented  in  vs.  12,  15.  Election,. 
must  be  taken  either  for  the  gracious  choice  of  God  as  in  v.  5,  or 
for  the  body  of  those  chosen,  as  in  v.  7.  In  either  way  we  finally 
reach  the  same  truths.  The  last  clause  of  this  verse  presents  the 
same  idea  as  that  in  v.  16. 

29.  For  the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  repentance. 
Gifts,  a  word  applied  to  spiritual  gifts,  or  miraculous  bestowments, 
and  also  to  the  saving  benefits  conferred  by  God,  see  Rom.  5  :  15,, 
16  ;  6  :  23.      Calling,  see  above  on  called,  Rom.    i  :  i,  6,  7  ;    8  :  28. 


554  EPIS  TLE   TO  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  30-32. 

God  granted  many  promises  and  benefits  to  the  Jews.  He  called 
Abraham  and  addressed  a  great  part  of  scripture  to  his  descend- 
ants :  he  selected  them  out  of  all  nations  to  be  in  the  matter  of  his 
worship  the  most  prominent  and  the  most  renowned  nation  in 
the  world.  In  making  and  renewing  his  covenant  with  their 
fathers  he  declared  it  should  have  a  long  course  to  run,  terminat- 
ing only  with  time,  Gen.  17:7;  Ps.  105:8-11.  The  Lord  is  not 
slack  concerning  his  promise.  His  counsel  it  shall  stand.  He  has 
no  regrets  for  anything  he  ever  said  or  did.  He  is  of  one  mind, 
and  who  can  turn  him  ?  The  word  rendered  without  repentance 
indicates  the  absence  of  all  change  of  purpose.  God  will  yet  do 
for  Jacob's  descendants  all  he  ever  promised  and  that  in  a  very 
glorious  manner.  Peshito :  God  is  not  changeable  in  his  free  gift 
and  calling. 

30.  For  as  ye  in  times  past  have  not  believed  God,  yet  have  now  ob- 
tained mercy  through  their  unbelief : 

31.  Even  so  have  these  also  now  not  believed,  that  through  your 
mercy  they  also  may  obtain  mercy.  Paul  is  still  illustrating  and  ex- 
plaining the  great  enigma  of  God's  dealings  with  the  Jews,  in 
their  rejection  that  he  might  bring  in  the  Gentiles,  and  the  con- 
version of  many  Gentiles  as  leading  to  the  final  conversion  of  the 
Jewish  nation.  Formerly  those,  who  were  now  Gentile  Chris- 
tians, were  atheists  and  infidels,  were  without  God  in  the  world, 
and  unbelievers.  But  when  the  Jews  rejected  Messiah,  God  re- 
jected them,  and  opened  a  wide  and  effectual  door  of  mercy  to 
the  Gentiles.  All  this  was  occasioned  by  Jewish  unbelief.  Pe- 
shito renders  v.  31  thus:  So  also  are  they  now  disobedient  to  the 
mercy  which  is  upon  you,  that  there  may  be  mercy  on  them  like- 
wise. But  the  authorized  version  is  better,  because  it  more  ex- 
actly gives  the  sense.  The  rejection  of  the  Jews  was  the  occasion 
of  salvation  coming  to  the  Gentiles.  So  the  mercy  received  by 
the  Gentiles  in  their  sound  conversion  shall  ultimately  lead  to  the 
salvation  of  the  Jews.  Abraham  and  his  descendants  were  the 
depositories  of  the  truth  for  long  centuries  till  the  kingdom  of 
God  came.  Then  the  Gentiles  became  the  conservators  of  the 
truth,  and  shall  so  continue  till  the  Jews  shall  own  Messiah. 

32.  For  God  hath  concluded  them  all  in  unbelief,  that  he  might 
have  mercy  upon  all.  Peshito :  For  God  hath  shut  up  all  men  in 
disobedience,  that  upon  all  men  he  might  have  mercy ;  Tyndale 
and  Cranmer :  God  hath  wrapped  all  nacyons  in  unbeleve,  that 
he  might  have  mercie  on  all.  Concluded,  so  rendered  in  Gal.  3  :  22  : 
but  in  Gal.  3 :  23  shut  up.  It  is  also  found  in  Luke  5  :  6  and  is 
rendered  inclosed,  meaning  caught  in  a  net.  So  all  men,  in  a  state 
of  nature  and  left  to  themselves,  are  caught,  are  inclosed  in  a  net 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  33,  34-]        THE  ROMANS.  555 

of  unbelief — a  sin  so  offensive  to  God  that  if  in  every  case  he  were 
to  punish  it  with  final  rejection  his  procedure  would  be  just.  So 
then  if  any,  Jew  or  Gentile,  shall  be  saved,  it  will,  it  must  be 
wholly  through  mercy.  That  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all,  that  is, 
upon  all  without  discrimination,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles ;  not 
upon  all  without  exception ;  for  then  all  would  actually  be  saved. 
But  all  who  are  saved  are  saved  by  mercy — by  mere  grace,  by 
the  unmerited  pity  of  God,  by  unbought  love. 

33.  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
God  !  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding 
out !  No  language  contains  a  better  rendering  of  this  verse  than 
that  given  above,  though  Stuart's  is  very  good :  O  the  boundless 
riches  and  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  How  unsearchable 
are  his  counsels,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out !  God's  knowledge 
is  his  perfect  intelligence  of  all  that  ever  is,  ever  was,  or  ever  shall 
be,  and  of  all  that  could  now  be,  or  could  heretofore  have  been,  or 
could  hereafter  be  on  any  conceivable  supposition.  His  wisdom, 
being  infinite  leads  him  to  choose  good  and  proper  ends,  also  fit 
and  appropriate  means  to  accomplish  his  ends,  judgments,  de- 
cisions, whether  punitive  or  gracious.  Ways,  acts  done  in  execu- 
tion of  his  decisions.  Adoring  humility  cannot  better  express  its 
pious  wonder  and  warm  gratitude  than  in  such  strains  as  are  here 
found.  Passages  somewhat  parallel  but  not  so  full  as  this  may  be 
found  in  Job  11  :  7-9;  Ps.  36:  6;  92:  5;  97:  2;  Eph.  3:  17-19; 
Col.  I  :  27.  The  key  to  the  exposition  of  this  and  the  remaining 
verses  of  this  chapter  is  that  they  are  the  conclusion  of  the 
argument  which  the  apostle  has  been  conducting  from  the 
17th  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  this  epistle  to  the  close  of  the 
3 2d  verse  of  this  chapter.  The  close  logical  connection  of  all 
these  great  and  vital  truths  terminating  with  that  of  the  glori- 
ous sovereignty  of  God  must  be  manifest  to  every  devout  and 
intelligent  student  of  God's  word,  and  is  fitly  brought  to  an  end 
by  an  outburst  of  admiring  and  adoring  gratitude.  The  things 
thus  presented  are  too  deep  to  be  sounded  by  the  line  of  human 
reason. 

34.  For  who  hath  hiown  the  mind  of  the  Lord  ?  or  who  hath  been 
his  cou7isellor  ?  These  clauses  do  not  seem  to  be  a  formal  quota- 
tion, and  yet  they  are  in  spirit  and  form  so  much  like  two  other 
passages  of  scripture  that  one  is  ready  to  think  that  one  or  both  of 
them  must  have  been  before  the  mind  of  the  apostle.  These  pas- 
sages are  Isa.  40 :  13;  Jer.  23:  18.  The  ideas  presented  in  this 
verse  are  thrown  into  the  shape  of  a  challenge  ;  and  the  worm  that 
would  sit  in  judgment  on  his  maker's  decisions  and  doings  is 
asked  if  he  or  any  of  his  race  has  ever  been  admitted  to  read  the 


556  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XL,  vs.  35,  36. 

secret  plans  of  the  Almighty,  or  if  he  belongs  to  the  privy  council 
of  the  King  of  kings. 

35.  Or  who  hath  first  given  to  him  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  unto 
him  again  ?  Where  is  the  creature  who  has  ever  brought  his  Cre- 
ator under  any  obligation?  Where  is  the  man  to  whom  his 
Maker  is  a  debtor?  Men,  even  if  they  were  perfect  in  all  things, 
would  but  give  to  God  his  dues.  No  creature  can  supererogate. 
When  he  has  done  all  that  was  commanded  him,  he  has  merely 
done  his  duty,  and  so  is  an  unprofitable  servant,  Luke  17  :  10. 

36.  For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him  are  all  things :  to 
whom  \iQ  glory  for  ever.  Amen.  All  things  are  of  him.  If  they 
are  creatures,  he  made  them  ;  if  they  are  events,  he  ordered  them  ; 
if  they  are  causes,  he  overrules  them ;  if  they  are  great,  he  is  in- 
finitely greater ;  if  they  are  minute,  they  cannot  escape  his  notice 
or  his  power.  All  things  are  through  him,  through  his  power, 
wisdom,  justice  or  goodness.  Nothing  comes  through  any  power 
or  wisdom  that  are  not  subject  to  his  control.  And  all  things  are 
to  him  and  for  him.  For  his  pleasure  and  to  show  forth  his  glory 
all  worlds  and  creatures  were  made,  all  causes  are  controlled,  all 
events  shaped,  and  all  things  tend.  To  him  be  glory,  honor, 
praise,  thanksgiving,  majesty  and  salvation  for  ever — to  the  ages 
of  eternity.    Amen.     So  let  it  be,  and  let  all  creatures  say  so. 


DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  How  insidious  is  self-conceit!  It  perverts  everything,  and 
makes  the  most  precious  gifts  of  God  the  means  of  promoting 
undue  estimates  of  our  own  wisdom,  v.  25.  How  easy  it  is  to  turn 
the  grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  from  the  abundance  of 
the  divine  mercies  to  gather  fuel  for  pride.  Hence  it  is  obligatory 
on  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  stating  precious  truths  to  guard  them 
against  abuse,  as  Paul  does  here.  Haldane  :  "  What  marvellous 
ignorance,  folly  and  vanity  are  often  displayed  even  in  God's 
people.  Nothing  but  the  constant  lessons  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
will  teach  them  that  all  spiritual  difference  among  men  is  by  God's 
grace." 

2.  Let  us  watch  and  pray  most  fervently  against  that  awful 
curse — blindness,  v.  25.  Let  the  Lord  send  poverty,  war,  pestilence, 
famine,  earthquakes,  anything  that  brings  merely  natural  evils  upon 
us,  but  let  him  never  in  judicial  wrath  draw  the  veil  of  blindness 
over  our  heart.  No  curses  are  so  killing  as  spiritual  curses.  No 
judgments  are  so  terrible  as  spiritual  judgments.  Nor  is  the  judi- 
cial insensibility  of  men  a  whit  the  less  dreadful,  but  even  the  more 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  25-31.]       THE  ROMANS.  557 

to  be  deprecated,  because  it  is  so  deep  as  to  be  unmoved  by  any 
consideration  drawn  from  heaven  or  earth. 

3.  Though  bhndness  has  happened  to  Israel  in  part,  yet  not  to 
all  Israel,  v.  25.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his,  and  he  will 
save  them  by  his  grace. 

4.  Our  great  Deliverer  is  in  all  respects  what  we  should  wish 
him  to  be,  v.  26.  He  is  our  kinsman,  and  his  power  to  destroy 
ungodliness  is  supreme.  He  has  never  failed  to  put  away  trans- 
gression in  any  case  he  has  undertaken.  Nothing  is  too  hard  for 
him.  He  has  put  to  flight  every  power  ever  raised  against  him. 
His  resources  are  infinite.  He  shall  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged. 
If  he  could  not  save  from  sin,  from  its  power  as  well  as  from  its 
guilt,  he  would  not  meet  our  wants  at  all. 

5.  All  God  does  for  us  in  the  way  of  salvation,  he  does  by  a 
plan,  a  constitution,  a  covenant,  v.  27.  This  covenant  is  ordered  in 
all  things  and  sure.  There  are  no  flaws  in  it,  no  errors  or  mistakes 
in  it.  It  is  all  right,  all  certain.  Infinite  wisdom  has  guarded 
everything  respecting  it.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  within  the  pale 
of  this  covenant,  Deut.  7  :  9.  And  it  is  one  of  the  most  fearful  acts, 
that  men  can  perform,  to  disown  it  and  the  God  who  established 
it.  And  it  is  a  chief  mercy  to  be  brought  within  its  pale.  Brown  : 
"  All  mankind  now,  since  the  fall,  being  naturally  enemies  to  God, 
and  out  of  his  favor  and  friendship,  are  in  a  most  wild  and  forlorn 
condition,  till  he^take  them  within  the  compass  of  the  covenant." 
All  the  sure  mercies  made  over  to  believers  are  provisions  of  this 
covenant. 

6.  God  overrules  everything,  even  the  unbelief  of  men,  to  his 
glory,  and  sometimes  even  to  the  good  of  men,  vs.  28-30.  If  one 
won't,  another  will.  If  the  Jews  refuse  to  hear  the  apostles,  God 
will  send  them  to  the  Gentiles.  If  some  are  blinded,  others  have 
their  eyes  opened. 

7.  The  manner  in  which  God's  love  lingers  about  a  city  or  a 
people,  to  whom  it  has  flowed  forth,  is  most  wonderful,  vs.  28-31. 
The  Bible  abounds  in  facts,  appeals  and  expostulations,  which 
show  how  unspeakably  undesirable  in  God's  esteem  are  the  apos- 
tasy and  ruin  of  any,  at  whose  door  mercy  has  once  stood,  offer- 
ing her  treasures  of  infinite  riches.  We  have  no  finer  specimens 
of  expostulation  and  entreaty  than  are  found  in  God's  word  on 
this  very  subject.  Let  the  reader  examine  Ps.  81  :  13-16;  Jer. 
31  :  18-21  ;  Hos.  11  :  8,  9  ;  Luke  19:42,  and  judge  if  he  ever 
saw  more  tender  appeals,  or  words  better  suited  to  express 
divine  compassion  towards  those,  who  seemed  bent  on  their  own 
ruin. 

8.  Let  not  any  people,  now  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  gospel, 


558  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  30-33. 

• 

imagine  that  God  saw  anything  meritorious  in  t"hem  or  in  their 
ancestors  to  cause  them  to  be  called  to  the  knowledge  of  his  dear 
Son,  vs.  30-32.  The  same  is  indeed  true  of  all  nations  and  people. 
Israel  was  not  allowed  to  forget  that  a  Syrian  ready  to  perish  was 
their  ancestor.  Men  cannot  merit  anything  before  God.  They 
cannot  oblige  God  to  anything.  His  choice  and  his  acts  are  all 
free. 

9.  What  a  marvellous  grace  is  faith!  vs.  30,  31.  It  is  not 
native  to  any  h4iman  heart.  It  is  an  exotic  in  this  world,  and  yet 
it  is  constantly  accomplishing  the  greatest  wonders.  It  has  reared 
all  the  monuments  ever  intentionally  erected  to  the  glory  of  God 
in  this  dark  world.  It  has  reclaimed  apostate  men  and  nations, 
and  brought  them  home  to  the  bosom  of  God.  It  has  performed 
more  wonders  than  all  martial  songs  and  orations  of  ancient  or 
modern  heroism.  And  yet  it  is  always  modest,  humble,  making 
its  boast  in  God,  and  not  in  man  ;  abasing  the  creature  and  exalt- 
ing Jehovah.  It  is  the  gift  of  God.  It  is  one  of  his  best  gifts. 
Lord,  increase  our  faith. 

10.  If  God  overrules  sin  in  general  and  unbelief  in  particular 
to  the  glory  of  his  name  and  the  promotion  of  his  cause,  how 
much  more  may  we  expect  him  to  make  piety  and  faith  conducive 
to  the  same  high  ends,  v.  31.  They  are  naturally  suited  to  pro- 
duce these  blessed  results. 

ri.  Hodge:  "The  web  of  Providence  is  wonderfully  woven. 
Good  and  evil  are  made  with  equal  certainty,  under  the  govern- 
ment of  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence,  to  result  in  the  promo- 
tion of  God's  gracious  and  glorious  design,  v.  31." 

12.  As  all  men  are  by  nature  lost  and  perishing,  out  of  the  way 
and  far  from  righteousness,  and  this  uniformly  until  divine  grace 
makes  a  change,  therefore  humility  becomes  every  man  ;  for  we 
are  all  concluded  in  unbelief,  v.  32.  Calvin  :  "  Paul  intends  here 
to  teach  two  things — that  there  is  nothing  in  any  man  why  he 
should  be  preferred  to  others,  apart  from  the  mere  favor  of  God  ; 
and  that  God,  in  the  dispensation  of  his  grace,  is  under  no  restraint 
that  he  should  not  grant  it  to  whom  he  pleases."  If  at  any  time 
God's  word  seems  sharp  and  cutting,  severe  and  condemnatory, 
let  us  not  find  fault  with  the  blessed  word,  but  only  with  ourselves  ; 
knowing  that  when  God  concludes  us  in  unbelief  and  makes  us 
feel  our  sad  case  it  is  often  a  sign  that  he  is  about  to  have  mercy 
upon  us.     Know  every  one  the  plague  of  his  own  heart. 

13.  Though  God's  nature  and  ways  are  sadly  misunderstood 
and  misrepresented  here  upon  earth,  and  though  the  great  mass 
of  men  utterly  renounce  him  and  his  blessing,  yet  both  he  and  his 
ways  are  fit  objects  of  the  highest  admiration,  v.  33.     None  but  the 


Ch.  XL,  vs.  33-36.]         THE  ROMA  NS.  559 

unwise  will  be  offended  at  the  inscrutableness  of  any  of  the  divine 
proceedings.  There  is  more  wisdom  in  some  ignorance  than  there 
is  in  some  knowledge.  When  the  unsearchable  things  of  God  are 
for  a  study,  it  is  not  only  more  pious,  but  it  is  more  philosophical 
to  stand  and  cry  '  O,  the  depth  ! '  than  to  say,  *  We  are  the  people 
and  wisdom  will  die  with  us.'  Cobbin :  '*  If  we  look  at  God's 
general  dealings  in  the  world  and  in  the  church,  and  if  our  minds 
are  enlightened  by  divine  grace,  we  shall  see  much  to  confound 
our  feeble  wisdom,  and  to  call  forth  our  humility,  gratitude,  won- 
der and  praise.  Ourselves,  as  the  subject  of  mercy,  will  ever  be 
an  enigma  we  must  be  unable  to  solve."  There  is  a  difference 
among  writers  respecting  the  extent  to  which  the  apostle  would 
have  us  look  back,  when  he  cries,  '  O  the  depth ! '  etc. ;  but  the 
soundest  and  safest  way  is  to  let  the  scope  reach  to  the  first  and  to 
all  the  intermediate  truths  of  this  epistle.  For  what  is  there  in 
any  part  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  a  Redeemer  that  is  not 
suited  to  confound  human  wisdom  ?  Stuart,  having  completed  his 
Commentary  on  the  first  eight  chapters  of  this  epistle,  says,  "  With 
the  eighth  chapter  concludes  what  may  be  appropriately  termed 
the  doctrinal  part  of  our  epistle."  But  when  he  has  given  us  his 
views  on  three  chapters  more  he  corrects  himself  by  saying,  "  Such 
is  the  conclusion  of  the  doctrinal  part  of  our  epistle  ;  a  powerful 
expression  of  profound  wonder,  reverence  and  adoration,  in  re- 
gard to  the  unsearchable  ways  of  God  in  his  dealings  with  men  ; 
and  an  assertion  of  the  highest  intensity,  respecting  his  sovereign 
right  to  control  all  things  so  as  to  accomplish  his  own  designs,  in- 
asmuch as  all  spring  from  him,  live  and  move  and  have  their  being 
in  him,  and  are  for  his  glory.  A  doctrine  truly  humbling  to  the 
proud  and  towering  hopes  and  claims  of  self-justifying  men  ;  a 
stumbling-block  to  haughty  Jews,  and  foolishness  to  unhumbled 
Greeks.  I  scarcely  know  of  anything  in  the  whole  Bible,  which 
strikes  deeper  at  the  root  of  human  pride  than  vs.  33-36."  It  is  a 
great  thing  to  have  a  heart  solemnly  affected  with  divine  things 
so  as  to  gaze,  admire,  and  adore  where  we  can  do  nothing  else. 
Brown  :  "  When  a  soul  once  is  graciously  exercised  with  the  ap- 
prehensions of  the  perfections  of  the  Most  High,  and  is  dwelling 
upon  the  spiritual  thoughts  of  his  excellency  in  his  works  and  dis- 
pensations, he  becomes  so  ravished  with  the  sights  he  wins  to, 
that,  as  a  man  transported,  he  cannot  get  words,  whereby  to  ex- 
press his  thoughts  and  conceptions."  It  is  a  great  comfort  that 
our  duty  does  not  require  us  to  comprehend  Jehovah  in  all  his 
unsearchableness.  We  must  know  and  we  must  do  our  duty  ;  but 
we  are  not  called  to  sway  the  sceptre  of  universal  dominion. 

14.  Let  us  avoid  all  curious  and  presumptuous  prying  into  the 


56o  EPIS  TLE.  [Ch.  XL,  vs.  34-36. 

secrets  of  the  Most  High.  That  God's  nature  and  ways  are  a 
depth  any  one  may  see  ;  but  how  great  a  depth  they  are,  none  can 
see.  When  men  think  or  speak  as  if  they  had  been  the  coun- 
sellors, or  as  if,  had  they  been  consulted,  they  could  have  arranged 
things  better  than  we  find  them  to  be,  they  are  simply  stark  fools, 

V.  34- 

15.  Let  us  never  forget  that  we  have  given  nothing  to  God 
demanding  any  recompense,  v.  35.  What  God  has  done  for  us,  he 
has  done  out  of  his  own  infinite  resources.  No  man  receives  any 
good  thing  at  the  hand  of  God,  or  can  without  lying  say.  This 
have  I  procured  by  my  own  merits. 

16.  As  God  is  in  his  nature  glorious,  so  in  the  end  shall  he  in 
all  things  be  glorified,  v.  36.  Pool :  "  All  things  are  of  him,  as  the 
efficient  cause ;  through  him,  as  the  disposing  cause ;  to  him,  as 
the  final  cause.  They  are  of  him,  without  any  other  motive  ; 
through  him,  without  any  assistance ;  and  to  him,  without  any 
other  end,"  Calvin :  "  The  whole  order  of  nature  would  be 
strangely  subverted,  were  not  God,  who  is  the  beginning  of  all 
things,  the  end  also."  Doddridge  :  "  Oh,  that  it  may  be  our  eter- 
nal employment  to  render  adoration,  and  blessing,  and  glory  to 
him."     Amen. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


VERSES  1-8. 

a  solemn  call  to  duty  and  application  of 
divine:  truth. 

1  BESEECH  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present  your 
bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  ser- 
vice. 

2  And  be  not  conformed  to  this  world  :  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing 
of  your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  in  that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect 
will  of  God. 

3  For  I'say,  through  the  grace  given  unto  me,  to  every  man  that  is  among  you, 
not  to  think  of  himself  more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think  ;  but  to  think  soberly, 
according  as  God  hath  dealt  to  every  man  the  measure  of  faith. 

4  For  as  we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all  members  have  not  the 
same  office  : 

5  So  we,  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  every  one  members  one 
of  another. 

6  Having  then  gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace  that  is  given  to  us,  whether 
prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of  faith; 

7  Or  ministry,  let  lis  wait  on  our  ministering ;  or  he  that  teacheth,  on 
teaching ; 

8  Or  he  that  exhorteth,  on  exhortation  :  he  that  giveth,  lei  him  do  it  with 
simplicity ;  he  that  ruleth,  with  diligence  ;  he  that  sheweth  mercy,  with  cheer- 
fulness. 

II  BESEECH  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that 
•  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto 
God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service.  Therefore  marks  the  logical 
connection  of  this  verse  with  all  the  preceding  argument.  Well 
guarded  as  the  doctrines  of  the  epistle  have  been,  the  apostle 
would  further  show  their  intimate  connection  with  holy  living. 
Beseech,  in  v.  8  and  elsewhere  rendered  exhort;  in  i  Cor.  4:13  and 
often,  intreat ;  cognate  to  the  noun  rendered  Comforter.  In  such 
36  (561) 


/ 


A 


562  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XII.,  V.  I. 

a    connection  as  this,    our    translators  very    properly  render  it 
beseech.     No  word  better  expresses  the  earnestness  and  tender- 
ness of  entreaty.*  By  the  mercies  of  God,  not  merely  by  the  infinite 
kindness  known  to  dwell  in  the  divine  bosom,  but  by  all  the  amaz- 
ing    mercies  manifested    in   your  election,   calling,   justification, 
adoption,  sanctification,  redemption  and  glorification,  as  already 
stated.     Uniting  this  clause   with  the  word  beseech,  the  appeal 
rises  to  the  highest  kind  of  obtestation.     Brethren,  some  would  re- 
strict the  address  to   Gentile  converts ;  but  for  this  there  is  no 
reason.     We  ought  to  understand  all  members  of  the  Christian 
church,  of  which  he  has  been  speaking,  and  not  Jewish  or  Gentile 
converts  exclusively.    His  argument  has  been  to  all  of  both  classes. 
Present,  in  Rom.  6:  13,  19  thrice  rendered  yield ;  but  this  context 
requires  the  rendering  of  the  authorized  version,  as  the  figure  is 
that  of  making  oblations.     By  bodies  some  understand  corporeal 
natures ;  others,  corporeal  natures  as  put  by  synecdoche  for  the 
entire  natures  ;  others,  simply  yourselves.     That  the  word  is  some- 
times used  for  the  whole  man  is  evident  from  several  places  of 
scripture.     See   Rom.  6:  12,  13  and  like  passages.     Between  the 
second  and  third  explanations  there  is  no  substantial  difference. 
Paul  beseeches  them  to  present  their  entire  natures  a  sacrifice,  a 
word  not  found  elsewhere  in  this  epistle,  but  often  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  uniformly  rendered.     This  sacrifice  is  to  be  living, 
not  dead.     That  which  was  lame,  or  torn,  or  sick,  and  so  partly 
dead  was  not  to  be  offered  to  God.     Nor  were  they  to  be  killed  as 
were  sheep  and  oxen,  but  living  sacrifices.     The  offering  was  also 
to  be  Jioly,    not  polluted  with  any  known  and  allowed  sin ;  and 
wholly  devoted,  consecrated  to  God.    The  lamb  or  bullock  offered 
under  the  law  must  be  without  blemish,  disease,  or  defect,   Ex. 
12  :  5  ;  Lev.  i  :  10;  Deut.   15  :  21..     The  sacrifice  must  also  be  ac- 
ceptable unto  God.     The  word  rendered  acceptable  means  pleasing 
or  well  pleasing,  Phil.  4:18;  Col.  3  :  20 ;  Heb.  11:5;    13:21.      In 
order  that  any  offering  might  be  pleasing  to  God,  it  must  first  be 
something  required  by  God  ;  it  must  be  made  in  love,  in  holy  fear, 
land  in  living  faith,  and  with  a  just  sense  of  one's  unworthiness. 
\A\\  this  is  declared  to  be  your  reasonable  service.    Three  explana- 
;' tions  are  given  to  the  term  reasonable,     i.  Some  think  it  means 
\  agreeable  to  reason.     Whatever  God  requires  of  us  is  rightfully 
•  and  most  properly  demanded.     He  has  never  asked  more  than  his 
.  due.     As  a  Father,  we  should  honor  him  ;  as  a  Master,  we  should 
j   fear  him,  Mai.  1:6.     2.  By  reasonable  some  understand  spiritual, 
1   It  is  doubtful  whether  the  word  will  bear  this  construction.     3.  By 
I  reasonable  others  understand  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God.    The 
\  word  rendered  reasonable  is  found  only  here  and  in  i  Pet.  2  :  2 — 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  2,  3.]  THE  ROMANS.  563 

the  sincere  milk  of  the  word.  This  is  the  best  explanation.  Every- 
where in  the  Scriptures  God  demands  that  we  love  and  serve  him 
with  all  our  powers  and  faculties,  with  all  our  minds,  and  soul,  and 
heart,  and  strength. 

2.  And  be  not  conformed  to  this  tvorld :  but  be  ye  transforined 
by  the  reneiving  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good, 
and  acceptable,  and  perfect  tvill  of  God.  Be  conformed,  found  also 
in  I  Pet.  I  :  14  fashioning  according  to.  Tyndale :  Fassion  not 
youreselves  lyke  vnito  this  worlde.  There  is  no  better  rendering 
than  that  of  the  authorized  version.  Be  not  conformed  to  the 
corrupt  maxims,  principles,  customs  and  practices  of  this  age. 
Mankind  are  apostate  from  God,  they  are  without  God  in  the 
world,  enemies  to  God  by  wicked  works,  haters  of  God.  Why 
should  we  fashion  ourselves  after  them  ?  Be  transformed,  the  same 
word  is  in  Matt.  17:2;  Mark  9 :  2  rendered  was  transfigured,  and 
in  2  Cor.  3  :  18  are  changed:  *' We  all,  with  open  face  beholding 
as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are   changed  into  the  same 

^image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord." 
The  change  we  are  called  upon  to  make  in  our  character  and 
course  of  life  will  make  us  morally  and  spiritually  as  diverse  from 
what  we  were  by  nature  as  was  the  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ 

jvhen  transfigured,  from  that  of  his  ordinary  life.  This  transforma- 
tion however  is  not  in  apparel,  nor  in  sanctimonious  grimace,  nor 
in  voluntary  humility,  nor  in  anything  merely  external,  but  is 
effected  by  the  renewing  of  the  mind ;  Tyndale  :  "  By  the  renuynge 
of  youre  wittes  ;"  Peshito:  "  By  the  renovation  of  your  minds  ;" 
Doway  :  "  In  the  newness  of  your  mind."  The  same  word  occurs 
in  Titus  3:5,  and  is  rendered  as  here.  In  Heb.  6  :  6  the  cognate 
verb  is  rendered  renfew.  There  is  no  better  rendering,  it  is 
literal.  Prove,  also  rendered  try,  allow,  approve,  examine,  like 
and  discern,  i  John  4:1;!  Thess.  2:4;  Phil,  i  :  10 ;  i  Cor.  1 1  :  28 ; 
Rom.  I  :  28  ;  Luke  12  :  56.  Discerning  is  perhaps  the  best  here,  but 
there  is  no  objection  to  including  the  idea  of  allowing  and  approv- 
ing. The  will  of  God,  as  made  known  to  us  for  our  guidance, 
embraces  only  that  which  is  good,  a  word  uniformly  rendered. 
God's  will  is  good  in  itself  and  in  all  its  bearings,  and  conduces  to 
the  advantage  of  all  who  obey  it,  Acceptable,  on  this  word  see 
above  on  v.  i.  Pool's  explanation  is,  "  By  obedience  to  the  Avill 
of  God  we  shall  be  accepted."  Perhaps  the  word  here  is  emphatic 
and  means  pleasing  to  God  in  every  sense.  Perfect  has  the  usual 
signification.     Compare  Eph.  5  :  10,  17  ;  Phil.  4:8;:  Thess.  4  :  3. 

3.  For  I  say,  through  the  grace  given  tinto  me,  to  every  man  that  is 
among  you,  not  to  think  of  himself  more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think  ; 
but  to  think  soberly,  according  as  God  hath  dealt  to  every  man  the 


^ 


564  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  4-6. 

measure  of  faith.  For  in  this  case  points  to  the  introduction  of  ad- 
ditional matter,  designed  farther  to  explain  and  confirm  the 
general  precepts  thus  given.  The  grace  here  spoken  of  is  doubt- 
less apostolic  authority,  which  Paul  uniformly  speaks  of  as  be- 
stowed upon  him  without  any  merit  on  his  part,  Rom.  15:15; 
Gal.  1:16;  Eph.  3  :  8.  Every  man  that  is  among  you  designates  not 
only  the  officers  of  the  church,  but  all  the  members.  There  is 
doubtless  special  reference  to  spiritual  gifts  both  ordinary  and  ex- 
traordinary, but  there  is  no  cause  for  confining  the  exhortation  to 
such  as  had  miraculous  endowments.  Lowliness  becomes  all  in 
the  church  of  God.  True  religion  does  not  require  us  to  think 
more  lowly  of  ourselves,  as  it  does  not  allow  us  to  think  more 
highly  of  ourselves,  than  we  ought  to  think.  But  the  truth  will 
put  any  man  in  a  low  place.  What  the  word  of  God  requires  is 
an  estimate  of  ourselves  according  to  sobriety,  discreetness,  sanity 
of  mind.  Compare  Mark  5:15;  i  Tim.  2:9;  Titus  2:  5.  We 
should  know  and  understand  what  our  endowments  are  and  what 
they  are  not.  FaitJi  in  this  place  may  mean  the  grace  of  faith  or 
the  knowledge  which  is  believed,  or  it  may  embrace  both  these. 
Measure,  degree,  a  word  uniformly  rendered. 

4.  For  as  we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all  members  have 
not  the  same  office  : 

5.  So  we,  being  many,  are  o)ie  body  in  Christ,  and  every  one  mem- 
bers one  of  another.  The  figure  of  these  two  verses  is  a  favorite 
with  Paul,  I  Cor.  12:  14-20.  Office,  work,  deed,  or  function.  The 
illustration  of  the  apostle  is  exceedingly  beautiful  because  it  is  just 
and  appropriate.  As  a  man  has  as  truly  need  of  a  foot  as  of  a  hand, 
of  eyes  as  of  ears,  so  in  the  church  of  God  there  is  need  of  all  sorts 
of  edifying  gifts.  If  God  has  not  granted  us  the  highest,  let  us 
thank  him  for  what  he  has  given  us,  and  remember  that  it  is  as 
much  as  any  one  can  do  to  give  a  good  account  of  the  talents  God 
has  bestowed  upon  him. 

6.  Having  then  gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace  that  is  given 
to  us,  whether  prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of 
faith.  Grace,  any  gift  from  God  bestowed  on  us  undeserving 
creatures.  On  some  God  bestowed  more  than  on  others.  The  gifts 
were  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ.  There  have  been 
great  disputings  respecting  the  gift  of  prophecy,  mentioned  in  this 
and  other  parts  of  the  New  Testament.  Without  entering  at 
length  into  the  discussion,  the  reader  is  referred  to  a  very  lucid 
statement  found  in  J.  A.  Alexander  on  Isaiah,  Introduction,  pp. 
IX-XII.  It  is  entirely  clear  from  other  parts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  prophecy  was  a  gift  not  confined  in  the  primitive  Church 
to   apostles,  and   that  it  was  for  the  edification  of  the  body  of 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  7,  8.]         THE  R  OMA  NS.  565 

believers,  Acts  11  :  27,  28  ;  i  Cor.  14  :  3-5.  It  is  also  evident  that 
the  word  as  used  in  the  New  Testament  does  not  necessarily 
imply  inspiration,  for  Paul  applies  it  to  a  heathen  poet,  Tit.  1:12. 
It  appears  also  that  all  those,  who  claimed  to  be  prophets  in  the 
primitive  Church,  were  liable  to  be  tested  by  the  inspired  teach- 
ings of  the  apostles,  i  Cor.  14:37;  i  John  4:1,6.  If  a  man 
therefore  had  a  gift  for  edifying,  comforting  or  strengthening  the 
Church  of  God  by  speech,  it  seems  at  least  sometimes  to  hp,ve  been 
called  prophesying.  Proportion,  (literally  analogy)  is  not  the  word 
rendered  measure  in  v.  3.  It  probably  here  means  the  standard 
of  faith.  This  is  the  best  interpretation.  In  the  days  of  Paul  that 
standard  consisted  of  all  the  scriptures  then  written,  and  of  the 
infallible  teachings  of  the  apostles  themselves.  The  faith  here 
spoken  of  is  the  doctrine  believed  by  the  Church  of  God.  There 
are  other  expositions  of  this  latter  clause,  but  none  of  them  are  so 
satisfactory  as  that  just  given. 

7.  Or  tninistry,  let  us  wait  on  our  ministering;  or  he  that  teacheth 
on  teaching. 

Some  plausible  theories  respecting  the  division  of  the  work  in 
the  primitive  church  have  been  given  to  mankind.  But  when  we 
remember  the  exceedingly  rich  variety  of  edifying  gifts  necessary, 
and  graciously  granted  to  the  primitive  church  ;  and  when  we 
remember  that  all  these  gifts,  so  far  as  miraculous,  are  no  longer 
granted  to  the  church,  it  is  not  surprising  that  we  are  not  able 
exactly  to  define  the  limit  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  endow- 
ments. Thus  the  term  ministry  may  mean  any  general  service 
rendered  to  the  church  of  God  by  the  apostles  or  any  one  else  ; 
or,  it  may  mean  any  special  service,  to  which  one  is  appointed, 
touching  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  the  care  of  the  sick,  of 
strangers  and  of  orphans.  Teaching,  rendered  doctrine.  Matt. 
15:9;  Mark  T  '.  T  \  Col.  2  :  22  ;  i  Tim.  i  :  10  and  often ;  in  Rom. 
15:4,  rendered  learning,  or  instruction.  The  grade  of  the  teach- 
ing was  according  to  the  capacity  first  of  the  teacher,  and  then  of 
the  learner;  it  might  be  a  teacher  of  babes,  who  were  to  be 
nourished  with  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  or  of  strong  men 
who  required  strong  meat.  It  was  entirely  unbecoming  a  teacher 
to  assume  the  office  of  a  prophet.  He  was  to  mind  his  own 
business. 

8.  Or  he  that  exhorteth,  on  exhortation :  he  that  giveth,  let  him  do 
it  with  simplicity ;  he  that  ruleth,  with  diligefice ;  he  that  showeth 
mercy,  with  cheerfulness.  Exhortation,  cognate  to  the  verb  beseech 
in  V.  I.  It  is  a  very  general  term  and  embraces  almost  every 
variety  of  comfort,  encouragement  and  urgency  to  duty.  This  is 
a  great  gift.  Giving  has  the  usual  signification,  referring  to  the  be- 


566  •    EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XII.,  v.  i. 

stowment  of  needed  favors.  Simplicity,  so  rendered  in  2  Cor.  1:12; 
11:3;  in  Eph.  6:5;  Col.  3  :  22,  singleness  of  heart ;  but  in  2  Cor. 
8  :  2  ;  9  :  1 1,  13  it  is  rendered  liberality,  bountifulness,  and  liberal. 
Perhaps  this  is  the  better  meaning.  If  an}^  prefer  the  word  sim- 
plicity in  the  sense  of  freedom  from  selfish  and  covert  designs, 
there  is  no  objection  to  such  a  rendering,  The  ruling  here  spoken 
of  doubtless  relates  to  the  discipline  of  the  church,  which  God  has 
ordained  for  edification.  This  duty  so  important  to  the  honor  of 
true  religion  is  to  be  performed  with  diligence,  or  carefulness,  or  ear- 
nest care,  as  the  word  is  variously  rendered.  In  verse  1 1  the  same 
word  is  rendered  business.  Showing  mercy  is  a  phrase  that  may 
include  the  care  of  the  poor,  of  the  sick,  of  strangers  and  of 
orphans,  which  was  often  entrusted  to  particular  persons  of  either 
sex.  It  was  also  a  personal  duty  to  be  performed  by  every  private 
Christian.  Cheerfulness,  found  no  where  else  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  we  have  its  cognate  adjective  in  2  Cor.  9:7.  It 
expresses  the  opposite  of  grudging,  of  niggardliness  and  narrow 
mindedness.     We  have  here  a  most  needful  injunction. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  Truth  is  in  order  to  godliness.  This  is  shown  by  the  whole 
connection  of  this  chapter  with  the  preceding  discussion.  Sound 
instruction  is  the  basis  of  holy  living.  Calvin  :  "  As  philosophers, 
before  they  lay  down  laws  respecting  morals,  discourse  first  of  the 
end  of  what  is  good,  and  inquire  into  the  sources  of  virtues,  from 
which  afterwards  they  draw  and  derive  all  duties ;  so  Paul  lays 
down  here  the  principle  from  which  all  the  duties  of  holiness  flow, 
even  this, — that  we  are  redeemed  by  the  Lord  for  this  end,  that 
we  may  consecrate  to  him  ourselves  and  all  our  members."  Scott: 
"  Surely  they  strangely  misunderstand  the  doctrines  which  the 
apostle  teaches,  who  suppose  them  iln^onsistent  with  exhortations, 
and  instruction  in  all  the  several  duties  of  Christianity ;  or  as  in- 
imical to  the  practice  of  them  !  The  same  inspired  writer,  who 
most  full)?-  establishes,  and  most  earnestly  argues  for  the  doctrines 
of  grace,  is  also  most  exact  and  particular  in  exhorting  Christians 
to  their  various  duties."  The  same  will  be  found  true  of  the  best 
writers  of  every  age  of  the  Christian  church. 

2.  Experience  and  observation  fully  confirm  what  the  Scrip- 
tures often  teach,  that  all  thorough,  consistent  morality  is  based 
upon  the  principles  of  true  piety,  v.  i.  Nothing  so  arouses  the 
whole  nature  of  man  to  that  which  is  good,  as  the  very  principles 
of  grace,  wherein  we  learn,  more  than  any  where  else,  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  mercies  of  God.     Under  the  law,  which   was  a 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  I,  2.]         THE  ROMANS.  567 

dark  dispensation,  they  offered  beasts  ;  under  the  gospel,  we  offer 
ourselves.  It  is  therefore  a  binding  duty  on  us  to  study,  not  only 
the  practice  but  the  theory  of  religion.  All  those  powerful  springs 
and  motives  to  a  holy  life,  which  have  been  found  efficient,  are 
wrapped  up  in  the  mystery  of  God  and  of  Christ. 

3.  Nor  does  the  history  of  the  world  furnish  a  solitary  instance 
of  a  man  or  a  community  being  brought  to  lead  a  life  of  vital 
piety,  except  by  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Read  history  and  see. 
Compare  the  early  and  the  later  ministry  of  Chalmers,  and  Scott, 
and  see  what  a  lesson  is  there  learned. 

4.  So  great  and  urgent  is  the  business  of  salvation  ;  and  so 
necessary  is  Scriptural  holiness,  that  we  may  solemnly  adjure  and 
obtest  men,  that  they  give  earnest  heed  to  these  things.  The 
more  tender  our  appeals  shall  be,  the  more  will  they  conform  to 
inspired  example,  and  the  more  likely  \yill  they  be  to  bring  men 
to  uprightness  of  life.  Evans  :  "  Many  are  soonest  wrought  upon, 
if  they  be  accosted  kindly  ;  are  more  easily  led  than  driven."  The 
example  of  Paul  in  this  place  is  full  of  instruction.  Calvin : 
"  Paul,  that  he  might  bind  us  to  God  not  by  servile  fear,  but  by 
the  voluntary  and  cheerful  love  of  righteousness,  allures  us  by  the 
sweetness  of  that  favor,  by  which  our  salvation  is  effected." 

5.  When  we  are  called  upon  to  offer  our  bodies  a  sacrifice 
unto  God,  we  must  remember  that  the  atoning,  propitiatory  sac- 
rifice is  finished,  and  that  it  is  awful  wickedness  to  act  as  if  it  were 
incomplete.  The  great  impetratory  and  propitiatory  offering  of 
Calvary  was  absolutely  sufficient  unto  all  the  ends  of  the  remission 
of  sins.  But  the  sacrifice  we  are  called  to  make  is  spiritual  and 
eucharistic.  This  class  of  offerings  peculiarly  befits  the  gospel 
dispensation.  Our  oblation  should  be  a  whole  burnt-offering. 
Chrysostom  :  "  If  when  Elijah  offered  the  visible  sacrifice,  a  flame 
that  came  down  from  above  consumed  the  whole,  water,  wood 
and  stones,  much  more  will  this  be  done  upon  thee.  And  if  thou 
hast  aught  in  thee  relaxed  and  secular,  and  yet  offerest  the  sacri- 
fice with  a  good  intention,  the  fire  of  the  Spirit  will  come  down, 
and  both  wear  away  that  worldliness,  and  carry  up  the  whole  sac- 
rifice." Whoever  does  not  wish  to  be  wholly  consecrated  to  God, 
is  no  devotee  of  the  true  religion.  Calvin :  "  We  must  cease  to 
live  to  ourselves,  in  order  that  we  may  devote  all  the  actions  of 
our  life  to  his  service." 

6.  All  that  is  scriptural  is  reasonable,  vs.  i,  2.  The  sooner  our 
judgments  reach  this  conclusion,  the  better  for  us.  What  man 
enjoins  in  the  way  of  piety  is  folly  and  blasphemy.  What  God 
requires  is  right  and  perfect.  Haldane  :  "  Nothing  can  be  added 
10  it,  nothing  can  be  taken  from  it,  yet  that  monstrous  system  of 


568  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  2,  3. 

Anti-christianity,  which  has  so  long,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  lorded 
it  over  the  world,  has  added  innumerable  commands  to  those  of 
Christ,  and  even  taken  taken  away  many  of  his  laws."  Brown : 
"  The  consideration  that  this  law  of  God  is  good,  full,  complete 
and  showeth  what  way  we  shall  please  our  Lord,  should  stir  up 
all  his  people  to  a  conscionable  studying,  proving  and  approving 
what  this  will  of  God  is." 

7.  We  cannot  be  too  guarded  against  conformity  to  this  vain 
and  fleeting  world,  v.  2.  Chrysostom  :  "  It  hath  no  durability  or 
fixedness,  but  all  in  it  is  but  for  a  season ;  and  so  he  calls  it  this 
age,  hereby  to  indicate  its  liableness  to  misfortune,  and  by  the 
word  fashion  its  unsubstantialness.  For  speak  of  riches,  or  of 
glory,  or  beauty  of  person,  or  of  luxury,  or  of  whatever  other  of 
its  seemingly  great  things  you  will,  it  is  a  fashion  only,  not  reality, 
a  show  and  a  mask,  not  any  abiding  substance."  If  Caleb  would 
obtain  God's  testimony  in  his  favor,  he  must  wholly  dissent  from 
the  body  of  the  spies.  No  man  may  hope  to  be  approved  unto 
God  who  is  not  willing  to  be  found  in  a  minority  of  one  against 
the  world,  if  the  world  turns  away  from  Jehovah.  Brown : 
"  There  is  an  inevitable  necessity  that  God's  children  must  dwell 
and  abide  amongst  worldly  ones,  or  such  as  have  their  portion  in 
this  world,  and  by  reason  thereof  are  still  in  hazard  of  being  en- 
snared by  their  evil  example ;  and  such  is  the  force  and  strength 
of  the  corrupt  conversation  of  bad  company,  that  even  the  best  of 
God's  children  have  reason  to  be  walking  circumspectly  and 
warily,  lest  they  be  drawn  aside  and  tainted  by  their  coarse  car- 
riage." 

8.  True  piety  makes  a  great  change,  v.  2.  It  transforms,  trans- 
figures the  moral  character.  Its  chief  work  is  in  the  inmost  soul ; 
but  then  it  will  work  its  way  out.  The  heart  of  an  unregenerate 
man  is  worse  than  his  life,  however  wicked  that  may  be.  But  the 
heart  of  a  renewed  man  is  the  best  thing  about  him.  If  he  had  his 
way,  he  never  would  sin  again.  Chalmers :  "  In  order  to  our 
being  not  conformed,  we  must  be  transformed — ^and  that  not  by  a 
superficial  amendment,  but  by  a  renewal,  and,  more  decisive  still, 
a  renewal  in  the  very  interior  of  our  system — a  change  not  merely 
of  the  outward  walk,  but  a  change  in  the  central  parts  of  our 
moral  nature,  or  at  the  place  of  command  or  presiding  authority, 
and  where  the  mainspring  of  every  deed  and  every  movement 
lies."  It  is  this  great  moral  transformation,  giving  a  new  nature, 
which  imparts  to  christian  character  all  its  stability. 

9.  The  first  great  lesson  of  the  christian  life  is  humility,  con- 
sisting in  a  true  estimate  of  ourselves,  v.  3.  No  man's  piety  goes 
beyond  his  humility.     Chrysostom :  "  Pray  why  dost  thou  stiffen 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  4-8.]  THE  ROMANS  569 

up  thy  neck  ?  or  why  walk  on  tiptoe  ?  why  knit  up  thy  brows  ?  why 
stick  out  thy  breast  ?  Thou  canst  not  make  one  hair  white  or  black, 
and  thou  goest  with  as  lofty  gait  as  if  thou  couldest  command 
every  thing.  No  doubt  thou  wouldest  like  to  have  wings,  and  not 
go  upon  the  earth  at  all !  No  doubt  thou  wouldest  wish  to  be  a  prod- 
igy !  For  hast  thou  not  made  thyself  prodigious  now,  when  thou 
art  a  man  and  triest  to  fly?  or  rather  flying  from  within,  and 
bloated  in  every  limb  ?  What  shall  I  call  thee  to  quit  thee  of  thy 
recklessness?  If  I  call  thee  ashes,  and  dust,  and  smoke,  and 
pother,  I  should  have  described  thy  worthlessness  to  be  sure,  but 
still  I  should  not  have  laid  hold  of  the  exact  image  I  wanted."  It 
is  possible  indeed  that  through  melancholy  or  temptation  even 
habitual  dejection  may  come  over  a  man ;  and  cause  him  to  write 
bitter  things  against  himself,  and  to  take  such  views  of  himself  as 
must  be  depressing.  Such  a  state  of  mind  ought  not  to  be  culti- 
vated, and  yet  it  is  safer  than  that  which  consists  in  self-conceit. 
Olshausen  :  "  Through  humility  it  is  that  each  man  acknowledges 
the  place  and  the  gift  allotted  to  him,  and  thus  makes  possible 
a  joint  operation."  Hodge :  "  Self-conceit  and  ambition  are  the 
besetting  sins  of  men  entrusted  with  power,  or  highly  gifted  in 
any  respect,  as  discontent  and  envy  are  those  to  which  persons  of 
inferior  station  or  gifts  are  most  exposed." 

10.  A  great  thing  it  would  be  to  the  church  of  God  if'  her 
rulers  would  see  to  it  that  there  was  a  place  for  every  man,  and 
that  every  man  was  in  his  place,  vs.  4,  5.  A  member  not  in  his 
place  is  as  useless  as  a  foot  out  of  joint.  How  little  organization 
is  there  in  many  of  our  churches.  A  small  band  of  earnest  work- 
ers would  be  worth  a  cohort  of  undisciplined  members. 

11.  The  church  is  one,  one  body,  one  spouse  of  Christ,  v.  5. 
All  the  efforts  of  infidels,  schismatics  and  heretics  to  tear  limb  from 
limb  shall  in  the  end  be  found  wholly  ineffectual.  It  no  more  de- 
stroys the  unity  of  the  church  of  God  that  her  members  should, 
in  nationality  and  in  religious  forms,  widely  differ  from  each 
other,  than  it  destroys  the  unity  of  the  human  body  that  the  foot 
is  wholly  unlike  the  hand,  or  the  tongue  different  from  the  ear. 
In  so  great  a  body  as  the  church  some  must  be  old  and  some 
young,  some  strong  and  some  weak,  some  governing  and  some 
governed  ;  but  all  this  impairs  not  her  unity. 

12.  Admirable  indeed  is  the  variety  of  excellent  gifts  which 
God  has  granted  to  his  church  for  her  edification,  vs.  6-8.  Al- 
though miraculous  endowments  are  no  longer  granted  to  the 
church,  yet  still  in  the  ordinary  pastors,  teachers  and  evangelists 
we  find  such  a  rich  variety  as  suits  all  virtuous  tastes  and  cliarac 
ters.     One  is  a  son  of  thunder.     Another  is  a'son  of  consolation. 


570  EPIS  TLE .  [Ch.  XII.,  v.  6. 

One  is  mighty  in  the  Scriptures.  Another  is  impressive  in  ex- 
hortation. One  warns  of  coming  wrath  as  if  he  saw  the  flames  of 
Tophet.  Another  by  tenderness  wins  the  soul  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  heavenly  realities.  One  cries  aloud  and  spares  not.  An- 
other is  gentle  like  a  nurse  among  her  children.  Sometimes  the 
hoary  head,  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness  like  Paul  the  aged, 
beseeches.  Again  the  young  and  spirited  pour  forth  strains  of 
sprightly  eloquence.  Blessed  is  he  who  enjoys  the  benefits  of  a 
gospel  ministry  !  Hodge :  "  Real  honor  consists  in  doing  well 
what  God  calls  us  to  do,  and  not  in  the  possession  of  high  oflBces 
or  great  talents." 

13.  What  is  the  rule  of  faith?  is  a  vital  question  in  religion,  v. 
6.  There  is  but  one  infallible  standard.  "  The  Bible — the  Bible 
is  the  religion  of  Protestants,"  and  in  the  end  will  be  found  to  be 
the  religion  of  all  that  are  saved.  We  may  reason  to  the  contrary 
of  all  this.  We  may  argue  so  plausibly  as  to  deceive  even  our- 
selves. But  the  Judge  himself  has  told  us  the  principle  that  will 
guide  his  decisions :  "  He  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my 
words,  hath  one  that  judgeth  him  :  the  word  that  I  have  spoken, 
the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day,"  John  12  :  48.  If  we  be- 
lieve not  and  practice  not '  according  to  that  form  of  faith  or  whole- 
some doctrine,  by  which  every  one  who  is  sent  out  to  preach  the 
gospel  is  appointed  to  regulate  his  preaching  according  to  those 
heads  or  principles  of  faith  and  good  life  '  which  are  taught  in  the 
Holy  Scripture,  then  all  is  in  vain. 

14.  Reader,  what  is  thy  place  in  the  church  ?  Art  thou  a 
preacher?  a  teacher?  a  servant?  an  exhorter?  a  distributer  of 
alms?  a  ruler?  a  dispenser  of  kindness  to  the  needy?  Stand  in 
thy  lot.  Do  thy  whole  duty.  One  who  has  lived  long  and  no- 
ticed the  history  of  many  men  lately  declared  that  he  had  never 
seen  any  man,  who  always  did  his  best  at  the  post  where  Provi- 
dence placed  him,  who  did  not  at  last  rise  to  honor  and  command 
respect.  Whatever  thy  station  is,  cultivate  that  spirit  of  humility, 
diligence,  perseverance,  simplicity  and  cheerfulness  which  will 
make  thy  duties  pleasant  to  thyself  and  profitable  to  thy  brethren. 
Chalmers :  "  The  goodly  equipment  of  offices  in  the  ancient 
church  for  all  sorts  and  varieties  of  well-doing,  carries  with  it  a 
severe  reproach  on  the  meagre,  stinted  and  parsimonious  appa- 
ratus of  modern  times." 

15.  The  author  here  records  his  testimony  concerning  the 
unhappy  effects  of  declining  to  perform  any  service  to  which  God 
and  his  church  call  pious  men.  Scarcely  anything  seems  more 
sadly  to  dwarf  religious  character. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

VERSES   9-zi. 

HOLY    LIVING.     GOOD    RULES    FOR    ALL   THE 
BRETHREN. 


9  Let  love  be  without  dissimulation.     Abhor  that  which  is  evil;  cleave  to  that 
which  is  good. 

10  Be  kindly  afFectioned  one  to  another  with  brotherly  love  ;  in  honour  pre- 
ferring one  another : 

1 1  Not  slothful  in  business ;  fervent  in  spirit;   serving  the  Lord; 

12  Rejoicing  in  hope;   patient  in  tribulation;  continuing  instant  in  prayer; 

13  Distributing  to  the  necessity  of  saints;  given  to  hospitality. 

14  Bless  them  which  persecute  you  :  bless,  and  curse  not. 

1 5  Rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep. 

16  Be  of  the  same  mind  one  toward  another.     Mind  not  high  things,  but  con- 
descend to  men  of  low  estate.     Be  not  wise  in  your  own  conceits. 

17  Recompense  to  no  rnan  evil  for  evil.     Provide  things  honest  in  the  sight  of 
all  men. 

18  If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lieth  in  you,  live  peaceably  with  all  men. 

19.   Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not  yourselves,  but  rather  give  place  unto  wrath: 
for  i.t  is  wFitcen,  Vengeance  is  mine  ;   1  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord. 

20  Therefore  if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him;  if  he   thirst,  give  him  drink; 
for  in  so  doing  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head. 

21  Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good. 

9  LET  love  be  without  dissimulation,  etc.  Love,  often  also  ren- 
,  dered  charity,  see  i  Cor.  13  throughout.  It  embraces  the  en- 
tire principle  of  love  to  God  and  man,  though  the  connection  shows 
that  here  love  to  man  is  specially  intended.  It  is  a  grace  common 
to  saints  below  and  saints  in  heaven.  It  shall  last  for  ever.  There 
is  a  good  deal  of  profession  of  love  in  the  world.  The  trouble  is 
that  much  of  it  is  feigned.  The  word  rendered  without  dissimula- 
tion is  once  rendered  without  hypocrisy,  but  more  commonly  un- 
feigned. Abhor  that  which  is  evil.  Abhor,  found  here  only.  Ab- 
horrence consists  of  detestation  and  fear.  No  word  expresses 
stronger  aversion.  The  Greek  is  well  rendered.  No  man  ever 
hated  or  feared   sin  too  much.      Evil,  of  course  it  means  moral 

(571) 


572  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  lo,  ii. 

evil,  particularly  that  which  directly  injures  others.  Cleave  to  that 
which  is  good ;  Wiclif:  Drawynge  to  good;  Peshito :  Be  adherers 
to  good  things.  The  word  rendered  cleave  to  expresses  the  closest 
adhesion — the  union  of  concord.  It  is  very  much  like  the  old 
English  stick  to,  so  happily  used  in  our  translation  of  Ps.  119 :  31, 
"  I  have  stuck  unto  thy  testimonies."  Good,  that  is  moral  good, 
that  which  is  right,  particularly  that  which  is  profitable  to  man, 
useful  to  our  neighbor.  In  many  languages  the  words  rendered 
good  and  evil  relate  both  to  natural  and  moral  good.  This  pro- 
duces no  confusion  as  the  context  determines  which  is  meant. 

10.  Be  kindly  affectioned  one  to  another  with  brotherly  love,  etc. 
Kindly  affectioned,  here  only,  very  expressive  of  yearning  kind- 
ness. Yet  the  love  called  for  is  not  natural  affection,  but  it  is 
brotherly  kindness.  Wiclifs  rendering  is  very  striking  :  Louynge 
to  gidre  bi  the  charite  of  britherede.  Hodge  :  "  No  doubt,  the 
idea  is,  that  Christians  should  love  each  other  with  the  same  sin- 
cerity and  tenderness  as  if  they  were  the  nearest  relatives."  In 
honor  preferring  one  another;  Tyndale :  In  gevynge  honoure,  goo 
one  before  another ;  Peshito :  Be  foremost  in  honoring  one  an- 
other ;  Stuart :  As  to  honor,  give  to  each  other  the  preference. 
The  general  law  of  morals  requires  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as 
ourselves.  In  matters  of  courtesy  and  civility  our  brother  is  to 
have  the  precedence  over  ourselves.  There  al^e  many  cases  in 
which  it  is  impossible  the  same  distinction  should  be  conferred  on 
two  or  more.  Then,  let  the  strife  be  who  shall  decline,  not  who 
shall  win.  Somewhere  in  his  Book  of  Martyrs  Fox  says  "  It  is  a 
greater  honor  to  make  a  king  than  to  become  a  king."  This  wit- 
ness is  true. 

11.  Not  slothful  in  business,  Qtc.  Slothful,  there  is  no  better 
rendering,  see  Matt.  25:  26.  j5«^zWj-5-,  commonly  rendered  haste, 
diligence,  carefulness,  earnest  care,  forwardness.  Here  it  seems 
to  be  taken  for  the  care  we  have  in  our  lawful  calling,  though  some 
give  it  the  signification  of  diligence  in  all  things  good.  But  the 
usual  interpretation  is  to  be  preferred.  Nor  is  the  industry  thus 
enjoined  contrary  to  the  warmest  piety ;  accordingly  he  adds : 
Fervent  in  Spirit,  the  word  rendered  fervent,  applied  to  natural 
things,  is  used  to  express  the  boiling  of  water.  The  Scriptures 
never  repress  holy  ardor.  Some  think  spirit  here  means  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  but  we  obtain  a  good  sense  by  understanding  the  phrase 
as  warm-hearted,  full  of  life,  as  in  Acts  18  :  25.  Serving  the  Lord, 
that  is  being  governed  in  all  things  by  pure,  religious  motives,  be- 
ing desirous  in  the  commonest  affairs  of  life  as  well  as  in  great 
matters  to  glorify  God,  i  Cor,  10:  31.  It  is  a  poor  rendering  of 
some,  serving  the  time. 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  12-14.]       THE  ROMANS.  573 

12.  Rejoicing  in  hope,  etc.  In  many  cases  Christians  are  not  able 
to  rejoice  in  their  present  circumstances.  They  are  troubled  on 
every  side  ;  they  are  perplexed ;  they  are  persecuted  ;  they  are 
cast  down  ;  but  every  one  of  them  has  a  fair  prospect  before  him, 
of  which  he  has  a  blessed  assurance  in  the  word  of  God,  where  he 
has  set  his  hope.  In  that  he  can  rejoice.  Patient  in  tribulation, 
that  is  maintaining  constancy  of  mind  and  an  unshaken  purpose 
even  in  the  darkest  hour.  Christ  gave  his  followers  fair  notice 
that  in  the  world  they  should  have  tribulation.  It  is  a  great  thing 
to  be  able,  when  we  can  do  no  more,  at  least  by  silent  and  patient 
endurance  to  honor  God.  To  bear  all  things  for  Christ's  sake 
and  for  the  elects'  sake  is  often  the  height  of  true  greatness  of  soul. 
Continuing  instant  in  prayer.  Continuing  instant,  in  Greek  one 
word,  also  rendered  waiting,  continuing  steadfastly,  giving  oneself 
continually,  and  attending  continually,  Mark  3:9;  Acts  2  :  42  ; 
6:4;  Romans  13:6. 

13.  Distributing  to  the  necessity  of  saints.  Peshito  :  Be  commu- 
nicators to  the  wants  of  the  saints.  The  first  clause  of  the  verse 
reminds  us  of  that  saying  of  our  Lord,  "  The  poor  ye  have  always 
with  you."  The  necessities  of  saints  are  always  very  great  in 
times  of  persecution.  The  richest  often  become  the  poorest,  and 
the  poorest  have  none  to  look  to  that  are  much  better  off  than 
themselves.  A  community  of  goods  was  not  enjoined  at  any  time 
as  a  law  of  the  church,  but  if  a  man  seeth  his  brother  have  need 
and  shutteth  up  his  compassions  from  him,  how  dwelleth  the  love 
of  God  in  him  ?  Given  to  hospitality,  this  indicates  much  more 
than  an  occasional  act  of  entertaining  a  stranger.  We  vi\Vi<s>t  follow 
up  this  business  as  a  great  duty  of  life.  In  primitive  times  when 
Christians  travelled  in  the  Roman  Empire  they  could  not  find 
inns  and  hotels,  where  they  might  be  comfortable,  and  free  from 
insult  concerning  their  religion.  To  have  avowed  their  attach- 
ment to  the  Crucified  would  have  immediately  inflamed  the  pop- 
ulace against  them.  There  was  therefore  then  a  double  necessity 
for  hospitality,  or  love  of  strangers  as  the  word  signifies.  Let 
none  imagine  that  the  duty  of  Christian  hospitality  will  cease 
while  the  world  stands,  Tit.  i  :  8. 

14.  Bless  them  which  persecute  you :  bless,  and  curse  not.  The 
blessing  here  required  does  not  signify  praising  or  commending, 
but  showing  kindness,  speaking  good  words,  and  praying  for  ene- 
mies, revilers  and  persecutors.  Inspired  men,  under  the  teaching 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  often  called  prophetically  to  denounce 
God's  judgments  against  the  wicked  ;  and  in  the  way  of  kindly 
and  solemn  warning  good  men  may  now  do  the  same ;  but  everj/^ 
thing  like  bitterness,  cursing  and  imprecation  is  contrary  to  the 


574  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  15,  16. 

Christian  temper  and  to  the  teachings  of  both  the  Old  and  New- 
Testaments,  Ps.  35:  13,  14;  Matt.  5:  44. 

15.  Rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that 
weep.  A  fellow-feeling  with  our  neighbors  and  particularly  with 
our  Christian  brethren  is  the  duty  enjoined.  Some  seem  to  per- 
form half  the  duty  here  enjoined,  They  express  sympathy  with 
their  neighbors  in  their  joys  ;  but  they  eschew  them  when  adver- 
sity rolls  in  her  dark  waters.  Others  are  always  found  in  families, 
where  affliction  is  casting  her  dark  pall ;  but  they  rejoice  not 
with  the  woman  who  has  found  her  lost  groat.  They  attend  sick- 
ness, deaths  and  burials,  but  have  no  greetings  for  times  of  health, 
birth  and  marriage.  If  one  loses  his  estate,  they  condole  with 
him ;  but  if  he  honestly  improves  his  estate,  they  do  not  express 
delight.  The  right  way  is  to  do  both.  As  to  that  class,  who  care 
not  for  others'  joys  or  sorrows,  so  that  they  succeed  in  their  own 
schemes,  they  are  neither  to  be  admired  nor  imitated. 

16.  Be  of  the  same  mind  one  toward  another,  etc.  Through  a 
spirit  of  gainsaying  and  contradiction,  from  an  affectation  of 
singularity,  or  from  a  vain  persuasion  of  superior  wisdom  some 
seem  to  endeavor  to  be  always  in  the  opposition.  There  is  a  class 
of  otherwise  respectable  minds,  that  at  first  look  at  every  thing 
from  the  point  of  objection,  unless  it  is  something  of  their  own 
proposing.  A  like  class,  when  outvoted,  never  cease  their  oppo- 
sition ;  at  least  they  are  surly,  and  snarl  at  all  that  is  done  without 
their  sanction.  They  occasion  continual  jarrings.  Wiclif's  ren- 
dering is,  Fele  ye  the  same  thing  to  gidre.  The  Peshito  gives 
another' turn  to  the  thought :  What  estimation  ye  make  of  your- 
selves, make  also  of  your  brethren.  Beza  has  it :  Be  entirely 
united  in  your  regards  for  each  other.  Some  moderns  follow  this 
rendering  ;  but  neither  of  these  is  an  improvement  on  the  common 
interpretation.  Mind  not  high  things,  but  condescend  to  men  of  lozv 
estate ;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  :  Be  not  hye  minded  : 
but  make  yourselves  equall  to  them  of  the  lower  sorte  ;  Peshito  : 
And  indulge  not  high  thoughts ;  but  unite  yourselves  with  the 
lowly  minded  ;  Doway :  Not  high  minded,  but  condescending  to 
the  humble.  High  tilings,  such  as  the  vain,  the  ambitious,  the 
luxurious  and  the  covetous  seek  after ;  leading  men  to  flatter  the 
great,  to  court  the  rich  and  be  servile  to  the  mighty.  There  is  no 
better  rendering  of  the  latter  clause  than  that  of  the  authorized 
version.  The  difficulty  in  performing  the  duty  Avith  some  is  that 
when  they  condescend  they  continually  remind  you  that  on  their 
part  it  is  condescension.  No  duty  more  certainly  requires  faith 
than  this.  It  is  but  few,  and  they  are  taught  from  heaven,  Avho 
believe  that  the  soul  of  the  peasant  or  of  the  beggar  is  worth  as 


Ch.  XII.,  V.  i;.]  THE  ROMANS.  575 

much  as  that  of  the  prince  or  the  king.  Yet  without  such  faith 
we  shall  continually  err.  It  is  agreeable  to  the  experience  of  the 
most  zealous  and  successful  laborers  for  Christ  that  their  efforts  to 
do  good  among  the  lowly  are  seldom  repulsed,  while  from  the 
mansion  of  the  rich  they  often  receive  scorn  or  coldness.  Be  not 
wise  ill  your  own  conceits.  Doddridge  says  :  Christ  inculcates  no 
lesson  so  often  as  that  of  humility.  Certainly  we  require  no  pre- 
cept to  be  oftener  repeated.  1  Self-conceit  is  very  pleasing  to  the 
flesh.  Many  complain  of  bad  memories ;  few  complain  of  bad 
judgments  or  of  feeble  minds.  If  this  high  opinion  of  self  led  us 
merely  to  differ  from  some  great  and  good  men,  it  would  be  com- 
paratively harmless.  But  alas !  it  leads  us  to  reject  the  decisions 
of  God,  or  to  cavil  at  the  precepts  and  doctrines  of  his  blessed 
word. 

17.  Recompense  to  no  man  evil  for  evil,  etc.  Peshito  :  Repay  to 
no  man  evil  for  evil ;  Doway  :  Render  to  no  man  evil  for  evil. 
The  sense  is  very  clear.  The  thing  prohibited  is  the  spirit  and 
practice  of  vindictiveness.  If  a  wicked  man  injures  you,  surely 
his  sad  condition  should  awaken  your  tender  compassions.  If  a 
Christian  has  wronged  you,  you  have  without  passion  a  method 
of  redress  pointed  out  to  you  by  Christ  himself,  Matt.  18  :  15-17. 
Perhaps,  too,  you  think  yourself  injured,  when  others  have  merely 
claimed  their  just  rights,  or  when  they  had  no  intention  of  wrong- 
ing you  at  all.  Provide  things  hotiest  in  the  sight  of  all  men  ; 
Peshito  :  But  let  it  be  your  study  to  do  good,  before  all  men  ; 
Wiclif :  But  puruey  ye  good  thingisnot  oonli  bifor  God:  but  also 
bifor  alle  men  ;  Tyndale  :  Provyde  afore  hande  thinges  honest  in 
the  syghtof  all  men  ;  Doway:  Provide  things  good  not  only  in  the 
sight  of  God,  but  also  in  the  sight  of  all  men  ;  Stuart :  Seek  after 
that  which  is  good  in  the  sight  of  all.  Guyse's  paraphrase  is  : 
"■  Whatever  others  do,  let  it  be  your  conscientious  care  and  con- 
cern, by  divine  assistance,  to  contrive  and  go  into  such  measures 
of  conduct,  as  shall  be  good,  generous,  and  honorable  in  them- 
selves, and  every  way  becoming  your  Christian  characters,  not 
only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  but  in  the  judgment  of  all  the  un- 
prejudiced part  of  mankind,  that  none,  no  not  the  worst  of  your 
enemies,  may  ever  be  able  to  upbraid  you  with  having  done  an 
unworthy  or  indecent  thing."  Doddridge's  is  :  "  Act  in  such  a 
cautious  and  circumspect  manner,  that  it  may  evidently  appear 
you  provide  against  the  malignity  which  will  lead  many  to  put  the 
worst  constructions  upon  your  actions.  And  do  only  those  things 
which  may  be  above  the  need  of  excuse,  and  may  appear,  at  the 
first  view,  fair  and  reputable  in  the  sight  of  all  men."  The  duty 
enjoined  embraces  proper  attention  to  our  secular  affairs;  but  it 


576  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  18-21. 

extends  much  further,  relating  to  all  our  deportment  towards  men. 
Provide,  a  good  and  uniform  rendering,  meaning,  have  foresight. 
Honest,  elsewhere  worthy,  more  commonly  good.  Two  things  are 
essential  to  the  idea  of  worthy  or  honest  conduct.  One  is  that  it 
be  strictly  just,  equitable,  even-handed.  The  other  is  that  it  be 
of  good  report,  not  mean,  but  fair  and  honorable.  It  is  perfectly 
right  and  reputable  for  an  officer,  whose  duty  it  is,  to  execute  a 
criminal,  but  it  is  a  shame  for  a  Christian  to  hire  himself  out  as  a 
hangfnan.  Deut.  23:  18. 

18.  If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lietk  in  you,  live  peaceably  with  all 
men.  Peshito  :  And  if  possible,  so  far  as  it  dependeth  on  you,  live 
in  peace  with  every  man  ;  Wiclif :  If  it  mai  be  don,  that  is  of  you  ; 
haue  ye  pees  with  alle  men.  The  renderings  are  very  uniform. 
The  scripture  requires  nothing  impossible.  It  says  not  that  we 
must  live  in  peace  with  all  men,  because  that  is  sometimes  impos- 
sible. The  verse  admits  as  much.  But  as  far  as  things  are  in  our 
power,  we  must  live  in  peace.  There  is  a  class  of  men,  who  are 
not  satisfied  when  they  have  all  their  rights,  nor  even  when  you 
make  many  concessions.  What  they  seek  is  strife,  a  broil,  a  con- 
test, a  law  suit.  Nor  is  the  number  of  such  very  small.  When 
thrown  with  them  you  can  only  guard  against  partaking  of  their 
evil  spirit  and  hateful  ways. 

19.  Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not  yourselves,  but  r2iih.Qr  give  place  unto 
wrath:  for  it  is  written.  Vengeance  is  mine ;  I  will  repay,  sqith  the 
Lord. 

20.  Therefore  if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him;  if  he  thirst,  give 
him  drink  :  for  in  so  doing  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head. 

21.  Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good.  These 
three  verses  relate  to  the  same  thing — the  proper  treatment  of 
those  who  wrong  us.  In  v.  19  we  are  forbidden  to  avenge  or  re- 
venge insults  and  wrongs  against  ourselves.  A  reason  assigned 
is  that  that  is  the  work  of  God,  Deut.  32  :  35  ;  Ps.  94 :  1-3  ;  Heb. 
10  :  30.  A  man  has  no  right,  and  a  pure  minded  Christian  has  no 
disposition  to  take  either  the  law  of  the  land  or  the  law  of  God 
into  his  own  hands.  To  give  place  to  wrath  is  a  very  literal  ren- 
dering of  the  Greek.  It  might  signify  to  give  a  lodgment  to 
wrath,  or  to  give  room  to  it  in  our  hearts.  But  this  would  be 
directly  contrary  to  the  scope  of  the  apostle's  teaching.  Some 
have  thought  that  it  means  retreat  before  wrath,  yield  to  the  vio- 
lence of  others ;  but  an  example  of  such  a  construction  is  not 
found.  The  better  exposition  is  that  of  Calvin :  "  To  give  place 
to  wrath  is  to  commit  to  the  Lord  the  right  of  judging,  which 
they  take  away  from  him  who  attempt  revenge."  Verse  20  is  a  quo- 
tation from  Prov.  25  :  21,  22.     The  same  thing  is  required  in  the 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  9,  lo.]      THE  ROMANS.  577 

law  of  Moses,  Ex.  23  :  4,  5 ;  and  in  the  sermon  on  the  Mount, 
Matt.  5  :  44.  The  figure  of  heaping  coals  of  fire  is  no  doubt  taken 
from  the  process  of  melting  precious  metals,  where  the  fire  is  put 
upon  the  top  of  the  metals  in  the  crucible,  and  thus  they  are 
melted  down.  So  we  are  to  overcome  the  ill-will  of  others. 
Other  explanations  are  offered  but  they  are  unsatisfactory.  This 
is  every  way  the  best,  agreeing  with  the  scope  of  the  passage  and 
with  the  succeeding  verse.  Overcome,  v.  20,  in  Rom.  3:4;  once 
or  twice  rendered  conquer.  If  anything  that  man  can  do  will  dis- 
arm hostility  and  fill  our  enemies  with  kindness  and  pity,  it  will 
be  such  a  course  as  the  apostle  here  recommends. 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  Have  you  unfeigned  love?  v.  9,  or  does  mere  complaisance 
supplant  the  nobler  endowment  ?  We  must  "  exceed  in  evident 
benevolence,  kindness  and  courteousness,  all  those  appearances, 
which  polite  selfishness  assumes  ;  and  be  really  as  ready  to  oblige 
and  be  serviceable,  as  polite  worldly  people  profess  to  be."  The 
loving  disciple  tells  us  how  this  duty  is  to  be  performed  :  "  My  little 
children,  let  us  not  love  in  word,  neither  in  tongue ;  but  in  deed 
and  in  truth,"  i  John  3:18.  One  of  the  real  excellences  of  love 
is  that  it  counts  the  cost  of  no  service,  but  "gives,  like  a  thought- 
less prodigal,  its  all."  ''Jacob  served  seven  years  for  Rachel ;  and 
they  seemed  unto  him  biit  a  few  days  for  the  love  he  had  to  her," 
Gen.  29  :  20.     Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  Rom.  13  :  10. 

2.  How  much  do  you  hate  and  fear  sin?  v.  9.  Is  your  abhor- 
rence of  it  growing  ?  Do  you  dally  with  temptation  ?  Do  you 
parley  with  iniquity  ? 

3.  Is  your  adherence  to  God,  to  duty  and  to  holiness  close? 
V.  9.  Is  it  daily  becoming  more  close  ?  Are  you  glued  to  good 
things  ?  as  the  word  signifies.  Increasing  attachment  to  holiness, 
of  which  the  moral  law  is  the  standard,  is  infallible  proof  of  a 
regenerate  state.  The  want  of  it  makes  all  religious  professionr 
null. 

4.  Civility  is  good ;  bland  manners  are  pleasant ;  but  nothing 
is  a  substitute  for  kind  affection,  v.  10.  I  once  saw  a  hired  nurse, 
not  destitute  of  moral  principle,  employed  in  the  care  of  a  ven- 
erable stranger.  By  and  by  the  sick  man's  daughter  appeared, 
when  a  new  order  of  services  began.  There  is  no  substitute  for  a 
warm  heart. 

5.  Do  you  love  to  honor  others?  v.  10.  Chrysostom  :  "No- 
thing tends  so  much  to  make  friends,  as  endeavoring  to  overcome 
one's  neighbor  in  doing  him  honor."     It  is  not  long  since  a  noble 

37 


578  EPIS^TLE    TO        [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  ii,  12. 

son  of  a  noble  sire  contrived  by  an  artifice  of  love  to  bring  down 
the  highest  honors  of  a  college  on  one  of  his  friends,  when  he 
himself  doubly  merited  them.  Thus  he  earned  higher  laurels 
than  any  college  could  have  conferred. 

6.  Nowhere  does  the  Scripture  give  the  least  countenance  to 
idleness,  but  constantly  enjoins  industry,  v.  1 1  :  "  Whatsoever  thy 
hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might,"  Eccles.  9  :,  10.  Brown  : 
"  Christianity  doth  not  loose  folk  from  following  their  lawful  and 
necessary  callings  in  the  world."  It  has  sometimes  been  stated 
that  while  the  Bible  tells  us  of  the  conversion  of  kings,  and 
treasurers,  and  jailors,  and  sellers  of  purple,  and  centurions,  and 
publicans,  and  harlots,  and  thieves,  it  nowhere  records  the  con- 
version of  a  lazy  man.  Yet  Paul  himself  once  addressed  an  au- 
dience of  idlers.  His  success  was  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected :  "  Some  mocked :  and  others  said.  We  will  hear  thee 
again  of  this  matter."  There  never  was  a  more  wholesome  law 
than  that  of  the  Christian  household,  "  If  any  will  not  work,  nei- 
ther shall  he  eat,"  2  Thess.  3  :  10.  How  carefully  does  the  apostle 
enjoin  on  his  converts  that  they  study  to  be  quiet,  and  to  do  their 
own  business,  and  to  work  with  their  own  hands  ;  that  they  might 
walk  honestly  toward  them  that  are  without,  and  that  they  might 
have  lack  of  nothing,  i  Thess.  4  :  11,  12.  It  is  both  a  sin  and  a 
shame  for  a  man  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  a  soft  effeminacy.  Labor 
is  the  law  of  our  present  fallen  existence.  The  wise  will  not  rebel 
against  it. 

7.  The  very  same  law,  which  enjoins  diligence  in  our  calling, 
justly  demands  fervent  piety,  v.  11.  Paul  expressly  desires  that 
Jewish  converts  be  not  slothful  but  followers  of  them  who  through 
faith  and  patience  inherit  the  promises,  Heb.  6:12.  To  undertake 
to  serve  God  with  a  cold  and  divided  heart  must  render  any  life 
wretched  unless  moral  sensibility  is  entirely  destroyed. 

8.  Endeavor  continually  to  be  governed  by  high  religious 
motives  and  considerations.  In  the  humblest  affairs  of  life  serve 
the  Lord,  v.  11.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  our  acts  right  in  the 
matter  of  them  ;  but  it  is  a  much  greater  thing  to  have  them  right 
both  in  matter  and  motive. 

9.  Dear  Christian  brother,  is  thy  soul  vexed  ?  Art  thou  cast 
down  with  manifold  sorrows  and  temptations?  Look  up  to  God's 
eternal  and  propitious  throne  and  rejoice  in  hope,  v,  12.  Doddridge: 
"  Surely  if  anything  consistent  with  the  burdens  and  sorrows  of 
mortal  life  can  inspire  constant  joy,  it  must  be  the  Christian  hope." 
The  martyrs  have  kissed  the  chains  that  bound  them  to  the  stake 
and  washed  their  hands  in  the  flames  that  destroyed  their  natural 
lives. 


Ch.  XII.,  vs.  12,  13.]       THE  ROMANS.  579 

10.  If  you  can  do  no  more,  at  least  bear  with  quietness  and 
patience  whatever  the  Lord  shall  lay  upon  you,  v.  12.  If  possible 
say  like  the  patriarch,  "  All  the  days  of  my  appointed  time  will  I 
wait  till  my  change  come." 

Is  resignation's  lesson  hard? 
Examine,  you  shall  find. 
That  duty  calls  for  little  more 
Than  anguish  of  the  mind. 

11.  But  if  you  would  do  all  these  great  things,  you  must  pos- 
sess the  secret  of  importunate  prayer,  v.  12..  Hodge  :  "  The  source 
of  our  life  is  in  God ;  without  intercourse  with  him  therefore  we 
cannot  derive  those  supplies  of  grace  which  are  requisite  to  pre- 
serve the  spirit  of  piety  in  our  hearts,  and  to  send  a  vital  influence 
through  the  various  duties  and  avocations  of  life."  Prayer  is  as 
truly  the  element  of  a  new-born  soul,  as  water  is  the  element  of 
fishes.  As  soon  as  divine  grace  reached  the  heart  of  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  it  was  said  of  him,  Behold  he  prayeth.  Prayer  is  a  chief 
method  of  exercising  faith.  But  prayer  is  not  an  end.  He,  who 
rests  in  his  prayers,  might  as  well  not  pray.  "  It  is  the  general 
tendency  of  human  nature  to  substitute  the  means  of  grace  for  the 
fruits  of  grace." 

12.  Do  you  pity  and  help  the  necessitous  ?  That  is  right,  v.  13. 
But  what  is  your  motive  ?  Is  it  that  you  may  be  seen  of  men, 
called  a  benefactor,  and  receive  praise  of  dying  worms  ?  You 
give,  yes,  but  on  what  scale  ?  Have  your  benefactions  ever  gone 
so  far  as  to  require  of  you  any  self-denial  ?  Or,  have  you  merely 
of  your  abundance  cast  into  the  treasury  ?  When  you  give,  to 
whom  do  you  give  ?  to  those  from  whom  you  may  expect  as  much 
again  ?  "  When  thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the  poor,  the  maimed, 
the  lame,  the  blind  :  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed :  for  they  cannot 
recompense  thee  :  for  thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  just,"  Luke  14:  13,  14.  You  give,  but  do  you  really 
believe  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive  ?"  "  The  Lord 
loveth  a  cheerful  giver."  Do  you  give  grudgingly  ?  Few  men  in 
early  life  learn  what  a  power  for  good  there  is  in  bountiful  Hberality. 
Francke  and  Whitefield  had  each  his  Orphan  House.  Wesley's 
right  arm  was  his  systematic  benevolence.  Paul  never  forgot  the 
"  poor  saints." 

13.  Are  you  a  needy  follower  of  Christ  ?  is  your  raiment  plain  ? 
is  your  fare  coarse  and  sometimes  scant  ?  Remember  there  were 
such  before  you,  v.  13.  For  the  strengthening  of  your  faith,  read 
the  promises,  read  the  history  of  persecutions,  remember  that  your 
Saviour  was  poor,  and  during  his  public  ministry  subsisted  very 


.58o  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  13-21. 

much  on  the  charity  of  some  women,  none  of  whom  seem  to  have 
been  rich.  Cultivate  contentment.  Practise  industry  and  economy. 
Avoid  an  envious  or  murmuring  spirit.  Put  the  best  possible 
construction  on  the  treatment  you  receive.  Help  yourself  as  long 
and  as  far  as  you  can.  Then  when  compelled  to  depend  on  others, 
be  not  distressed  at  it.  Poverty,  sent  on  us  by  God's  providence, 
is  a  great  trial,  but  it  is  no  crime.  In  your  straits  contrive,  if  pos- 
sible, to  help  your  poorer  brethren  and  neighbors. 

14.  Are  you  given  to  hospitality?  It  is  a  universal  duty,  v.  13, 
It  has  been  obligatory  on  all  classes  of  persons  under  all  dispensa- 
tions, Deut.  10  :  18,  19  ;  Isa.  58  :  7  ;  i  Tim.  3:2;!  Pet.  4:9.  To 
many  in  the  last  day  the  Judge  will  say  :  "  I  was  a  stranger  and 
ye  took  me  in,"  Matt.  25  :  35.  It  is  peculiarly  incumbent  on  us  to 
"  show  hospitality  without  grudging."  The  reluctance  with  which 
some  exercise  it  is  sadly  manifest.  They  are  glad  when  the 
stranger  is  gone.  They  are  little  like  Abraham  and  Lot,  Gen. 
18  :  3-8;  Gen.  19:  1-3. 

15.  What  is  your  temper  towards  enemies?  Does  your  spirit 
towards  them  conform  to  the  requisitions  of  this  chapter?  vs.  14, 
17,  19-21.  Tholuck :  "Anger  and  malice  constitute  a  state  of 
slavery."  Are  you  in  that  hard  bondage?  A  wise  man  would 
rather  carry  a  millstone  around  his  neck  than  a  grudge  in  his 
heart.  To  the  unregenerate  "  revenge  is  sweet."  Is  it  so  to 
you  ?  Do  you  cherish  the  memory  of  wrongs  ?  It  Avas  said  of 
Cranmer  that  he  had  so  excellent  a  memory  that  he  never  for- 
got anything  but  injuries.  A  good  memory  indeed  was  that. 
Is  yours  like  it  ?  Do  you  love  to  retaliate  ?  Are  you  vindic- 
tive ?  Are  you  irreconcilable  ?  or  are  you  easy  to  be  intreated  ? 
Some  say  they  are  ready  to  forgive  all  but  their  national  or  sec- 
tional enemies?  But  why  should  they  form  an  exception?  Do 
they  not  need  your  good  will?  Will  malice  against  a  whole 
people  be  less  damning  than  against  a  man  ?  Several  things 
ought  to  lead  us  utterly  to  cast  out  the  spirit  of  revenge,  i.  To 
punish  is  God's  work  and  prerogative.  He  is  Lord  of  all ;  he 
is  Judge  of  all.  2.  If  our  enemy  repents  not  of  his  evil  deeds, 
his  doom  will  be  so  dreadful  that  the  bare  contemplation  of  it 
will  fill  any  benevolent  mind  with  most  fearful  dread.  Chrysos- 
tom  :  "  If  any  one  abuseth  thee,  he  has  not  hurt  thee  at  all,  but 
himself  severely.  And  if  he  wrong  thee,  the  harm  will  be 
to  the  person  who  does  thee  wrong."  3.  It  is  human  to  do 
wrong ;  it  is  Godlike  to  forgive.  Matt.  5  :  48.  It  is  the  glory  of 
a  man  to  pass  over  a  transgression.  4.  He,  who  is  kind  to  those 
whom  he  regards  as  friends,  has  a  code  of  morals  no  higher 
than  the  heathen  or  the  Pharisees.     An  eastern  sage  commends 


Ch.  XII.,  V.  15.]  THE  ROMANS.  581 

the  system  of  education  among  the  ancient    Persians  because  it 
so  thoroughly  prepared  a  man  to  serve  his  friends  and  to  punish 
his  enemies.     And  Cicero,  in  some  respects  the  best  of  the  hea- 
then morahsts,  says  a  man  ought   to  feel  kindly  towards  every 
one  except  his  enemies.     Are  you  willing  to  rest  satisfied  with 
so  low  a  grade  of  moral  sentiment?     5.  There  is  a  much  more 
effectual  method  of  gaining  superiority  over  an  enemy  than  by 
hating  or   killing    him,  and  that  is  to  melt  him    down  by  kind- 
ness.     It  was  said  of   Cranmer  that    he  never   ceased  to  follow 
with  kindness  one  who  had  done  him  a  disservice.     The  power 
of  love  to  disarm  enmity  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the  conduct 
of  Joseph  towards    his    brethren,  in    David's   treatment  of  Saul 
and  in  Ehsha's   behaviour  towards  the  hosts  of   Syria.      6.  We 
have  the  example  of  Christ,  who  when  reviled  reviled  not  again ; 
when    he  suffered,  he  threatened  not.      If  we  would  reign  with 
Christ  in  heaven,  we  must  cherish  a  like  spirit  of  meekness  and 
love.     To  all  this  some  say,  I  would  forgive,  if  my  enemies  could 
express  any  sorrow  for  their  injurious  conduct.    Yet  neither  Christ 
nor  Stephen  waited  for  such  relentings ;  but  implored  heaven's 
mercies  on  persecutors  and  murderers,  whose  violence  was  still 
pouring  out  its  utmost  cruelty.     M'Cosh:  "  The  cruelty  inflicted 
in  times  of  political  convulsion  becomes  so  great  just  because  it 
has  taken  the  name  of  justice,  and  seems  to  be  the  avenger  of  the 
trampled  rights  of  men,  whether  princes  or  people.     Besides  feel- 
ings of  personal  revenge,  there  has  been  an  idea  of  supporting  the 
rights  of  sovereigns,  and  the  cause  of  good  government  in  those 
dreadful  injuries  which  tyrants  have  inflicted  on   their  subjects 
who,  in  fact  or  appearance,   were  disposed  to  rebellion.  .  .  Op- 
pression, whether  exercised  by  the  many  or  the  few,  has  never 
been  intensely  severe  till  it  has  assumed  the  name,  and  professes 
to  assert  and  avenge  the  rights  of  justice  ;  and  it  now  becomes  so 
unrelenting,  just  because  it  does  everything  in  the  name  of  law 
and  conscience."     But  we  may  not  indulge  malice  even  against 
such  monsters  of  cruelty.     The  history  of  modern  missions  tells 
us  of  a  negro  in  the  West  Indies,  who  asked  his  master  to  buy  an 
old  sickly  man  from  a  slave  ship,  carried  him  to  his  own  hut,  gave 
him  his  own  bed,  cooked   his  food  and  nursed  him  till  he  died. 
When  asked  the  reason  of  his  conduct  he  said,  "  I  am  trying  to  be 
a  Christian ;  that  was  the  man  that  stole  me  from  my  mother  in 
Africa  and  sold  me  into  slavery."     Are  you  that  sort  of  a  Chris- 
tian ? 

16.  Extend  your  sympathies  to  all  around  you  in  their  innocent 
joys  and  sorrows,  v.  15.  Especially  let  your  heart  go  out  warmly 
towards  the  poor,  afflicted  people  of  God.     Elsewhere  Paul  ex- 


582  EPISTLE   TO         [Ch.  XII.,  vs.  i6,  17. 

pressly  teaches  that  "  the  members  should  have  the  same  care  one 
for  another.  And  whether  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it ;  or  one  member  be  honored,  all  the  members  rejoice 
with  it.  Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  members  in  particu- 
lar," I  Cor.  12:25-27.  Compare  Heb.  13:3.  Often  sympathy  is 
all  that  we  can  give.  Sometimes  it  is  all  our  afflicted  brethren 
ask.     The  suffering  Saviour  sought  no  more. 

17.  Be  not  contrary  and  stubborn  but  yielding  and  compliant 
as  far  as  duty  will  permit,  v.  16.  *'  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren, 
by  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the  same 
thing,  and  that  there  be  no  divisions  among  you  ;  but  that  ye  be 
perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the  same  judg- 
ment, I  Cor.  I  :  10.     Compare  Phil;  2  :  2  ;  3  :  16  ;  4  :  2. 

18.  Seekest  thou  great  things?  Seek  them  not,  v.  16.  Waste 
not  your  time  in  courting  the  ungodly  great,  in  aiming  at  things 
impossible,  or,  if  possible,  injurious.     Compare  Jer.  45  :  5. 

19.  Are  you  humble  and  modest?  v.  16.  Prove  this  to  be  your 
character  by  your  readiness  to  mingle  with  the  humble.  "  When 
evil  men  combine,  the  good  must  associate."  Chrysostom :  "  Bring 
thyself  down  to  the  condition  of  men  of  low  estate,  ride  or  walk 
with  them,  do  not  be  humble  in  mind  only,  but  help  them  also, 
and  reach  forth  thy  hand  to  them,  not  by  means  of  others,  but  in 
thine  own  person,  as  a  father  taking  care  of  a  child,  as  the  head 
taking  care  of  the  body." 

20.  Be  very  careful  what  opinion  you  form  of  yourself,  your 
worth,  your  talents  and  your  principles,  v.  16.  Hodge :  "  A  wrong 
estimate  of  ourselves  is  a  fruitful  source  of  evil.  Viewed  in  rela- 
tion to  God,  and  in  our  own  absolute  insignificance,  we  have  little 
reason  to  be  wise  or  important  in  our  own  conceits.  A  proper 
self-knowledge  will  preserve  us  from  pride,  ambition  and  contempt 
of  others."  It  may  be  as  sinful  to  deny  good  qualities  which  we 
have  received,  as  to  deny  our  bad  qualities  ;  but  mankind  will 
generally  agree  that  the  latter  error  is  far  the  more  common. 

21.  Are  your  ways  and  conduct  just?  v.  17.  It  is  possible  to 
preserve  the  peace  of  neighborhoods,  when  all  the  people  are 
strictly  upright,  though  some  may  be  narrow-minded.  Justice  is 
one  of  the  great  pillars  of  society  ;  it  is  one  of  the  pillars  of  the 
throne  of  God.  "  Most  men  are  admirers  of  justice, — when  justice 
happens  to  be  on  their  side."  "  Men  are  not  always  right  in  the 
use  of  their  rights." 

22.  Are  you  honorable?  v.  17.  Is  your  conduct  above  just  re- 
proach ?  Do  you  put  to  silence  by  fair  dealing  the  ignorance  of 
foolish  men  ?  Has  he  who  is  of  the  contrary  part  no  evil  thing, 
that  he  can  truly  say  of  you  ? 


Ch.  XII.,  V.  i8.]  THE  ROMANS.  583 

23.  Do  you  love  a  quiet  life?  v.  18.  Seek  peace  and  pursue 
it.  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers.  God  hath  called  us  to  peace. 
It  was  a  good  saying  of  a  great  man  recently  dead  :  "  I  would  not 
give  an  hour  of  brotherly  love  for  a  whole  eternity  of  contention." 
Sacrifice  all  you  may  lawfully  do  for  peace,  but  never  sacrifice 
truth,  honor,  or  conscience,  even  for  the  sake  of  life  itself.  Chry- 
sostom  :  "  Do  thine  own  part,  and  to  none  give  occasion  of  war  or 
fighting,  neither  to  Jew  nor  Gentile.  But  if  you  see  the  cause  of 
religion  suffering  anywhere,  do  not  prize  concord  above  truth,  but 
make  a  noble  stand  even  to  death."  If  anything  is  our  duty,  it  is 
that  we  be  valiant  for  the  truth.  The  life  of  truth  is  more  impor- 
tant than  the  life  of  any  man. 

24.  This  whole  chapter  shows  that  it  is  a  slander  that  the  doc- 
trines of  grace,  when  correctly  expounded,  favor  licentiousness  or 
Antinomianism.  "  Evangelical  doctrines  lead  to  evangelical  prac- 
tice." Hodge  :  "  It  is  not  more  important  to  believe  what  God 
has  revealed  than  to  do  what  he  has  commanded." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

VERSES  1-7. 
OUR  DUTIES  TO  CIVIL  RULERS. 


Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers.  For  there  is  no  power  but 
of  God  :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God. 

2  Whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God  :  and 
they  that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation. 

3  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil.  Wilt  thou  then 
not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ?  do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of 
the  same : 

4  For  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  goofl.  But  if  thou  do  that  which  is 
evil,  be  afraid  ;  for  he  beareth  not  the  sword  in  vain  :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God, 
a  revenger  to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil. 

5  Wherefore  ye  must  needs  be  subject,  not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for  con- 
science' sake. 

6  For,  for  this  cause 'pay  ye  tribute  also  :  for  they  are  God's  ministers,  attend- 
ing continually  upon  this  very  thing. 

7  Render  therefore  to  all  their  dues :  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due  ;  custom 
to  whom  custom  ;  fear  to  whom  fear ;  honour  to  whom  honour. 

THE  most  extended  parallel  passage  is  found  in  i  Pet.  2:13- 
17  :  "  Submit  yourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the 
Lord's  sake  :  whether  it  be  to  the  king,  as  supreme  ;  or  unto  gov- 
ernors, as  unto  them  that  are  sent  by  him  for  the  punishment  of 
evil  doers,  and  for  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well:  For  so  is  the 
will  of  God,  that  with  well  doing  ye  may  put  to  silence  the  igno- 
rance of  foolish  men.  As  free,  and  'not  using  your  liberty  for  a 
cloak  of  maliciousness,  but  as  the  servants  of  God.  Honour  all 
men.     Love  the  brotherhood.     Fear  God.     Honour  the  king." 

It  may  save  time  and  enable  us  to  get  a  clearer  view  of  the  im- 
portant matter  here  brought  to  our  notice,  if  we  take  a  general 
view  of  the  duties  of  rulers  and  ruled,  thus  eliminating  all  the 
principles  involved  in  this  passage.  The  names  here  given  to  civil 
magistrates  are  the  powers,  the  higher  powers,  rulers,  ministers 
of  God,  and  revengers.     In  scriptural  and  theological  language, 

(584) 


Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  1-7.]         THE  R  OMA  NS.  585 

ofificers  of  civil  government  are  often  called  magistrates,  whatever 
may  be  the  department  of  government  they  fill,  whether  supreme 
or  subordinate ;  whethej-  legislative,  judicial  or  executive ;  or 
whether  the  government,  of  which  they  are  functionaries,  be  free 
or  despotic,  elective  or  hereditary.  Paul  lived  and  wrote  and 
suffered  under  Nero,  and  yet  by  precept  and  example  he  taught 
submission  to  our  civil  rulers.  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  live  under 
a  free  government,  and  obedience  to  its  good  laws  should  be  ren- 
dared  with  the  most  cheerful  alacrity  ;  but  even  under  a  despotic 
government  there  ought  to  be  no  factious  opposition  and  no  hesi- 
tancy to  obey  right  laws.  Magistrates  sometimes  err  through 
mistake,  sometimes  through  prejudice,  sometimes  through  bad 
l-assions,  and  sometimes  through  bad  counsel,  but  wise  men  will 
bear  with  these  errors  as  long  as  they  can.  As  the  passage  under 
'.consideration  suggests  the  duties  both  of  those  who  govern  and  of 
"'.hose  who  are  governed,  let  us  take  a  summary  view  of  the  duties 
Qf  both. 

1.  A  magistrate  ought  to  understand  the  duties  of  his  office. 
*  Woe  to  thee,  O  land,  when  thy  king  is  a  child  ;"  "  The 
prince  that  wanteth  understanding  is  also  a  great  oppressor,'' 
Ecc.  10  :  16;  Prov.  28  :  16.  A  sound  mind  and  correct  informa- 
sion  are  essential  to  the  magistrate.  The  best  that  ignorance  can 
do  is  to  commit  folly. 

2.  Some,  who  have  good  minds  and  are  intelligent,  are  sordid, 
selfish,  and  have  contracted  views,  and  thus  are  unfit  for  office. 
Rulers  should  be  magnanimous,  should  avoid  the  little  arts  and 
meannesses  resorted  to  by  many  to  retain  office  and  serve  them- 
selves. How  can  a  miser,  a  sharper,  a  buffoon,  a  jester,  a  glutton 
or  a  drunkard  carry  on  a  government  i  "  It  is  not  for  kings,  O 
Lemuel,  it  is  not  for  kings  to  drink  wine  ;  nor  for  princes  strong 
drink :  lest  they  drink,  and  forget  the  law,  and  pervert  the  judg- 
ment of  any  of  the  afflicted,"  Prov.  31- :  4,  5.  A  civil  ruler  should 
be  eyes  to  the  blind,  feet  to  the  lame,  and  strength  to  the  feeble. 
He  ought  to  have  a  just  regard  for  widows,  orphans,  the  stranger, 
the  poor,  the  abused,  the  oppressed. 

3.  Civil  rulers  should  be  men  of  firmness  and  fortitude.  If 
timid,  they  will  be  overawed  by  clamor,  or  led  away  by  the  vio- 
lence of  others.  Without  courage  and  intrepidity  a  public  func- 
tionary is  a  public  curse. 

4.  A  magistrate  must  be  a  man  of  integrity  and  fidelity,  beyond 
the  power  of  bribery  or  flattery.  He  must  have  no  favorites  in 
the  orders  of  society.  Towards  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  he 
must  be  impartial. 

5.  A  magistrate  must  set  a  good  example.     In  vain  will  he  sit 


■f 


586  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  1-7. 

in  judgment  on  gamblers,  if  he  is  a  gambler  himself.  How  can 
he  enforce  good  morals,  who  tramples  them  under  his  own 
feet  ? 

A  general  summary  of  the  duties  of  rulers  is  the  enactment 
and  execution  of  good  laws,  2  Chron.  19  :  5-7  ;  Zech.  8  :  16 ;  the 
maintenance  of  authority  with  wisdom,  justice  and  clemency,  2 
Chron.  1:10;  the  punishment  of  evil  doers,  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  them  that  do  well ;  the  protection  of  the  people  and  pro- 
viding for  the  common  safety,  seeking  their  prosperity  and  doing 
all  that  is  right  to  keep  them  from  oppression,  i  Tim.  2:2;  Prov. 
28  :  16.  Thus  shall  rulers  be  a  blessing,  a  terror  to  evil  men,  but 
not  a  terror  to  good  works.  They  will  praise  the  virtuous  ;  they 
will  be  to  us  the  ministers  of  God  for  good ;  they  will  not  bear 
the  sword  in  vain.  A  government  so  conducted  shall  be  as  the 
light  of  the  morning,  when  the  sun  riseth,  even  a  morning  without 
clouds ;  as  the  tender  grass  springing  out  of  the  earth  by  clear 
shining  after  rain,  2  Sam.  23  :  4. 

Let  us  look  at  a  summary  of  the  duties  of  the  governed.  The 
form  of  government  under  which  men  live  will  somewhat  modify 
their  duty  to  their  rulers.  In  a  well-regulated  limited  monarchy, 
or  in  a  free  commonwealth,  men  are  citizens,  and  more  liberty  is 
granted,  and  more  rights  are  guaranteed.  In  a  despotic  form  of 
government,  the  people  are  subjects,  and  the  will  of  the  prince  is 
the  supreme  law.  But  the  form  of  government  can  never  absolve 
any  one  from  the  duties  he  owes  to  his  rulers. 

1.  As  a  general  thing  we  are  to  recognize  the  actual  incum- 
bent of  an  office  as  having  been  thereto  appointed  by  providence. 
"  Promotion  cometh  neither  from  the  east,  nor  from  the  west,  nor 
from  the  south.  But  God  is  the  judge  :  he  putteth  down  one  and 
setteth  up  another,"  Ps.  75  :  6,  7.  When  our  Lord  was  on  earth, 
it  was  much  debated  whether  the  Roman  power  in  Judea  was 
lawful.  The  question  was  submitted  to  him.  He  made  no  de- 
cision of  the  matter,  further  than  this;  that  it  was  lawful  to  pay 
tribute,  and  to  submit  to  the  magistrate  in  the  exercise  of  actual 
authority.  "  Infidelity,  or  difference  in  religion,  doth  not  make 
void  a  magistrate's  just  and  legal  authority." 

2.  It  is  our  duty  to  treat  all  the  officers  of  government  of  every 
grade  with  respect,  giving  to  each  the  honor  that  is  his  due,  and 
never  using  contemptuous  language  or  deportment  towards  any 
of  them.  See  Ex.  22  :  28  ;  i  Sam.  26  :  19  ;  Ecc.  10  :  20;  Acts  23  : 
5  ;  Rom.  13  :  7  ;  I  Pet.  2:17;  Jude  8,  9.  Beyond  his  place  and 
out  of  it,  an  officer  is  to  be  treated,  like  other  men,  according  to 
his  merits.     But  in  his  official  duty  he  must  be  honored. 

3.  We  must  earnestly  and  fervently  pray  for  all  who  have  au- 


Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  I-;.]       THE  ROMANS.  587 

thority  over  us,  whatever  their  rank  or  character  may  be.  This 
is  a  reasonable  and  clearly  commanded  duty.  The  right  end  of 
these  prayers  is  not  to  flatter  rulers,  nor  to  express  approbation  or 
disapprobation  of  their  course  ;  but  that  "  rulers  may  have  o-race, 
wisdom,  and  understanding  to  execute  justice,  and  to  maintain 
truth  ;  and  that  the  people  may  lead  quiet  and  peaceful  lives  in 
all  godliness  and  honesty."  It  is  not  possible  that  Paul  approved 
of  the  enormities  and  cruelties  of  Nero;  yet  he  prayed  for  him, 
and  charged  others  to  do  the  same. 

4.  We  ought  to  pay  all  the  taxes  of  every  kind  legally  de- 
manded of  us  by  the  government,  whether  it  be  what  the  Apos- 
tle here  calls  tribute,  a  poll-tax,  or  custom,  a  tax  on  property. 
This  payment  ought  to  be  honest,  prompt,  cheerful.  Matt.  18  :  27  ; 
22  :  21 ;  Mark  12  :  16,  17;  Luke  2a:  24 — 26.  It  is  as  truly  wicked 
to  defraud  the  government  as  it  is  to  rob  the  poor. 

5.  We  ought  to  give  a  prompt,  cheerful  and  conscientious 
obedience  to  all  the  lawful  commands  of  our  government.  This 
is  very  clear  from  verses  i — 5  of  this  chapter  ;  from  Titus  3:1; 

1  Pet.  2  :  13 — 17.  This  obedience  is  not  to  be  rendered  from  the 
spirit  of  servile  fear,  but  from  religious  principle — '  for  conscience' 
sake.'  When  a  government  issues  wicked  commands,  which  it  is 
not  lawful  for  us  to  obey,  we  must  passively  submit  to  the  con- 
sequence of  disobedience,  as  did  Daniel  and  the  three  faithful 
young  men,  until  God  gives  deliverance. 

6.  All  the  acts  and  measures  of  our  rulers  are  entitled  to  a  just 
and  candid  construction.  We  are  no  more  at  liberty  to  misjudo-e 
or  misrepresent  them  than  other  people.  Blind  submission  and 
fond  admiration  are  not  required  of  us.  But  "thou  shalt  not 
speak  evil  of  the  ruler  of  thy  people." 

7.  When  our  good  rulers  die,  we  should  express  our  sorrow  in 
some  becoming  manner,  as  the  children  of  Israel  wept  for  Moses, 
and  as  all  Judah  and  Jerusalem  mourned  for  Josiah,  Deut.  34  :  8  ; 

2  Chron.  35  :  24,  25.  "When  the  wicked  perish  there  is  shout- 
ing," Prov.  II  :  10;  but  when  good  men  die,  there  should  be 
weeping. 

The  duties  of  magistrates  and  people  are  enforced  in  very  sol- 
emn terms.  If  the  ruled  have  their  duties,  so  have  the  rulers.  If 
the  one,  by  misconduct,  exposes  himself  to  reprehension,  so  by 
misrule  does  the  other.  If  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  allegiance  binds 
the  one,  the  oath  of  office  in  the  other  cannot  be  unheeded  with- 
out moral  perjury.  If  the  thief  and  the  robber,  the  murderer  and 
the  assassin  shall  not  escape  condemnation,  shall  tyrants  and  li- 
centious rulers,  who  have  every  where  a  Doeg,  be  innocent  ?  His- 
tory tells  us  of  the  miserable  end  of  wicked  Shimei,  who  cursed 


588  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  1-4. 

the  Lord's  anointed.  It  no  less  warns  us  by  the  terrible  judg- 
ments of  God  on  Saul,  once  the  Lord's  anointed,  but  an  envious, 
cruel  creature,  who  took  or  sought  the  lives  of  his  best  subjects. 
The  apostle  here  says  that  if  a  Christian  violates  the  laws  he  shall 
receive  damnation,  meanisg  punishment  from  the  civil  authority, 
and  from  God  also.  Wicked  rulers,  too,  often  receive  damnation, 
that  is,  punishment  from  the  injured  people ;  or  if  not  from  them, 
surely  from  God  at  last.  See  Isa.  14  :  4 — 21.  Hodge:"  "  There  was 
a  peculiar  necessity,  during  the  Apostolic  age,  for  inculcating  the 
duty  of  obedience  to  civil  magistrates.  This  necessity  arose  in 
part  from  the  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  the  converts  to  Christi- 
anity had  been  Jews,  and  were  peculiarly  indisposed  to  submit  to 
the  heathen  authorities."  And  there  has  been  great  reproach 
brought  on  the  Christian  religion  by  ecclesiastical  persons  claim- 
ing absolute  exemption  from  the  authority  of  temporal  rulers — a 
thing  utterly  unknown  to  apostles  and  apostolic  men. 

DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

1.  Christianity  does  not  abolish  civil  government.  It  teaches 
the  great  to  be  condescending  and  kind.  It  teaches  the  poor  to 
be  quiet  and  cheerful.  It  declares  a  brotherhood  in  the  church 
and  abolishes  the  distinction  of  Jew  and  Greek,  Barbarian  and 
Scythian,  bond  and  free.  It  declares  that  all  are  one  in  Christ 
Jesus.  But  it  takes  men  in  every  civil  status,  just  as  it  finds  them, 
and  fits  them  for  their  places.  It  requires  that  every  thing  be  done 
decently  and  in  order.     It  is  an  enemy  of  discord  and  confusion. 

2.  Government  is  of  God  and  is  expressly  so  declared  to  be, 
vs.  I — ^4.  In  like  manner,  marriage  is  of  God.  But  there  is  this 
great  difference  between  the  two  :  men  and  women  may,  without 
sin  in  many  ca§es,  decline  marriage ;  but  no  one  can  decline  sub- 
mission to  government.  Chalmers  :  "  It  is  not  the  kind  of  charac- 
ter of  any  government,  but  the  existence  of  it,  which  invests  it 
with  its  claim  on  our  obedience,  or  at  least  which  determines  for 
us  the  duty  of  yielding  subjection  thereunto.  Its  mandates  should 
be  submitted  to,  not  because  either  law  or  justice  or  respect  for 
the  good  of  humanity  presided  over  the  forn:ation  of  it,  but  simply 
because  it  exists."  True  it  is  a  great  comfort  to  live  under  a  gov- 
ernment which  had  its  origin  in  truth  and  justice ;  but  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  there  are  many  such  on  earth.  Meanwhile  submission 
to  all  laws  that  are  not  wicked  is  clearly  a  duty. 

3.  Hodge  :  "  While  '  government  is  of  God,  the  form  is  of 
men.'  God  has  never  made  any  one  form  obUgatory  on  all  com- 
munities ;  but  has  simply  laid  down  certain  principles,  applicable 


Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  I-;.]        THE  ROMANS.  589 

to  rulers  and  subjects  under  every  form  in  which  governments 
exist."  It  is  not  uncommon  to  meet  in  America  persons  reared 
under  monarchical  governments,  who  believe  that  the  only  form 
of  government  which  fully  has  the  divine  sanction  is  that  of 
kings.  Many  such  seem  to  be  truly  conscientious ;  nor  in  the 
conduct  of  public  worship  should  such  language  be  used  as  to 
wound  their  consciences.  Yet  they  are  certainly  mistaken, 
although  it  is  freely  admitted  that  allusions  in  scripture  are 
chiefly  to  kingly  governments.  Such  seem  to  forget  that  God  was 
not  pleased  with  the  Israelites  for  desiring  a  king,  i  Sam.  8 :  7-9 ; 
yea,  that  he  gave  them  a  king  in  his  anger  and  took  him  away  in 
his  wrath,  Hos.  13:11. 

4.  Macknight :  "  It  deserves  both  notice  and  praise,  that  in 
explaining  to  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  their  duty  as  citizens,  the 
apostle  hath  shewn  the  finest  address.  For  while  he  seemed  only 
to  plead  the  cause  of  the  magistrate  with  the  people,  he  tacitly 
conveyed  the  most  wholesome  instruction  to  the  heathen  rulers, 
who  he  knew  were  too  proud  to  receive  advice  from  teachers  of 
his  character  and  nation.  For  by  telling  rulers,  that  they  are  the 
servants  of  God  for  good  to  the  people,  he  taught  them  the  purpose  of 
their  office,  and  shewed  them  that  their  sole  aim  in  executing  it 
ought  to  be,  to  promote  the  happiness  of  their  people  ;  and  that  as 
soon  as  they  lose  sight  of  this,  their  government  degenerates  into 
tyranny."  It  were  well,  if  at  all  times,  and  peculiarly  in  times  of 
political  convulsions,  men  in  power  were  constantly  reminded  of 
the  same  truths. 

5.  The  rights  of  conscience  are  sacred  and  may  never  be  in- 
fringed by  the  civil  magistrate.  God  alone  is  Lord  of  conscience. 
Absolute  religious  freedom  is  the  true  doctrine  under  which  alone 
men  may  expect  exemption  from  persecution.  For  a  long  time, 
much  was  said  of  toleration ;  but  the  very  idea  supposes  that 
governments  have  a  right  to  judge  of  one's  conscientious  convic- 
tions. If  any  indeed  shall  make  a  plea  of  conscience  a  cloak  of 
maliciousness,  or  covetousness,  or  perverseness,  civil  rulers  are  not 
bound  to  regard  it.  But  when  it  is  made  in  good  faith,  not  for  an 
occasion,  but  from  solemn  conviction,  there  is  no  higher  act  of 
presumption  than  to  step,  as  it  were,  upon  the  throne  of  the 
Almighty,  and  assume  his  awful  prerogative.  Calvin  :  "  This 
whole  discourse  is  concerning  civil  government ;  and  it  is  there- 
fore to  no  purpose  if  they  who  would  exercise  dominion  over  con- 
sciences do  here  attempt  to  establish  their  sacrilegious  tyranny." 
Hodge :  "  The  obedience  which  the  scriptures  command  us  to 
render  to  our  rulers  is  not  unlimited  ;  there  are  cases  in  which 
disobedience  is  a  duty.      This  is  evident  from  the  very  nature  of 


590  EPISTLE   TO  [Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  1-7. 

the  case."  That  this  is  the  true  doctrine  of  scripture  is  evident 
from  the  example  of  Daniel,  of  Shadrach,  Meshech  and  Abed- 
nego,  and  of  the  apostles  themselves,  who  openly  proclaimed, 
"  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men,"  Acts.  5 :  29. 

6.  Let  us  love  and  cherish  government.  It  is  a  good  gift  of 
God  to  man.  Without  it  society  is  impossible.  When  Commodore 
Cocke  went,  in  the  name  of  his  government,  to  buy  out  the  pirate 
Lafitte,  and  thus  make  the  navigation  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  safe, 
he  found  near  the  residence  of  the  bold  buccaneer  a  man  gibbetted. 
On  inquiry  the  great  pirate  informed  him  that  the  dead  man  had 
violated  some  of  the  necessary  laws  of  their  combination.  It  is 
probable  that  the  very  worst  regular  government  on  earth  is 
better  than  a  state  of  anarchy.  On  this  point  Calvin  goes  very 
far :  "  Princes  do  never  so  far  abuse  their  power  by  harassing  the 
good  and  innocent,  that  they  do  not  retain  in  their  tyranny  some 

'kind  of  just  government:  there  can  then  be  no  tyranny  which 
does  not  in  some  respects  assist  in  consolidating  the  society  of 
men."  Cobbin :  "  Where  there  is  no  magistracy  there  must  be 
anarchy.  We  should  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers,  for  a  more 
awful  state  of  things  cannot  exist  than  for  every  man  to  do  '  that 
which  is  right  in  his  own  eyes'."  Evans:  "  Never  did  sovereign 
prince  pervert  the  ends  of  government  as  Nero  did,  and  yet  to 
him  Paul  appealed,  and  under  him  had  the  protection  of  the  law 
and  the  inferior  magistrates  more  than  once.  Better  bad  govern- 
ment than  none  at  all."  Chalmers  too  does  not  hesitate  to  say  : 
"  We  believe  that  in  every  land,  the  institution  of  government, 
even  when  administered  by  the  most  hateful  of  tyrants,  is  produc- 
tive of  good  upon  the  whole." 

7.  But  if  civil  government  is  in  itself  such  a  good  that  even  mal- 
administration cannot  take  from  it  all  its  benefits,  how  terrible  is 
the  responsibility  of  those  rulers  and  parties,  who  make  it  a  terror 
to  those  who  do  well,  and  seize,  imprison,  fine  and  murder  those 
who  have  been  faithful  to  their  civil  obligations.  When  magis- 
trates make  good  men  groan  under  their  systems  of  espionage, 
inquisition  and  lordly  cruelty,  they  must  remember  that  there  is 
a  God  in  heaven.  Even  where  rulers  are  sent  by  God  to  scourge 
a  guilty  people  for  their  sins,  yet  if  they  do  it  wantonly  and  cruelly, 
not  discriminating  between  the  guilty  and  the  innocent,  and  gloat- 
ing over  the  miseries  they  bring  upon  others,  the  Most  High  has 
a  rod,  a  sword,  a  day  of  recompense  and  a  prison  for  them,  if  they 
die  without  repentance.  When  the  Assyrian  had  wantonly  pun- 
ished Israel  for  their  sins,  God  said.  Now  I  will  punish  you  ;  and 
the  retribution  was  condign  and  awful.  When  by  threats,  uttered 
in  words  or  deeds,  magistrates  excite  rebellion  and    work   the 


Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  6,  ;.]      THE  ROMANS.  591 

people  up  to  frenzy  and  thus  lose  the  respect  which  they  would 
otherwise  secure,  it  is  in  vain  for  them  to  attempt  to  shirk  the 
fearful  responsibility  under  which  they  have  acted. 

8.  Kingdoms  are  not  for  kings,  and  governments  are  not  for 
governors,  but  for  the  people  whom  they  rule,  v.  6.  This  rulers 
often  forget  and  deal  with  men  in  caprice  and  haughtiness.  They 
are  appointed  as  God's  ministers  for  good.  Calvin  :  "  Magistrates 
may  hence  learn  what  their  vocation  is,  for  them  not  to  rule  for 
their  own  interest,  but  for  the  public  good  ;  nor  are  they  endued 
with  unbridled  power,  but  what  is  restricted  to  the  well-being  of 
their  subjects  ;  in  short,  they  are  responsible  to  God  and  to  men 
in  the  exercise  of  their  power."  Hodge  :  "  The  design  of  civil 
government  is  not  to  promote  the  advantage  of  rulers  but  of  the 
ruled.  They  are  ordained  and  invested  with  authority  to  be  a 
terror  to  evil  doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well.  They  are 
the  ministers  of  God  for  this  end,  and  are  appointed  'for  this  very 
thing.'  On  this  ground  our  obligation  to  obedience  rests,  and  the 
obligation  ceases  when  this  design  is  systematically,  constantly 
and  notoriously  disregarded."  Let  men  in  power  remember  that 
if  God's  curse  is  on  the  authors  of  anarchy  and  confusion,  his  face 
is  awfully  set  against  the  authors  of  misrule  and  tyranny. 

9.  Any  fair  interpretation  of  this  passage,  particularly  of  verse 
4,  settles  the  question  of  the  lawfulness  of  capital  punishment 
for  those  crimes  which  destroy  society.  The  sword  was  the 
instrument  of  beheading  and,  if  never  used  for  that  purpose 
upon  murderers  and  the  like  wrong-doers,  it  was  surely  borne  in 
vain. 

10.  Let  us  set  an  example  of  cheerfulness  and  uprightness  in 
paying  to  the  government  under  which  we  live  all  its  just  dues  of 
tribute  or  custom,  v.  7.  It  is  said  that  under  some  of  the  old  gov- 
ernments of  Europe,  men  otherwise  respectable  consider  it  a  clever 
thing  to  defraud  the  government,  especially  in  the  matter  of  cus- 
toms. Scott  and  Chalmers  admit  as  much  in  their  comments  on 
this  passage.  Rumor  states  that  like  practices  have  gained  a  foot- 
ing in  our  own  land.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  let  every  one, 
who  has  any  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes,  eschew  a  practice  so  alien 
to  the  morals  of  the  Bible. 

11.  Are  you  in  private  liife,  holding  no  post  of  profit,  trust  or 
honor?  Grieve  not  at  your  privacy.  Every  office  brings  with  it 
a  great  weight  of  responsibility.  If  God  in  his  wisdom  and  mercy 
relieves  you  of  that  load,  thank  him  for  his  kindness.  Among  the 
very  poorest  occupations  of  men  is  that  of  office-seeking  and  office- 
holding.  Many  have  a  different  judgment.  But  it  is  erroneous. 
The  greatest  man  of  his  day  in  his  nation,  when  dying,  said  :  "  If 


592  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  1-7. 

I  had  served  my  God,  as  I  have  served  my  monarch,  I  should  not 
have  been  left  in  this  sad  plight." 

12.  Let  us  never  flatter  tyrants,  nor  favor  misrule,  under  any 
plea  whatever.  For  this  employment,  some  have  such  a  penchant, 
that  while  they  seem  to  pretermit  the  living,  they  go  back  to 
former  days,  and  praise  dead  tyrants.  It  would  not  be  more 
ignoble  to  praise  dead  dogs.  Let  us  be  the  stanch,  unflinching 
friends  of  sound,  sober,  constitutional,  civil  and  religious  freedom. 
Let  us  rejoice  in  every  advance  that  is  made  towards  the  universal 
enjoyment  of  such  a  blessing. 

13.  Let  us  always  favor  good,  wholesome  and  permanent  laws, 
without  which  all  claims  and  pretensions  to  liberty  are  vain.  It  is 
a  great  thing  when  the  stable  institutions  of  a  country  extend 
their  power  to  the  ocean,  the  prairie,  the  wilderness,  the  retired 
hamlet  and  the  great  city.  Hooker  :  "  Of  the  law  there  can  be  no 
less  acknowledged  than  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom  of  God,  her 
voice  the  harmony  of  the  world.  All  things  in  heaven  and  earth 
do  her  homage,  the  very  least  as  feeling  her  care,  the  greatest  as 
not  exempted  from  her  power.  Both  angels,  and  men,  and  crea- 
tures of  what  condition  soever,  though  each  in  different  sort  and 
measure,  yet  all  with  uniform  consent,  admitting  her  as  the  mother 
of  their  peace  and  joy." 

14.  It  is  sad  when  a  government  by  any  of  its  acts  forces  its 
good  citizens  to  assume  an  attitude  of  apparent  hostility  to  its 
course.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  days  of  bloody  Mary  and  of  the 
ignoble  Charles  II.  Chalmers:  "And  thus  too  at  this  moment, 
the  church  of  Scotland — submitting  to  the  civil  power  in  all  that 
is  civil ;  and  only  refusing  her  obedience  when  that  power  as- 
sumes an  authority  over  things  sacred.  Many  are  not  able,  per- 
haps not  willing,  to  discriminate  in  this  matter ;  and  so,  at  their 
hand  she  suffers  the  obloquy  of  being  a  rebel  against  the  laws." 
And  so  it  often  happens. 

15.  Let  magistrates  never  forget  that  they  will  be  judged  by 
God  himself,  and  perhaps  punished  in  this  world,  and,  if  they  die 
without  repentance,  surely  in  the  world  to  come.  Let  them  not 
forget  that  with  God  there  is  no  respect  of  persons.  Soon  he  will 
say,  "  Give  an  account  of  thy  stewardship,  for  thou  mayest  be  no 
longer  steward."  O !  how  will  the  abused,  the  wronged,  the  rob- 
bed, the  whipped,  the  insulted  and  the  persecuted  rise  before  the 
Eternal  Judge,  and  clank  their  chains  to  the  shame  and  everlast- 
ing contempt  and  confusion  of  tyrants  and  persecutors,  who  once 
bore  a  sceptre  or  a  whip  in  the  dominions  of  this  world. 

16.  One  of  the  most  difficult  questions,  touching  the  ethics  of 
political   institutions,    regards   the    right   of   revolution — a   right 


Ch.  XIII.,  vs!  1-4.]       THE  ROMANS.  593 

which  all  men,  unless  they  be  tyrants,  or  their  myrmidons,  or 
fools,  believe  in — whatever  may  be  their  professions  to  the  con- 
trary. The  Settlejnent  of  1688,  which  for  ever  cast  out  the  exe- 
crable line  of  monarchs  that  had  trifled  with  the  rights  of  the 
people,  was  a  great  revolution  in  England.  The  establishment  of 
American  Independence  was  by  revolution,  Hodge  :  "  When 
rulers  become  a  terror  to  the  good,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do 
evil,  they  may  still  be  tolerated  and  obeyed,  not  however,  of  right, 
but  because  the  remedy  may  be  worse  than  the  disease."  There 
are  but  few  governments  that  set  up  any  claim  to  liberality  which 
do  not  admit  the  right  of  memorial,  petition  and  remonstrance  ; 
but  sometimes  even  these  fail.  Mr.  Burke  seems  to  think  that 
when  revolution  is  justifiable,  the  path  of  duty  to  good  citizens 
is  very  clear.  .  Perhaps  it  may  be.  Yet  mankind  have  made  so 
many  mistakes  on  this  great  subject  that  the  prudent  will  be  ex- 
tremely cautious  in  taking  one  step  in  that  direction. 

17.  God  governs  this  world,  vs.  1-4.  By  him  kings  reign,  and 
princes  decree  justice.  By  him  princes  rule,  and  nobles,  even  all 
the  judges  of  the  earth,  Prov.  8:15,  16.  Of  him  and  through  him 
and  to  him  are  all  things,  to  whom  be  glory  in  the  highest  forever. 
Amen. 


38 


CHAPTER   XIII, 

VERSES  8-14. 

SEVERAL    PRINCIPLES    OF    MORALS    STATED,    AND 
RIGHT    MOTIVES    URGED. 


8  Owe  no  man  any  thing,  but  to  love  one  another  :  for  he  that  loveth  another 
hath  fulfilled  the  law. 

9  For  this.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  Thou  shalt 
not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness.  Thou  shalt  not  covet ;  and  if  there  be 
any  other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying,  namely,  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

10  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbor:  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law. 

1  1  And  that,  knowirtg  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep: 
for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when  we  believed. 

1 2  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand  :  let  us  therefore  cast  off  the  works 
of  darkness,  and  let  us  put  on  the  armour  of  light. 

1 3  Let  us  walk  honestly,  as  in  the  day  ;  not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not 
in  chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife  and  envying  : 

14  But  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  make  not  provision  for  the  flesh, 
to  fulfil  the  lusts  thereof. 

8  OWE  no  man  any  thing  but  to  love  one  another :  for  he  that 
,  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the  lazv.  Having  defined  and 
enforced  men's  duties  respecting  civil  government,  the  Apostle 
now  proceeds  to  call  attention  to  some  general  principles.  Owe 
no  man  any  thing,  the  verb  is  cognate  to  the  word  rendered  debtor 
in  Rom.  i  :  14  ;  8  :  12  ;  15  :  27.  In  Matt.  18  :  28  ;  Luke  16  :  5,  7  ; 
Philem.  18,  it  is  rendered  as  here  ;  in  Luke  11  :  14  it  is  rendered 
in  the  passive,  is  indebted  ;  very  often  it  is  rendered  we  ought  or 
are  bound.  Three  interpretations  are  offered  ;  i.  Meet  all  your 
obligations  social,  civil,  pecuniary,  moral.  This  of  course  covers 
the  whole  ground.  The  objection  to  adopting  it  arises  from  what 
follows ;  q.  d.  meet  all  your  obligations  but  love,  when  the  whole 
reasoning  of  the  apostle  shows  that  that  is  a  principal  duty. 
2.  Erasmus,  Scott  and  others  construe  the  verb  as  in  the  indicative, 

(594) 


Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  9,  lo.]       THE  R  OMA  NS .  595 

Ye  owe  no  man  any  thing  but  love,  for  that  includes  all.  The 
original  admits  this  construction,  but  the  sense  obtained  is  not  the 
best.  3.  The  better  interpretation  is  the  more  common — Contract 
not  pecuniary  liabilities  which  you  are  not  able  to  meet,  or.  Avoid 
as  far  as  possible  a  system  of  indebtedness.  Engage  not  in  hazard- 
ous speculations  except  where  they  involve  no  more  than  you  are 
able  to  lose  without  injury  to  your  family  or  your  creditors. 
Avoid  all  suretyships,  which  exceed  the  amount  you  are  able  and 
willing  to  lose.  Never  buy  any  thing  because  it  is  cheap.  What 
you  do  not  need  is  dear  at  any  price.  Never  go  in  debt  for  a  luxury 
nor  for  a  comfort.  If  you  must  ask  credit  for  a  necessary  thing, 
state  fairly  and  precisel)^  your  prospect  of  payment.  Sacrifice 
everything  but  truth,  honor  and  a  good  conscience  to  meet  your 
pecuniary  liabilities.  Yet  when  you  have  done  all  this,  at  all  times 
acknowledge  your  obligations  to  love  all  men  and  to  do  them 
good.  That  is  a  bond  from  which  a  good  man  never  seeks  to  be 
released.  The  renderings  of  the  clause  are  very  uniform.  The 
love  here  enjoined  goes  quite  beyond  pecuniary  engagements,  per- 
sonal promises,  or  the  strict  demands  of  justice.  When  justice  has 
held  an  even  balance,  and  duty  has  paid  over  all  thus  weighed  out, 
love  like-  a  princely  matron  comes  forth  with  her  treasures,  and 
pours  them  out  into  the  lap  of  want.  The  law  said  to  be  fulfilled 
by  love  to  man  is  the  second  table  of  the  law,  as  the  context  shows. 
Christ  himself  has  told  us  that  this  is  the  second  commandment 
and  hke  unto  the  first,  Matt.  22  :  39;  Mark  12  :  31.  The  exact 
meaning  is,  he  that  loveth  another  as  he  loves  himself  has  fulfilled 
the  law  to  that  man. 

9.  For  this,  Thou  sJialt  not  coimnit  adultery,  Thou  shall  not  kill,  Thou 
shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  ?iot  bear  false  witness,  Thou  shalt  not  covet ;  and 
z/ there  be  any  other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this 
saying,  namely.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  The  five  pre- 
cepts first  alluded  to  are  the  last  five  of  the  decalogue.  The  last 
precept  is  repeated  in  Hebrew  and  Greek,  by  Moses,  Christ,  Paul 
and  James,  in  all  nine  times,  without  variation,  and  in  very  plain 
terms.  It  is  a  summary  of  the  duties  of  the  second  table  of  the 
law.  It  clearly  teaches  the  duty  of  equal  love  to  our  neighbor. 
The  main  object  of  this  verse  is  to  show  the  nature  and  the  indis- 
pensable obligation  of  the  love  enjoined  in  v.  8.  He  further  ex- 
plains : 

10.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbour  :  therefore  love  is  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law.  Ill,  elsewhere  harm,  evil,  anything  bad, 
noisome,  or  injurious.  Fulfilling,  the  same  word  rendered  fulness 
in  Rom.  1 1  :  12,  25  ;  15  :  29  and  often.  The  meaning  is  that  when 
one  loves  his  neighbor  as  he  loves  himself,  the  law  calls  for  no 


596  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  11-13. 

more,  its  demands  being /z///j/  met  in  this  behalf;  there  being  no 
reference  at  all  in  the  context  to  the  first  table  of  the  law,  which 
relates  to  our  duty  to  God.  James  the  Less,  brother  of  our  Lord, 
makes  a  similar  allusion  to  the  precepts  of  the  second  table  ;  but 
it  is  not  so  full,  Jas.  2  :  8-1 1. 

11.  And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  nozv  it  is  high  time  to  awake 
out  of  sleep  :  for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when  we  believed. 
Here  we  have  a  new  topic  introduced,  apparently  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  weight  and  solemnity  to  all  the  preceding  exhortations. 
It  is  a  call  to  shake  off  everything  like  sleep,  a  word  uniformly  ren- 
dered in  the  New  Testament,  here  taken  metaphorically  for  sloth, 
torpor,  inaction.  The  latter  clause  of  the  verse  is  rendered  by  the 
Peshito :  "  For  now  our  life  hath  come  nearer  to  us,  than  when 
we  believed."  The  consideration  of  the  increasing  nearness  of 
the  full  deliverance  promised  to  believers,  as  a  motive  to  exertion, 
is  presented  by  the  apostle  elsewhere,  Heb.  10  :  25  ;  and  is  one  of 
the  most  awakening  that  can  be  presented.  The  Judge  standeth 
before  the  door.     Eternity  is  at  hand. 

12.  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand:  let  us  therefore  cast 
off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  let  us  put  on  the  armor  of  light.  Night, 
a  word  variously  used  in  the  Scriptures,  sometimes  describing  the 
daily  recurrence  of  darkness ;  sometimes,  a  season  of  mental  dis- 
tress ;  sometimes,  a  season  of  great  affliction ;  sometimes,  a  state 
of  great  ignorance.  In  this  place  it  seems  to  be  taken  for  the  try- 
ing period  of  our  earthly  life,  for  it  is  added,  the  day  is  at  hand, 
meaning  the  day  of  deliverance  or  salvation,  as  it  is  called  in  v.  11. 
If  this  is  the  correct  view  of  the  passage  there  is  no  need  of  de- 
taining the  reader  with  a  notice  of  all  the  conceits  and  conjec- 
tures presented  by  various  writers.  That  this  is  the  correct  in- 
terpretation is  evident  from  the  fact  that  it  gives  a  good  sense,  is 
coincident  with  the  scope  of  the  context,  is  agreeable  to  the  gram- 
matical construction  of  the  words  and  opposes  no  other  clear 
teachings  of  Scripture.  The  inference  is  that  we  are  therefore 
bound  to  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness  ;  that  is,  works  consistent 
with  a  state  of  spiritual  ignorance  and  estrangement  from  God ; 
and  that  we  must  put  on  the  armor  of  light,  that  is,  the  panoply 
of  God  granted  to  those  who  are  the  children  of  the  light.  See 
Eph.  6:11,  18. 

13.  Let  us  walk  honestly,  as  in  the  day ;  not  in  rioting  and  drunk- 
enness, not  in  chambering  and  zvantomiess,  not  in  strife  and  envyiiig. 
Honestly,  i  Cor.  14  :  40  decently,  that  is  becomingly.  The  cognate 
adjective  is  rendered  honorable,  comely,  Mark  15  -.43;  Acts  13  : 
50 ;  17:12;  I  Cor.  7:35;  12  :  24.  As  ordinarily  men  perform  their 
honorable  deeds  in  open  day,  and  those  of  a  base  sort  in  the  dark ; 


Ch.  XIII,  V.  8.]  THE  ROMANS.  597 

so  it  is  here.  Rioting,  elsewhere  reveUings,  Gal.  5:21;  i  Pet.  4  : 
3.  Drunkenness,  uniformly  rendered  and  to  be  taken  in  the  usual 
literal  sense.  Chambering,  literally  a  lying  down,  here  meaning 
lewdness.  Wantonness,  literally  excess,  im moderateness,  here  ap- 
parently referring  to  debauchery.  Strife,  contention,  wrangling, 
a  word  of  very  uniform  import.  Envying,  the  Greek  word  is 
sometimes  taken  in  a  good  sense  for  zeal,  fervor,  Rom.  10:  2 ;  but 
here  evidently  in  the  sense  of  heartburning,  or  malice  on  account 
of  the  real  or  supposed  excellence  of  others,  as  in  i  Cor.  3:3;  2 
Cor.  12  :  20.  All  these  are  works  of  darkness.  This  verse  and  the 
next  were  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  St.  Augustine.  They 
banished  every  doubt.     "  Jesus  had  conquered." 

14.  But  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  m(tke  not  provision  for 
the  flesh,  to  fulfil  the  lusts  thereof.  Peshito  :  "  Clothe  yourselves 
with  our  Lord  Jesus  Messiah."  Wiclif:  "Be  ye  clothid  in  the 
lord  ihesus  crist."  But  the  Doway,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  Genevan 
and  Stuart  agree  with  the  authorized  version.  Conybeare  and 
Howson  :  Clothe  yourselves  with  Jesus  Christ  your  Lord.  All 
believers  are  clothed  with  Christ's  righteousness.  Let  them  wear 
his  image  and  follow  his  example,  walking  as  he  walked.  No  less 
than  this  is  implied  in  a  Christian  profession.  To  make  provision 
for  the  flesh,  to  fulfil  its  lusts  is  to  seek  and  study  to  gratify  our 
vicious  inclinations,  our  worldly  affections,  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of  life.  It  is  to  walk  like  hypo- 
crites and  unbelievers. 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

I.  The  right  management  of  our  temporal  affairs  is  not  be- 
neath the  notice  of  the  most  devout,  v.  8.  One  may  live  for  days 
and  weeks  on  crusts  of  bread,  and  yet  have  a  peaceful  mind  and  a 
good  conscience,  and  may  walk  the  streets  without  any  suspicion 
of  slight  from  men.  But  if  as  he  turns  corner  after  corner,  he 
meets  injured  creditor  after  creditor,  he  must  either  be  a  bad  man, 
or  lead  a  very  wretched  life.  This  is  true  of  all.  It  is  peculiarly 
true  of  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  comfort  and  usefulness  of 
pastors  are  often  destroyed  by  the  state  of  their  worldly  affairs. 
In  secular  business  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  evil  is  over- 
trading. Nor  do  the  wrecked  hopes  and  reputations  of  those,  who 
have  ventured  on  the  waters  of  this  dangerous  sea,  appear  to  have 
any  power  to  warn  others  from  the  hazardous  voyage.  Chalmers  : 
"  The  adventurer  who,  in  the  walks  of  merchandise,  trades  be- 
yond his  means,  is  often  actuated  by  a  passion  as  intense,  and  we 
fear  too  as  criminal,  as  is  the  gamester,  who  in  the  haunts  of  fash- 


598  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XIII.,  vs.  8-10. 

ionable  dissipation,  stakes  beyond  his  fortune.  .  .  The  frenzy  of 
men  hasting  to  be  rich,  Uke  fever  in  the  body  natural,  is  a  truly 
sore  distemper  in  the  body  politic."  Another  great  error  in 
worldly  affairs  consists  in  living  beyond  one's  means.  .  This  pro- 
ceeds from  a  foolish  vanity,  from  luxurious  habits,  from  a  refusal 
to  submit  to  the  law  of  self-denial,  or  from  a  delusive  expectation 
that  in  the  future  something  extraordinary  will  occur.  Chalmers : 
"  Perhaps  they  who  buy  on  credit  certain  of  their  inability  to  pay, 
as  compared  with  those  who  borrow  on  speculation,  and  though 
uncertain  of  its  proceeds,  yet  count  on  the  favorable  chances  of 
success,  so  as  that  they  shall  be  able  to  pay  all — perhaps  the 
former  are  distinctly  the  more  inexcusable  of  the  two."  Much 
misery  is  also  brought  on  mankind  by  borrowing.  "The  bor- 
rower is  servant  to  the  lender."  What  is  generally  wanted  is  a 
spirit  of  contentment,  industry  and  frugality. 

2.  But  if  one  is  now  in  debt,  what  shall  he  do?  Let  him  make 
up  his  mind  that,  cost  what  it  will,  he  will  do  right.  Let  him  re- 
trench his  usual  expenses.  Let  him  scorn  luxury,  while  he  is  un- 
able to  pay  his  debts.  Let  him  find  out  exactly  what  his  indebt- 
edness is.  Let  him  not  shun  his  creditors,  but  deal  with  them  in 
a  fair  and  manly  way.  Let  him  not  under  the  plea  of  charity  give 
away  what  really  belongs  to  others.  Let  him  avoid  usury,  prac- 
tise rigid  economy,  resist  melancholy,  sacredly  observe  the  Lord's 
day,  maintain  habits  of  lively  devotion  and  cry  to  God  for  help. 
He  has  said,  "  Call  upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble:  I  will  deliver 
thee,  and  thou  shalt  glorify  me." 

3.  Is  yoiir  love  to  man  genuine?  vs.  8-10.  Will  it  bear  the 
test  found  in  the  second  table  of  the  law  ?  Are  you  guilty  of  sin- 
ful anger,  of  hatred,  envy,  the  desire  of  revenge,  excessive  pas- 
sions, distracting  cares,  sinful  indulgences  ?  Do  you  hate  peevish 
or  provoking  words?  Are  your  thoughts,  feelings  and  actions 
kind,  meek,  gentle,  charitable,  courteous,  forgiving?  Do  you 
cherish  all  chaste  and  pure  thoughts,  purposes  and  imaginations? 
Are  your  actions  virtuous  ?  Is  your  apparel  modest  ?  Is  your 
behaviour  light  or  impudent?  Do  you  abhor  all  that  is  unchaste 
in  songs,  books,  pictures  and  thoughts  ?  Do  you  practise  oppres- 
sion, usury,  idleness,  law-suits,  deception  ?  Is  your  calling  lawful  ? 
Ought  you  not  to  make  restitution  in  some  case  ?  Do  you  never 
ask  unconscionable  prices  ?  Do  you  promote  truth  and  the  good 
name  of  all  men  as  you  can  ?  Do  )^ou  hate  reviling,  scoffing,  whis- 
pering, flattery,  censoriousness,  slander,  exaggeration?  Do  you 
grieve  at  the  good  name  of  any  ?  Do  you  needlessly  mention  the 
faults  of  any  ?  Do  you  love  to  show  kindness  to  all?  Are  you 
fair  in  making  bargains?     Do  you  plead  your  rank,  condition  or 


Ch.X\ll.,\s.  11,12.]   THE  ROMANS.  599 

former  standing,  as  a  reason  why  you  should  not  love  your  poor 
neighbor? 

4.  A  state  of  sin  is  a  state  of  torpor,  v.  11.  Accordingly  we 
see  in  the  world  amazing  exhibitions  of  folly.  The  men,  who  have 
most  need  to  be  concerned  and  distressed  about  their  spiritual 
condition,  seem  to  have  no  more  emotion  than  a  statue  ;  while 
those,  who  have  made  peace  with  God  and  have  a  good  title  to 
eternal  life  through  grace,  often  fear  lest,  after  all,  they  should 
come  short  of  the  heavenly  rest.  Is  it  not  the  duty  of  Christians, 
more  than  ever,  to  attempt  to  arouse  mankind  ?  I  have  seen  a 
town  of  five  thousand  inhabitants  awaked  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  search  for  a  sick  man,  who  in  his  delirium  had  wan- 
dered from  his  room.  None  complained  of  the  disturbance  of 
their  slumbers.  He  was  found.  Yet  in  a  few  hours  he  died.  And 
shall  it  be  thought  strange  if  we  bestir  ourselves  a  little  to  awake 
men  02it  of  sleep  ?  Oh  that  they  could  be  aroused  !  Even  the  best 
Christians  often  seem  to  be  but  half  awake. 

5.  Pious  reader,  dear  child  of  God,  thou  knowest  not  how  near 
thou  mayest  be  to  thy  heavenly  home.  Certainly  thou  art  coming 
nearer  to  it  every  day,  vs.  11,  12.  Does  this  thought  properly 
arouse  thee  ?  Chrysostom :  "  Since  it  was  not  unlikely,  that  in 
the  beginning  of  their  early  endeavors  they  would  be  most  earnest, 
in  that  their  desire  was  then  at  its  full  vigor,  but  that  as  the  time 
went  on,  the  whole  of  their  earnestness  would  wither  down  to 
nothing  ;  he  says  that  they  ought  however  to  be  doing  the  reverse, 
not  to  get  relaxed  as  time  went  on,  but  to  be  the  more  full  of  vigor. 
For  the  nearer  the  King  may  be  at  hand,  the  more  ought  they  to 
get  themselves  in  readiness.  .  .  Let  us  put  off  imaginings,  let  us 
get  clear  of  the  dreams  of  this  life  present,  let  us  lay  aside  its  deep 
slumber  and  be  clad  in  virtue  for  garments." 

6.  What  unspeakable  glories  await  the  righteous  in  a  future 
world,  V.  12.  Even  in  this  present  life,  they  are,  as  compared  with 
men  of  the  world,  the  children  of  light ;  and  yet,  as  compared 
with  the  future  world,  they  are  still  in  darkness.  The  day-star 
hath  already  visited  them.  Soon  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall 
pour  a  flood  of  glory  ineffable  upon  their  exultant  spirits.  But 
here  they  are  sometimes  borne  down  with  manifold  temptations ; 
and  there  is  a  constant  necessity  for  their  '  recurring  to  the 
exercises  of  their  first  faith,  their  first  love  and  their  first  obe- 
dience.' Chalmers:  "It  is  the  charge  of  the  Apostle,. that  we 
should  open  our  eyes  to  the  realities  of  that  unseen  Avorld,  to 
which  we  every  day  are  coming  nearer.  Let  us  by  well- 
doing, not  only  put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men,  but 
the  clamors  of  a  disturbed   conscience  also."     If  we  would  make 


6bo  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  XIIL,  vs.  12-14. 

our  calling  and  election  sure,  it  cannot  be  done  without  giving  all 
diligence. 

7.  Holiness  consists  in  hating  and  shunning  sin,  and  in  loving 
and  seeking  purity,  in  hating  darkness  and  loving  light,  v.  12. 
These  holy  dispositions  must  manifest  themselves  in  every  depart- 
ment of  thought,  speech  and  behaviour.  Many,  who  towards 
God  at  times  seem  to  be  quite  pious,  are  towards  men  so  lax  and 
unlovely  that  many  a  non-professor  is  less  disagreeable  in  the  ordi- 
dinary  intercourse  of  life.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  ministers  to  ex- 
hort their  people,  or  for  Christians  to  exhort  one  another  too 
tenderly  or  earnestly  to' perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God.  A 
failure  here  is  fatal  to  all  pleasing  hopes  of  future  happiness. 

8.  Let  all  our  course  and  conduct  be  honorable,  becoming, 
honest,  V.  13.  There  is  a  region  of  twilight  between  the  bounds 
of  universally  acknowledged  baseness  on  the  one  side,  and  of 
universally  accepted  purity  on  the  other,  in  which  too  many  are 
inclined  to  walk.  Let  it  be  our  aim  not  to  see  how  near  we  can 
come  to  sinning  without  the  actual  stain  of  moral  pollution,  but 
rather  how  we  may  most  effectually  avoid  the  very  appearance  of 
evil.  Brown :  "  The  life  of  a  Christian  is  nothing  but  a  con- 
tinual motion,  there  is  no  standing  still  for  him  here,  he  is  upon 
his  march,  yea,  his  life  is  a  race." 

9.  The  wicked  might  easily  know  that  their  course  is  wrong, 
and  will  finally  bring  pain  and  wrath,  because  in  this  world  it 
loves  darkness,  vs.  12,  13.  Job  describes  the  wicked  of  his  day. 
as  "  those  that  rebel  against  the  light ;  they  know  not  the  ways 
thereof,  nor  abide  in  the  paths  thereof.  The  murderer  rising 
with  the  light  killeth  the  poor  and  needy,  and  in  the  night 
is  as  a  thief.  The  eye  also  of  the  adulterer  waiteth  for  the 
twilight,  saying,  No  eye  shall  see  me :  and  disguiseth  his  face. 
In  the  dark  they  dig  through  houses,  which  they  had  marked 
for  themselves  in  the  daytime  :  they  know  not  the  light.  For 
the  morning  is  to  them  even  as  the  shadow  of  death :  if  one 
know  them,  they  are  in  the  terrors  of  the  shadow  of  death," 
Job  24  :  13-17.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  sin  to  be  smitten  with 
shame.  Everlasting  confusion  will  be  a  portion  of  the  cup  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  wicked.  Many  things  which  men  now 
practise  openly  and  without  concealment  will  in  the  light  of 
eternity  be  seen  to  be  covered  with  the  foulest  iniquity. 

10.  Let  believers  never  forget  that  they  have  put  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  v.  14.  Their  relations  to  him  constitute  them  Chris- 
tians. As  they  have  received  him,  so  they  should  walk  in  him. 
As  they  have  relied  on  his  righteousness,  so  let  them  rely  on  his 
grace  for  sanctification.     As  they  have  professed  to  love  him,  so 


Ch.  XIII.,  V.  14-]  THE  ROMANS.  6oi 

let  them  prove  it  by  a  holy  life.  He  is  their  fulness,  their  teacher, 
their  father,  their  brother,  the  Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  their 
profession,  their  Advocate,  their  foundation,  their  corner-stone, 
their  husband,  their  bridegroom,  their  meat,  their  drink,  their  life. 
Severed  from  him,  they  are  nothing  but  poor,  withered  branches. 
Let  them  never  spare  their  sins,  but  crucify  the  flesh  with  the  af- 
fections and  lusts.  Chalmers :  "  It  is  not  the  object  of  Christianity 
to  conceal  evil  but  to  exterminate  it — not  to  give  its  disciples  but 
the  face  and  appearance  of  virtue,  but  to  give  them  virtue  in  sub- 
stance and  reality — and  so  as  that  they  shall  glorify  the  Lord  with 
their  soul  and  spirit,  as  well  as  with  their  bodies."  Brown  :  "  It 
is  not  enough  for  people  to  close  a  bargain  with  Christ  at  the  first, 
and  by  faith  get  his  righteousness  put  on,  that  thereby  guilt  may 
be  hid,  and  they  put  into  a  justified  state."  The  required  holiness 
of  life  is  not  however  for  the  justification  of  our  persons,  but  for 
the  justification  of  our  professions. 

II.  Whatever  you  do,  pamper  not  your  sins.  Make  not  pro- 
vision for  the  flesh  to  fulfil  th?  lusts  thereof,  v.  14.  We  are  not 
indeed  prohibited  from  caring  for  our  bodies.  No  man  ever  yet 
hated  his  own  flesh.  But  we  are  forbidden  to  study  or  practise 
the  arts  of  luxury,  effeminacy,  idleness  or  wantonness.  "  Peace  is 
too  dearly  purchased  by  slavery  of  any  kind,  especially  by  spiritual 
slavery." 


CHAPTER  XIV 


VERSES   1-12. 

THE  DUTIES  OF  CHRISTIANS  TO  EACH  OTHER. 
AVOID  CENSORIOUSNESS.  REMEMBER  THE 
SOLEMN  ACCOUNT  YOU  MUST  GIVE. 

Him  that  is  weak  in  the  faith  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  disputations. 

2  For  one  believeth  that  he  may  eat  all  .things :  another,  who  is  weak,  eateth 
herbs. 

3  Let  not  him  that  eateth  despise  him  that  eateth  not  ;  and  let  not  him  which 
eateth  not  judge  him  that  eateth :   for  God  hath  received  him. 

4  Who  art  thou  that  judgcst  another  man's  servant.?  to  his  own  master  he 
standeth  or  falleth  ;  yea,  he  shall  be  holden  up :  for  God  is  able  to  make  him 
stand. 

5.  One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another  :  another  esteemeth  every  day 
alike.     Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind. 

6  He  that  regardeth  the  day,  regardeth  it  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  he  that  regardeth 
not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  doth  not  regard  it.  He  that  eateth,  eateth  to  the  Lord, 
for  he  giveth  God  thanks ;  and  he  that  eateth  not,  to  the  Lord  he  eateth  not,  and 
giveth  God  thanks. 

7  For  none  of  us  liveth  to  himself  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself. 

8  For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord;  and  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto 
the  Lord  ;   whether  we  live  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the  Lord's. 

9  For  this  end  Christ  both  died,  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he  might  be  Lord 
both  of  the  dead  and  living. 

10  But  why  dost  thou  judge  thy  brother .?  or  why  dost  thou  set  at  nought  thy 
brother  .?  for  we  shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ. 

1 1.  For  it  is  written,  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  every  knee  shall  bow  to  me,  and 
every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God. 

12  So  then  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God. 

THE  apostle,  having  laid  down  the  principles  of  conduct  that 
should   govern    church  officers   in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties,  given  a   summary  of  Christian   conduct   in   general,  ex- 
j.plained  men's  duties  in  their  civil  and  political  relations,  stated  the 
(602) 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  I,  2.]         THE  ROMANS.  603 

• 

duties  we  owe  our  neighbors,  and  urged  upon  our  attention  very 
solemn  and  weighty  considerations  enforcing  these  precepts,  pro- 
ceeds to  consider  the  obligations,  which  Christians  owe  to  each 
other,  and  in  particular  to  such  as  labor  under  zveaknesses,  arising 
from  prejudice,  ignorance,  a  scrupulous  conscience  or  other  cause. 
Tholuck  thinks  the  admonitions  are  addressed  to  the  Gentile  con- 
verts not  to  behave  haughtily,  but  with  affectionate  forbearance 
towards  their  brethren  of  Jewish  extraction.  No  doubt  Jewish 
converts  did  often  give  trouble  to  their  brethren.  But  there  is 
nothing  limiting  the  admonitions  to  persons  of  any  nationality. 

1 .  Him  that  is  weak  in  the  faith  receive  'ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  dis- 
putations ;  Peshito :  To  him  who  is  feeble  in  the  faith,  reach  forth 
the  hand  ;  Wiclif :  But  take  ye  sike  man  in  bileue  ;  Doway  :  Now 
him,  that  is  weak  in  faith,  take  unto  you  ;  Stuart :  Him  that  is 
weak  in  faith,  receive  with  kindness.  Weak,  commonly  so  ren- 
dered, elsewhere  sick,  impotent,  diseased.  We  had  the  same 
phrase  in  Rom.  4:  19,  on  which  see  above.  The  faith  may  mean 
either  the  grace  of  faith,  which  sometimes  lays  vigorous  hold  of 
some  truths  and  but  a  feeble  hold  of  others  ;  or  it  may  mean  one's 
creed,  the  system  of  truth  believed,  concerning  some  things  in 
which  even  some  good  people  have  sadly  imperfect  and  confused 
notions.  Receive,  a  word  used  to  denote  the  taking  of  food  for 
nourishment,  the  hospitable  entertainment  of  strangers  and  the  re- 
ception which  God  gives  to  the  penitent,  Acts  27:33,34,36; 
28  :  2  ;  Rom.  14:  3.  The  same  word  is  twice  used  in  Rom.  15^7: 
^'Receive  ye  one  another,  as  Christ  also  hath  received  us."  The 
meaninof  is.  Own  and  treat  him  as  a  brother  in  Christ.  But  not  to 
doubtful  disputations;  Peshito:  And  be  not  divided  in  your 
thoughts ;  Wiclif:  Not  in  demengis  ( judgings)  of  thougtis ; 
Tyndale :  Not  in  disputynge  and  troublynge  his  conscience. ; 
Genevan:  Not  to  enter  into  doubtful  disputations  of  controver- 
sies ;  Doway :  Not  in  disputes  about  thoughts ;  Calvin :  Not  for 
the  debatings  of  questions ;  Stuart :  Not  so  as  to  increase  his 
scrupulous  surmising.  Weak  brethren  are  to  be  received  not  to 
increase  wrangling,  not  to  make  one  man  a  judge  of  another,  but 
in  the  exercise  of  Christian  forbearance.  Paul  at  once  states  a 
case  : 

2.  For  07ie  believeth  that  he  may  eat  all  things :  another,  who  is 
weak,  eateth  herbs.  Disputes  about  dietetics  were  by  no  means 
confined  to  the  primitive  church.  Perhaps  in  every  age,  men 
have  arisen  who  have  declared  animal  food  to  be  unlawful,  or  who 
have  taught  that  men's  sanctification  greatly  depended  upon  the 
kind  of  food  they  ate.  It  is  probable  that  the  persons  here  spoken 
of  as  using  only  vegetable  diet  were  led  to  their  course  by  the 


6o4  EPIS  TLB    TO  [Ch.  XIV,  vs.  3,  4 

fear  of  countenancing  idolatry  by  buying  the  flesh  of  animals,  whose 
blood  and  fat  had  been  offered  in  sacrifice  to  devils  ;  or  that  the 
manner  of  butchering  was  contrary  to  their  notions  of  abstinence 
from  blood,  or  who  found  swine's  flesh  mingled  with  many  things 
on  Roman  tables.  Josephus  tells  of  some,  priests,  who  for  a  time 
fed  only  on  dates  and  figs.  In  Dan.  i  :  8-17  we  have  a  like  instance. 
Compare  Acts  15  :  19,  20.  At  the  same'  time  the  whimseys  of  even 
good  men  are  endless,  and  the  early  history  of  the  church  shows 
that  there  was  much  trouble  introduced  by  the  subject  of  diet. 

3.  Let  not  him  that  eateth,  despise  him  that  eateth  77ot ;  and  let  not 
him  which  eateth  not,  judge  Jiim  that  eateth ;  for  God  hath  received 
him.  The  errors  of  the  two  classes  of  Christians  were  of  an 
opposite  nature.  The  strong  were  in  danger  of  contemning 
others,  while  the  weak  were  in  danger  of  judging  others.  The 
strong  might  regard  the  weak  as  scrupulous,  troublesome,  or 
ridiculous ;  while  the  weak  were  ready  to  say  of  the  strong  that 
they  were  hardened  or  heathenish.  The  reason  given  for  avoiding 
each  of  these  errors  is  that  God  hath  received  both  classes,  and  that 
we  may  not  treat  a  child  of  God  insolently  or  censoriously. 

4.  Who  art  thou  that  judgest  another  mans  servant ?  to  his  own 
master  he  standeth  or  falleth  ;  yea,  he  shall  be  holden  up  :  for  God  is 
able  to  make  him  stand.  Calvin  :  "  As  you  would  act  uncourteously, 
yea,  and  presumptuously  among  men,  were  you  to  bring  another 
man's  servant  under  your  own  rules,  and  try  all  his  acts  by  the 
rule  of  your  own  will ;  so  you  assume  too  much,  if  you  condemn 
any  thing  in  God's  servant,  because  it  does  not  please  you  ;  for  it 
belongs  not  to  you  to  prescribe  to  him  what  to  do,  and  what  not 
to  do,  nor  is  it  necessary  for  him  to  live  according  to  your  law." 
The  whole  connection  here  shows  that  the  matter  concerning 
which  there  was  diversity  was  not  an  article  of  faith  or  a  rule  of 
morals  clearly  made  known  ;  but  one  of  those  points  raised  by 
scrupulosity  on  the  one  side,  and  leading  to  estrangement  on  one 
or  both  sides.  Servant,  not  before  found  in  this  epistle,  literally  a 
domestic.  Master,  the  word  usually  rendered  Lord.  Stand, 
stand  approved  in  judgment,  or  stand  firm  in  profession  :  in 
another  form  the  same  word  is  in  this  verse  rendered  shall  be 
holden  up,  so  as  not  to  perish  or  be  condemned.  So  far  as  the 
Jews  were  concerned,  these  troublesome  questions  arose  from  the 
well  known  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  beasts,  and  from  the 
peculiar  notions  of  the  Essenes,  some  of  whom  were  doubtless  con- 
verted to  Christianity.  But  in  the  proneness  of  the  human  mind 
both  Jewish  and  Gentile  to  make  laws  for  the  conscience,  where 
God  hath  left  it  free,  may  be  found  a  cause  sufficient  for  all  these 
troublesome  questions. 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  5-7.]  THE  R  OMA  NS.  605 

5.  One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another:  another  esteemeth 
every  day  alike.  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  observance  of  days  here  referred  to 
relates  to  the  Christian  Sabbath.  The  argument  for  its  universal 
observance  in  the  primitive  church  is  clear,  decisive,  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  enactments  of  Moses  respecting  the  observance  of 
new  moons,  feast  days,  etc.  Quite  early  in  the  Christian  era  too 
there  began  to  be  observed  by  Gentile  churches  days  in  commem- 
oration of  events  of  great  interest  to  Christians,  such  as  martyr- 
doms, etc.  In  the  course  of  time  there  was  much  said  respecting 
the  holy  days,  whether  observed  by  Jewish  or  Gentile  converts. 
The  man,  who  observed  them,  perhaps  thought  them  obligatory 
on  himself.  Soon  he  began  to  think  them  binding  on  others. 
While  those,  who  observed  them  not,  not  being  satisfied  with 
their  own  liberty,  were  in  danger  of  regarding  their  brethren  as 
superstitious,  scrupulous,  or  weak-minded.  In  this  state  of 
case  the  apostle  enjoins  that  each  one  shall  enjoy  full  Christian  lib- 
crty^ — Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind ;  Peshito  : 
Let  every  one  be  sure,  in  regard  to  his  knowledge ;  Wiclif :  Eche 
man  encres  in  his  witte ;  Tyndale  :  Se  that  no  man  waver  in  his 
awne  meanynge  ;  Cranmer:  Let  every  man's  mynde  satisfye  him 
selfe  ;  Doway  :  Let  every  man  abound  in  his  own  sense.  Other 
translations  generally  agree  with  the  authorized  version.  Locke's 
paraphrase  is,  "  Let  every  one  take  care  to  be  satisfied  in  his  own 
mind,  touching  the  matter.  But  let  him  not  censure  another  in 
what  he  does."  The  meaning  is  in  such  matters  of  conscience  let 
not  any  go  contrary  to  his  own  moral  convictions  ;  but  let  not  any 
man  impose  his  sense  of  what  is  right  on  the  consciences  of  others. 
The  great  reason  for  this  course  is  next  given : 

6.  He  that  regardeth  the  day  regardeth  it  tmto  the  Lord ;  and  he 
that  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  doth  not  regard  it.  He  that 
eatcth,  eateth  to  the  Lord,  for  he  giveth  God  thanks  ;  and  he  that  eat eth 
not,  to  the  Lord  he  eateth  not,  atid  giveth  God  thanks.  The  meaning 
of  all  this  is  that  both  the  weak  and  the  strong  are  alike  the  ser- 
vants of  God,  are  both  seeking  to  glorify  him,  and  have  not  at- 
tained to  equal  degrees  of  knowledge  ;  but  each  being  conscien- 
tious  in  his  own  course  is  responsible  to  his  Lord  and  not  to  his 
brother;  and  so  the  bond  of  peace  must  not  be  broken.  The 
proof  of  the  pious  character  of  each  is  found  in  the  fact  that  he 
gives  God  thanks.  Where  God  has  left  us  free,  let  no  man  desire 
to  make  his  own  conscience  a  rule  for  the  guidance  of  his  brother. 
On  the  other  hand  let  him  not  surrender  his  clear  convictions  to 
the  moral  sentiments  of  another. 

7.  For  none  of  us  liveth  to  himself  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself. 


6o6  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  7-11. 

8.  For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord ;  and  whether  we  die, 
we  die  unto  the  Lord ;  whether  we  live  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the 
Lord's.  These  verses  contain  a  repetition  and  an  amplification  of 
the  sentiment  of  v.  6.  We  belong  to  God,  our  life  and  our  death 
are  ordered  by  h^m  ;  we  are  accountable  to  him  for  the  use  we 
make  of  our  liberty,  in  things  uncommanded  ;  and  if  we  make  a 
right  use  of  that  liberty,  we  do  glorify  God  Hving  or  dying,  and 
are  the  property  of  the  Lord,  not  of  one  another.  The  Lord  here 
means  the  Lord  Christ. 

9.  For  to  this  end  Christ  both  died,  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he 
might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living.  There  is  some  variation 
in  the  Greek  reading  in  this  place,  but  none  which  materially  af- 
fects the  doctrine^  or  even  the  sense.  The  object  of  this  verse  is 
to  show  the  foundation  of  the  doctrine  asserted  in  preceding 
verses,  that  all  Christians  whether  weak  or  strong  are  the  Lord's ; 
that  Jesus  Christ  bought  them  by  paying  the  price  of  his  most 
precious  blood  ;  and  that  his  resurrection  was  on  the  part  of  his 
Father  an  acknowledgment  of  the  perfection  of  the  work  of  the 
Redeemer  and  of  his  absolute  title  to  all  his  saints.  Revived,  per- 
haps better  rendered  lives  again.  Dead,  in  this  place  evidently 
used  in  a  sense  different  from  that,  in  which  Christ  used  it  in  Matt. 
22  :  32.  Here  it  means  those  who  have  departed  this  life  ;  there 
it  means  those  who  have  ceased  to  exist.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
word  living.  Here  it  means  those  who  still  enjoy  their  natural 
life ;  there  it  means  those  who  still  exist  under  the  favor  of  God 
though  their  temporal  life  is  ended. 

10.  But  why  dost  thou  Judge  thy  brother?  or  why  dost  thou  set  at 
naught  thy  brother  ?  for  we  shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment  seat 
of  Christ.  The  first  question  contains  a  reproof  to  him  who,  doing 
more  than  is  in  express  terms  required  of  him,  thinks  others  ought 
to  follow  his  example.  The  second  question  is  a  reproof  of  him, 
who  uses  his  Christian  liberty  to  decline  every  service  not  posi- 
tively enjoined  or  to  refuse  to  make  any  distinction  in  his  food, 
and  despises  others  who  are  weak.  The  edge  of  the  reproof  to 
each  is  in  the  fact  that  both  are  alike  amenable  at  the  bar  of 
Christ,  the  same  Lord  who  was  mentioned  above.  We  are  not 
each  other's  judges.  The  Lord  Jesus  is  the  common  Master  of  all 
his  people. 

II.  For  it  is  written.  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  every  knee  shall  bow 
to  me,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God.  This  verse  is  cited  from 
Isa.  45  :  23  : 

I  have  sworn  by  myself, 

The  word  is  gone  out  of  my  mouth  in  righteousness, 

And  shall  not  return, 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  II,  12.]     THE  ROMANS.  607 

That  unto  me  every  knee  shall  bow. 

Every  tongue  shall  swear. 

The  quotation  is  neither  literal  from  the  Hebrew,  nor  entirely 
from  the  Septuagint,  but  gives  the  sense.  Isaiah  says,  I  have 
sworn  by  myself,  Paul  says,  As  I  live.  The  two  phrases  mean 
exactly  the  same  thing.  To  swear  by  one  and  to  confess  to  one  are, 
in  Scripture  phrase,  acts  of  worship,  whether  sincere  or  reluctant. 
When  these  things  are  done  they  are  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
supremacy  of  another  over  us.  The  passage  cited  from  Isaiah  is 
given  in  proof  of  the  truth  of  what  is  said  in  v.  10.  The  use  of 
names  and  titles  applied  to  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  this  verse 
and  the  context  does  clearly  evince  that  Paul  regarded  Jesus 
Christ  as  truly  God. 

12.  So  then  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God; 
Peshito  :  So  then,  every  one  of  us  must  give  account  of  himself  to 
God ;  Wiclif :  therfor  eche  of  us  schal  yilde  resoun  to  god  for 
hym  self;  Tyndale,  Cranmer  and  Genevan  :  So  shall  ever)^  one  of 
vs  geve  accomptes  of  him  selfe  to  God.  Doway  :  So,  then,  every 
one  of  us  shall  render  account  for  himself  to  God.  The  point  of 
the  statement  is  this :  We  shall  not  give  account  for  each  other, 
but  we  shall  give  account  for  ourselves.  This  is  universally  true, 
there  is  no  exception  to  the  statement.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
judging  others,  we  should  do  well  to  be  preparing  to  give  up  our 
own  solemn  and  final  account. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  In  the  culture  of  Christian  character  there  may  be  great  use 
in  the  diversity  of  attainments  made  by  believers,  vs.  i,  2.  Some 
are  babes,  some  are  young  men,  some  are  fathers,  some  have  clear 
knowledge,  others  are  do.ubtful  on  points,  which  to  most  seem 
very  plain ;  and  so  they  are  very  unequal.  But  this  gives  an  op- 
portunity for  the  strong  to  support  the  weak,  the  clear  minded  to 
aid  those  who  are  perplexed  ;  while  the  feeble  lean  upon  the 
strong,  and  the  ignorant  seek  instruction  from  the  learned.  It  is 
pe4"verseness,  not  fidelity  to  Christ  that  sows  discord  among  these 
classes  of  disciples,  each  of  whom  gives  evidence  of  love  to  Christ 
and  of  a  tender  conscience. 

2.  It  is  not  wise  equally  to  press  upon  young  converts  and 
newly  formed  churches  all  the  truths  of  Scripture.  There  is  an 
order  in  divine  instruction  ;  milk  for  babes,  strong  meat  for  men. 
Let  that  order  be  observed.  At  all  events,  let  us  keep  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  The  inspired  rule  is,  "Let  us 
therefore,  as  many  as  be  perfect,  be  thus  minded  :  and  if  in  any- 


6o8  EPIS  TLE    TO  [Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  i.  2. 

thing  ye  be  otherwise  minded,  God  shall  reveal  even  this  unto 
you.  Nevertheless,  whereto  we  have  already  attained  let  us  walk 
by  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same  thing."  Phil.  3:15,  16. 
Luther  spoke  a  sad  truth,  when  he  said :  "  Every  man  naturally 
has  a  pope  in  him."  Scott :  "  We  are  all  prone  to  make  our  views 
the  standard  of  truth,  to  deem  things  certain,  which  to  others  ap- 
pear doubtful;  to  expect  by  eager  disputation,  to  bring .  men  to 
see  with  our  eyes ;  to  perplex  new  converts  with  topics  which 
they  cannot  as  yet  understand ;  and  to  expect  them  at  once  to 
acquiesce  in  all  those  truths,  which  we  have  been  learning  for 
years."  • 

3.  Are  you  weak  in  faith?  v.  i.  Pray  for  an  increase  of  that 
gracious  principle,  and  for  clear,  sound  knowledge  in  the  things 
of  God.  While  the  Apostle  would  have  such  tenderly  dealt  with, 
^he  says  nothing  to  encourage  a  continuance  in  such  a  state.  He 
admits  it  is  not  desirable.  Chrysostom  :  "  You  see  one  blow  im- 
mediately given  to  him.  For  by  calling  him  weak,  he  points  out 
that  he  is  not  healthy.  Then  he  adds  next,  receive,  and  points  out 
again  that  he  requires  much  attention." 

4.  But  whatever  diversities  exist,  let  there  be  no  schism  in  the 
body,  neither  strife  nor  contention.  Let  great  allowances  be  made 
for  natural  defects  of  character,  for  bad  instruction  and  for  feeble- 
mindedness. Where  there  is  true  piety  and  a  willingness  to  con- 
form to  the  law  of  Christ's  house,  and  men  have  the  charity  that 
beareth  all  things,  it  would  seem  impossible  to  introduce  those 
sad  divisions  which  sometimes  alienate  brethren  and  rend  churches. 

5.  Let  us  always  discourage  doubtful  disputations,  V.  I .  Strifes 
of  words  in  the  primitive  church,  as  well  as  in  modern  times,  have 
been  great  evils.  Every  age  has  furnished  sad  examples  on  this 
point.  Chalmers  :  "  Instead  of  contentious  argumentation  and 
vexatious  controversies,  at  once  endless  and  unfruitful,  Paul  incul- 
cates a  discreet  silence,  and  meanwhile  a  respectful  toleration — in 
the  confidence,  we  have  no  doubt,  that  with  mild  and  patient  for- 
bearance, all  will  come  right  at  the  last." 

6.  There  will  ever  be  diversities  in  this  world.  There  were 
such  in  apostolic  times,  v.  2.  Two  things  make  this  certain.  One 
is  the  exceeding  great  scope  and  amazing  sublimity  of  the  divine 
truths  submitted  to  our  apprehension.  The  other  is  the  great 
feebleness  of  the  human  mind,  eyen  when  regenerated  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  is  only  in  that  future  blessed  state  for  which  we 
hope,  and  to  which  we  hasten  that  we  shall  "  all  come  in  the  unity 
of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  per- 
fect man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ." 

7.  Let  every  member  of  Christ's  church,  whether  weak   or 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  3-10.]       THE  ROMANS.  609 

strong-,  carefully  avoid  the  sin  of  despising  others,  vs.  3,  10.  It  is 
a  very  dangerous  sin  to  set  at  naught  one  of  those  little  ones  that 
has  believed  in  Jesus.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  parents  and  elder 
children  in  a  family  to  be  specially  careful  of  the  young  and  ten- 
der among  them.  It  is  hard,  if  not  impossible  to  find  any  case  in 
which  contempt  is  a  virtue.  Perhaps  it  always  partakes  more  or 
less  of  haughtiness.  Compassion  would  in  every  case  perhaps  be 
a  much  more  becoming  sentiment.    Let  not  contempt  be  indulged. 

8.  Let  us  carefully  avoid  all  rash,  harsh,  severe  and  denuncia- 
tory judgments  of  our  fellow-men,  vs.  3,  4,  10.  Doddridge  :  "  Let 
us  not  add,  to  all  the  offences  which  may  justly  cause  us  to  trem- 
ble before  his  tribunal,  the  criminal  arrogance  of  usurping  the 
place  and  prerogative  of  our  Judge."  Hodge  :  '*  A  denunciatory 
or  censorious  spirit  is  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel." 

9.  Human  inventions  in  religion,  however  presented,  are 
troublesome,  even  when  not  forced  on  our  brethren,  vs.  2,  5. 
They  may  be  what  Calvin  somewhere  calls  "  tolerable  fooleries  " 
— marks  of  weakness  to  be  endured  for  a  while  ;  but  we  ought 
carefully  to  abstain  from  pressing  our  conceits  upon  the  attention 
of  others.  The  history  of  persecution  shows  that  immense  suffer- 
ings have  been  brought  on  large  classes  of  men,  because  they  did 
not  see  the  propriety  or  necessity  of  attention  to  some  trifle,  of 
which  the  Bible  never  once  makes  mention. 

10.  That  our  Apostle  did  not  intend,  in  speaking-  of  days,  v.  5, 
to  weaken  our  sense  of  obligation  to  observe  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, is  clear  from  other  portions  of  Scripture.  On  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  Jesus  arose  and  was  worshipped.  On  the  first  day 
of  the  second  week  after  his  resurrection,  he  assembled  his  disci- 
ples and  said,  "  Peace  be  unto  you,"  and  confirmed  their  faith. 
The  first  day  of  the  eighth  week  after  his  death  was  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  a  glorious  Christian  Sabbath.  There  are  several  dec- 
larations that  the  disciples  specially  observed  the  first  day  of  the 
week  as  a  season  of  religious  assemblies.  It  is  expressly  stated 
that  the  churches  of  Galatia  and  of  Corinth  were  enjoined  upon 
the  first  day  of  the  week  to  make  their  contributions  for  charitable 
purposes,  i  Cor.  16  :  i,  2.  More  than  sixty  years  after  Christ's 
ascension,  John  writes :  "  I  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day," 
Rev.  1:10;  showing  that  then  the  Christian  Sabbath  was  as  well 
understood  in  the  church  to  be  a  divine  appointment  as  the  Lord's 
Supper.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  was  a  very  glorious  event 
and  is  fitly  commemorated  every  week.  Apostolic  example  is  as 
safe  and  correct  a  guide  as  apostolic  precept. 

11.  Let  us  strive  in  all  matters  of  faith  and  practice  to  be  in- 
telligent Christians,  well  instructed  unto  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 

39 


6io  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  5,  12. 

V.  5.  Let  us  indeed  abide  by  our  convictions  so  long  as  they  ad- 
here to  us,  not  violating  our  consciences  merely  to  please  others ; 
but  let  us  not  adhere  to  our  own  ignorance  and  scruples  as  if  they 
were  praiseworthy,  refusing  the  proper  means  of  enlightenment. 

12.  We  are  not  our  own  masters,  nor  our  own  pnjperty.  We 
are  not  the  property  nor  the  servants  of  our  fellow-men.  In  soul, 
body  and  spirit  we  are  the  Lord's,  vs.  6 — 8.  If  our  views  are  at 
all  right,  we  cheerfully  admit  that  one  is  our  Master,  even  Christ. 
We  may  not  dcsije  to  live  to  ourselves,  nor  to  die  to  ourselves. 
Christ's  love  and  pity  to  us  in  our  ruined  condition  claim  an  en- 
tire surrender  c;f  all  to  him.  Olshausen  :  "  An  unreserved  devot- 
edness  to  the  Lord  is  that  which  must  ever  be  the  essential  of  the 
Christian  life  ;  whatever  can  consist  with  this  may  be  willingly 
borne  with  in  a  brother.  It  is  not  until  something  is  remarked  in 
a  brother,  which  might  interfere  with  this  devotion,  that  love  ac- 
quires a  right  to  be  jealous." 

13.  Jesus  Christ  is  divine.  He  is  God.  He  is  Lord  both  of 
the  living  and  the  dead.  He  will  be  the  Judge  at  the  last  day. 
To  him  every  knee  shall  bow  and  every  tongue  confess,  vs.  8 — 12. 
Other  Scriptures  declare  that  he  is  Jehovah  ;  that  he  counted  it 
not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God  ;  that  he  is  the  brightness  of 
the  Father's  glory,  etc. 

14.  The  fact  of  our  approaching  dissolution  should  never  be 
forgotten  by  us,  but  frequently  meditated  on,  that  it  may  moderate 
all  our  thoughts  and  solicitudes  about  temporal  things.  How 
does  the  example  of  the  heathen  Philip  of  Macedon  condemn  the 
carelessness  of  many  nominal  Christians  on  this  subject.  That 
prince  required  a  servant  every  morning  thrice  to  announce  to 
him  in  loud  tones  :  "  Philip,  remember  thou  art  mortal." 

15.  Christ's  work,  as  an  atoning  High  Priest  and  the  great 
Founder  of  a  kingdom  on  earth,  is  done,  v.  9.  Henceforth  he  is 
waiting  till  his  enemies  become  his  footstool.  That  Christ's  death 
gave  him  a  rightful  authority  over  us  is  declared  more  than  once 
in  the  Scripture :  "  If  one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead  ;  and  he 
died  for  all  that  they  which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto 
themselves,  but  unto  him  which  died  for  them  and  rose  again." 
His  work  is  a  finished  work.     His  salvation  is  a  perfect  salvation. 

16.  The  Old  and  N-ew  Testaments  agree  in  teaching  the  same 
doctrines  and  the  same  duties,  and  particularly  in  subordinating 
every  thing  to  Christ,  vs.  9,  10.  It  is  a  great  error  of  many  that 
they  slight  some  portion  of  God's  word.  All  scripture  is  given 
by  inspiration  and  is  profitable.  The  New  Testament  is  the  key 
of  the  Old,  but  the  Old  is  the  lock  which  that  key  fits.  The  very 
types  and  shadows  of  the  Old  Testament,  when  explained  by  the 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  IO-I2.]      THE  ROMANS.  6ii 

New,  give  us  some  of  the  clearest  conceptions  we  have  of  spiritual 
things. 

17.  No  man  has  too  solemn  apprehensions  of  his  accountability 
to  God,  vs.  10,  12.  No  transaction  is  more  fearful  than  that  of  a 
creature  called  to  reckon  with  his  Creator.  This  accountability- 
is  universal — Every  one  of  us,  says  Paul.  The  account  we  shall 
render  will  not  be  corporate  but  separate — every  man  for  himself. 
Nor  shall  anything  escape  the  notice  of  the  final  Judge,  Eccl.  12  : 
14.  Nor  does  any  man  know  at  what  moment  he  may  be  called 
to  feel  the  full  rigors  of  this  responsibility.  O  my  soul,  be  thou  in 
constant  readiness  to  meet  thy  God. 

18.  So  long  as  there  are  different  Christian  denominations  in 
the  world,  let  the  members  of  each  set  an  example  of  courtesy, 
liberahty,  brotherly  kindness  and  charity.  Doddridge  :  "  Let  all 
the  different  sects  and  parties  of  Christians  study  to  imbibe  more 
of  the  equitable  and  lovely  temper  which  the  apostle  here  ex- 
presses in  so  genuine  a  manner.  The  divisions  of  the  church  are 
not  to  be  healed  by  imposing  our  own  sentiments,  phrases  and 
forms,  and  censuring  and  harassing  those  that  will  not  acquiesce 
in  them.  Such  a  temper  will  only  engender  strife,  and  mutual 
provocations  will  produce  mutual  increasing  resentment." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

VERSES    13-23. 

SAME  SUBJECT  CONTINUED.  THE  DISTINCTION  OF 
MEATS  NOT  BINDING.  TENDERNESS  ENJOINED. 
NATURE  OF  TRUE  PIETY.  OUR  PECULIAR  NO- 
TIONS NOT  TO  BE  OBTRUDED.  KEEP  A  GOOD 
CONSCIENCE. 


13  Let  us  not  therefore  judge  one   anotner  any   more:   but  judge   this   rather, 
that  no  man  put  a  stumblingblock  or  an  occasion  to  fall  in  his  brother's  way. 

14  1  know,  and  am  persuaded  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  there  is  nothing  unclean 
of  itself:  but  to  him  that  esteemeth  any  thing  to  be  unclean,  to  him  it  is  unclean. 

15  But  if  thy  brother  be  grieved  with  thy  meat,  now  walkest  thou  not  charita- 
bly.    Destroy  not  him  with  thy  meat,  for  whom  Christ  died. 

16  Let  not  then  your  good  be  evil  spoken  of: 

17  For  the   kingdom  of  God   is   not   meat   and  drink;  but   righteousness,  and 
peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

18  For  he  that  in  these  things  serveth  Christ  is  acceptable  to  God,  and  approved 
of  men. 

19  Let  us  therefore  follow  after  the  things  which  make  for   peace,  and  things 
wherewith  one  may  edify  another. 

20  For  meat  destroy  not  the  work  of  God.       All  things  indeed  are  pure ;  but 
it  is  evil  for  that  man  who  eateth  with  offence. 

2 1  It  is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh,  nor  to  drink  wine,  nor  any   thing  whereby 
thy  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended,  or  is  made  weak. 

22  Hast  thou  faith  ^  have  it   to  thyself  before   God.      Happy  is   he   that   con- 
demneth  not  himself  in  that  thing  which  he  alloweth. 

23  And  he  that  doubteth  is  damned  if  he  eat,  because  he  eateth  not  of  faith  : 
for  whatsoever  is  no*^  of  faith  is  sin. 

10  LET  US  not  therefore  judge  one  another  any  more  :  but  judge 
O  •  this  rather,  that  no  man  put  a  stumblingblock  or  an  occasion 
to  fall  in  his  brother  s  way.  This  verse  is  addressed  to  the  strong. 
The  word  rendered  any  more  implies  that  hitherto  there  had  been 
improper  judging.  All  the  blame  did  not  rest  upon  those  who 
were  weak  in  faith.  Tholuck :  "  Hitherto  he  had  only  wished  to 
(612) 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  14,  15.]    THE  ROMANS.  613 

persuade  the  two  parties  not  mutually  to  condemn  each  other. 
Now,  however,  he  asks  the  strong  in  faith,  that  for  their  weaker 
brethren's  sake,  they  should  not  do  a  thing  which  might  be  in 
itself  indifferent,  even  though  they  felt  free  in  their  own  minds  to 
do  it."  The  play  upon  the  word  rendered  Judge  is  striking  and 
characteristic  of  our  apostle.  Stiunblingblock,  always  so  rendered 
except  in  verse  20,  where  it  is  offence,  literally  a  stumbling,  then  a 
cause  of  falling,  or  an  occasion  of  sinning.  An  occasion  to  fall,  in 
the  Greek  one  word  ;  in  i  John  2  :  19,  rendered,  an  occasion  of 
stumbling  ;  in  Rom.  11:9;  Rev.  2  :  14,  stumbling  block  ;  but  com- 
monly offence.  The  two  words  do  not  seem  to  have  different  sig- 
nifications, but  are  more  than  once  rendered  alike.  Here  one  ex- 
plains the  other. 

14.  /  knozv,  and  am  persuaded  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  there  is 
notJiing  unclean  of  itself :  but  to  him  that  esteemeth  anything  to  be  un- 
clean, to  him  it  is  unclean.  It  was  very  difficult  to  bring  even  the 
apostles,  and  much  more  private  Christians,  converts  from  Juda- 
ism, to  believe  that  the  distinction  of  meats  was  abolished.  In  the 
case  of  Peter  it  required  a  vision.  Yet  even  he  was  afterwards  led 
to  dissemble  on  a  like  subject.  Paul  himself  here  informs  us  that 
he  learned  it  by  revelation  from  the  Lord  Jesus.  •  He  therefore 
had  no  conscience  on  the  matter.  But  there  were  others,  not  yet 
well  instructed,  who  regarded  the  distinction  as  still  binding. 
These  were  the  weaker  brethren.  How  was  their  infirmity  to  be 
dealt  with?  Not  harshly  but  tenderly.  So  long  as  they  believed 
some  kinds  of  food  to  be  unclean,  though  they  could  not  enforce 
their  views  on  others,  they  were  bound  not  to  defile  their  own 
consciences  by  doing  what  they  thought  to  be  sinful. 

15.  But  if  thy  brother  be  grieved  with  thy  meat,  now  walkest  thou 
not  charitably.  Destroy  7iot  him  with  thy  meat  for  whom  Christ  died. 
The  chief  difficulty  in  the  first  clause  relates  to  the  word  rendered 
grieved,  a  verb  rendered  was  sorry  or  sorrowful,  and  often  as  here. 
In  2  Cor.  7:9,  II  it  is  rendered  sorrowed  or  made  sorry  in  the 
sense  of  true  repentance.  The  best  rendering  in  this  place  per- 
haps would  be  this,  brought  to  grief.  Wiclif :  if  thi  brother  be 
made  sori  in  consciens  for  mete.  In  the  second  clause,  the  chief 
difficulty  is  with  the  word  destroy,  which  is  often  so  rendered ;  in 
o'ther  forms,  perish  or  perished  ;  in  many  cases  it  is  rendered  lose. 
Matt.  10  :  6,  39,  42  ;  18  :  11  ;  Mark  8:35;  9 :  41 :  Luke  9  :  24,  25  ; 
15:4,6,8,9,24,32;  17:34;  19:10;  John  12:25;  18:9;  2  Cor. 
4:3;  2  John  8.  Perhaps  this  latter  is  the  better  signification 
here.  Lose  not  thy  brother,  that  is,  lose  not  thy  hold  upon  his 
affectionate  confidence  and  his  Christian  fellowship.  Let  him  not 
become  as  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican  to  thee.     In  verse  i. 


6i4  EPISTLE    TO       [Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  16-19. 

Paul  had  commanded  the  strong  to  receive  the  weak.  Now  he 
says  they  must  do  nothing  contrary  to  that  receiving.  In  explain- 
ing this  passage  some  have  gone  so  far  as  absolutely  to  place  the 
salvation  or  perdition  of  a  weak  brother  in  the  hands  of  the  strong. 
But  we  know  from  many  Scriptures  that  this  is  not  so.  Verse  4 
of  this  chapter  is  decisive  of  the  point  that  the  weak  brother  no 
less  than  the  strong  shall  be  saved.  Others  modify  the  meaning 
by  explaining  the  word  destroy  thus :  Do  nothing  which  has  a 
tendency  to  destroy  him.  No  doubt  this  embraces  much  of  the 
spirit  of  the  exhortation,  but  by  adopting  the  word  lose,  as  ex- 
plained above,  we  entirely  avoid  the  difficulty. 

16.  Let  not  theft  your  good  be  evil  spoken  of.  The  apostle  here 
states  that  on  the  main  question  the  strong  brother  was  right,  that 
his  principle  was  good ;  but  he  warns  him  that  he  may  make  a 
wrong  use  of  even  the  truth  itself ;  and  that  he  is  bound  so  to  de- 
port himself  that  his  liberty  shall  not  sow  dissensions  among  his 
brethren,  nor  lead  to  the  wounding  of  weak  consciences,  so  bring- 
ing reproach  upon  truth  itself. 

17.  For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink ;  but  right- 
eousness, and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  words  are 
spoken  in  confirmation  of  the  precept  of  verse  16.  Meat  and 
drink  are  things  of  too  little  importance  to  be  allowed  to  come  in 
and  disturb  the  church  of  God  with  vexatious  questions.  So  far 
from  Christ  coming  to  regulate  men's  diet,  he  came  to  establish 
righteousness  in  every  sense  of  that  term,  and  peace  in  all  the  fulness 
of  its  blessings,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  kingdom  of  Christ 
is  spiritual,  not  carnal. 

18.  For  he  that  in  these  things  serveth  Christ  is  acceptable  to  God, 
and  approved  of  men.  These  things,  the  Christian  graces,  particu- 
larly those  he  had  just  mentioned.  He  who  practises  them  is 
acceptable  to  God  even  though  he  may  be  a  weak  brother,  and  not 
avail  himself  of  all  the  liberty  Christ  has  given  him.  Moreover 
his  conduct  is  approved  of  men,  that  is,  of  just  men,  who  take  pains 
to  inform  themselves  of  its  real  nature.  In  Gal.  5  :  22,  23,  Paul 
enumerates  eight  of  the  Christian  graces,  and  adds,  "  Against  such 
there  is  no  law."  Bad  as  men  are,  their  consciences  are  commonly 
on  the  side  of  the  Christian  virtues.  This  is  so  true  that  before  the 
heathen  persecutors  could  bring  themselves  to  murder  the  sairits, 
they  charged  them  with  atheism  and  with  all  manner  of  evil  prin- 
ciples and  practices.  Indeed  all  persecutors  habitually  belie  and 
slander  their  victims  before  torturing,  killing  or  banishing  them. 

19.  Let  us  therefore  follow  after  the  things  ivhich  make  for  peace, 
and  things  wherewith  one  may  edify  another.  Follow,  a  word  ex- 
pressing eager  pursuit.     The  meaning  is,  Let  us  be  chiefly  intent 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  20,  21.]     THE  ROMANS.  615 

on  the  peace  and  edification  of  the  church.  Calvin  :  "  We  must 
indeed  eat,  that  we  may  live ;  we  ought  to  live,  that  we  may  serve 
the  Lord ;  and  he  serves  the  Lord,  who  by  benevolence  and  kind- 
ness edifies  his  neighbor  ;  for  in  order  to  promote  these  two  things, 
concord  and  edification,  all  the  duties  of  love  ought  to  be  exer- 
cised." There  is  no  danger  that  any  man  will  be  too  intent  on 
scriptural  holiness. 

20.  For  meat  destroy  not  the  work  of  God.  All  tilings  indeed 
are  pure ;  but  it  is  evil  for  that  man  who  eateth  with  offence. 
Destroy,  not  the  word  so  rendered  in  verse  1 5  ;  but  one  rendered 
dissolve,  overthrow,  bring  to  naught,  throw  down ;  see  Mark  13:2; 
Luke  21:6;  Acts  5  :  38,  39 ;  2  Cor.  5:1.  Paul  says  of  Christians 
that  they  are  God's  "  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto 
good  works."  The  work  of  God  here  then  may  mean  a  Christian. 
Again,  the  work  of  God  is  any  good  thing  in  the  world,  and  so  it 
may  here  mean  the  cause  of  religion,  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  As 
a  man  is  said  to  save  a  soul  when  he  is  the  means  of  its  salvation, 
so  he  may  be  said  to  pull  down  or  overthrow  a  work  or  a  cause 
when  he  uses  the  means  suited  to  that  end.  Pure,  that  is  not  un- 
clean.    Evil,  that  is  injurious. 

21.  It  is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh,  nor  to  drink  wine,  nor  any- 
thing whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended,  or  is  made  weak. 
The  cases  prominently  presented  here  were  such  as  these.  Men 
brought  bullocks  and  sheep  to  the  heathen  temples,  where  they 
were  slain,  and  their  blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar,  and  their  fat 
consumed  in  the  fire  of  the  altar.  The  priests  ate  such  portions 
of  the  flesh  as  they  wished,  and  sent  the  rest  to  the  market  to  be 
sold.  In  like  manner  libations  of  wine  were  offered  to  idols.  The 
priests  drank  what  they  chose,  and  sent  the  rest  to  be  sold  by  the 
wine-merchant ;  so  that  if  one  bought  either  nient  in  the  shambles 
or  wine  in  the  cellar,  it  was  probable,  and  in  many  cases  certain 
that  what  he  bought  had  been  used  to  sanction  and  support  idola- 
try. Paul  said  an  idol  was  nothing  in  the  world,  and  could  never 
render  unfit  for  use  any  gift  of  God ;  that  he  himself  would  as 
readily  have  a  heathen  priest  for  his  butcher  as  any  other  man, 
and  that  the  carrying  of  wine  into  a  heathen'  temple  could  never 
render  it  an  abomination.  He  said  he  and  those  who  were  strong 
in  the  faith  had  no  conscience  on  these  and  like  matters.  But  all 
this  did  not  allow  them  to  be  reckless  of  the  spiritual  interests  of 
the  wea|^,  so  as  by  example  or  persuasion  to  lead  him  to  the  de- 
filing of  his  own  conscience.  The  verbs  rendered  stumbleth  and 
is  offended  ?ixe  cognate  to  the  nouns  rendered  stumbling-block  and 
occasion  to  fall  in  v.  13.  Is  made  weak,  the  same  idea  as  in  v.  i,  of 
this  chapter. 


6i6  EPISTLE    TO    [Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  22,  23. 

22.  Hast  thou  faith  ?  have  it  to  thyself  before  God.  Happy  is  he 
that  condemneth  not  himself  in  that  thing  which  he  alloiveth.  Faith 
here  evidently  means  a  religious  conviction  on  a  given  point,  yet 
differing  from  the  religious  convictions  of  some  of  the  brethren. 
If  such  is  thy  case,  have  it  to  thyself  before  God.  "  They  ought 
to  use  their  liberty  with  humility,  caution,  prudence,  and  self 
denial,"  Whatever  a  man's  particular  views  on  these  disputed 
matters  were,  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  make  them  known  osten- 
tatiously. The  question,  Hast  thou  faith  f  appears  in  this  connec- 
tion to  refer  to  the  strong,  whom  he  has  been  specially  addressing. 
He  does  not  call  upon  such  to  give  up  their  convictions,  or  to 
hamper  their  consciences  with  the  conceits  of  their  weaker 
brethren  ;  but  to  behave  with  modesty  and  tenderness  on  the 
whole  subject.  Blessed  [happy]  is  he  that  condenmeth  not  himslf  in 
that  thing  zvhich  he  alloweth  himself  to  practice.  Alloweth,  else- 
where rendered  approve,  meaning  that  which  one  permits  himself 
to  do.     It  is  a  great  thing  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of  offence. 

23.  And  he  that  doubt eth  is  damned  if  he  eat,  because  he  eateth  7iot 
of  faith,  for  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin.  The  doubting  here 
intimated  is  opposed  to  the  full  persuasion  of  v.  5.  In  Rom.  4:  20 
the  same  word  is  rendered  staggering.  Damned,  condemned  or 
guilty  ;  see  above  on  Rom.  2:1;  8  :  3,  34.  The  reason  of  his  con- 
demnation is  that  he  violates  his  religious  convictions.  Scott : 
"  In  general,  every  action  must  be  sinful  which  is  not  done  '  of  faith,' 
as  satisfied  by  our  views  of  the  word  of  truth,  that  we  are  acting 
according  to  the  command  or  by  the  allowance  of  God,  and  may 
therefore  consider  ourselves  to  be  in  the  way  of  his  promised 
blessings." 

DOCTRINAL  AND   PRACTICAL   REMARKS. 

I.  If  men  would,  in  the  strictest  sense,  mind  their  own  business 
and  meddle  less  with  the  affairs  of  others,  there  would  soon  be 
such  a  change  in  the  world  and  in  the  church  as  would  awaken 
surprising  joy,  v.  13.  This  would  require  a  very  thorough  change 
in  men's  minds,  spetch  and  behaviour.  The  fact  is,  both  the 
world  and  the  church  are  in  every  age  more  or  less  heated  with 
debates  about  things,  in  their  own  nature  perplexing,  and  in  most 
cases  of  little  or  no  practical  importance.*  Cobbin  :  "  Some  Chris- 
tians are  so  rigid  on  some  peculiar  points  which  they  adopt  that, 
though  they  are  minor  matters,  they  will  not  admit  them  to  be  so, 
and  spend  a  great  part  of  their  time  in  promoting  their  partial  views 
on  circumstantials,  and  causing  divisions  and  irritable  feelings, 
instead  of  promoting  each    other's  growth  in  grace  and  mutual 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  I3-I5-]     THE  ROMANS.  617 

edification.     In  too  many  cases  they  thus  grasp  at  the  shadow  and 
lose  the  substance." 

2.  It  is  a  great  sin  willingly  to  lead  others  to  act  contrary  to 
their  consciences,  v.  13.  This  is  sometimes  done  by  want  of  ten- 
derness on  our  own  part,  in  an  evil  example,  see  Isa.  9:  16 ;  Matt. 
15  :  14;  sometimes  by  bad  advice.  Rev.  2 :  14 ;  and  sometimes  by 
an  abuse  of  Christian  liberty  in  general,  i  Cor.  8  :  9. 

3.  As  there  is  much  said  in  scripture  and  in  other  writings 
respecting  scandal  (using  the  word  in  an  ecclesiastical  sense),  it 
may  be  well  to  give  a  few  words  of  explanation  respecting  its 
nature,  v.  13.  Brown  :  "  This  sin  of  scandalizing,  or  giving 
offence,  is  when  any  thing  is  done,  spoken  or  omitted  unduly, 
whereby  our  neighbor  is  induced,  or  an  occasion  is  laid  for  him, 
to  halt,  stumble,  or  fall  in  his  way."  Pool :  "  Scandal,  or  offence,  is 
either  passive  or  active.  Passive  scandal  is,  where  that  which  is  good 
is,  by  reason  of  man's  corruption,  an  occasion  of  falliijg  to  him. 
So  Christ  himself  and  his  doctrine  were  a  scandal  to  the  Jews,  i 
Cor.  I  :  23  ;  i  Pet.  2  :  8.  Active  scandal  is,  when  any  thing  is 
done  or  said,  which  gives  occasion  of  offence  to  others,  when  it  is 
an  occasion  of  grief  or  of  sin  to  them,  Rom,  14:  15,  21."  It  ought 
not  to  be  forgotten  that  our  Saviour  has  given  the  most  solemn 
warning  to  men  to  avoid  every  thing  leading  to  active  scandal, 
Matt.  18  :  7.  Paul  teaches  the  same  doctrine  in  i  Cor.  8:  12,  and 
he  carried  out  in  practice  the  principles  he  laid  down  for  others, 
I  Cor.  9 :  19,  20.  This  duty  is  specially  obligatory  upon  preachers 
of  the  gospel — "  giving  no  offence  in  anything,  that  the  ministry 
be  not  blamed,"  2  Cor.  6:  3. 

4.  If  the  Lord  has  in  his  mercy  given  us  a  sound  mind  and  a 
clear  judgment  on  matters  which  perplex  some  of  our  brethren,  so 
that  we  know  and  are  persuaded  by  the  Lord,  let  us  be  thankful  for 
so  great  a  mercy.  But  let  us  remember  that  the  great  adversary 
would  pervert  every  thing,  even  so  excellent  a  gift  as  this.  The 
possession  of  it  is  no  cause  for  haughtiness,  harshness  or  insolence. 

5.  It  is  a  great  burden  to  any  one  to  be  left  to  carry  about 
with  him  doubts  and  scruples  on  matters  concerning  which  the 
majority  of  consistent  and  decided  Christians  feel  well  satisfied, 
vs.  14,  15.  Chrysostom:  "By  nature  nothing  is  unclean,  but  it 
becomes  so  by  the  spirit  in  which  a  man  uses  it."  Bp.  Hall: 
"  Nothing  is,  in  its  own  nature,  unclean ;  for  God  made  all  things 
good  :  but,  in  a  man's  conceit  and  opinion,  some  creatures  seem  un- 
clean ;  and,  while  a  man  is  in  that  mind,  surely  that  creature  is  un- 
clean to  him,  because  his  conscience  riseth  up  against  the  use 
thereof."  Temptations  are  apt  to  run  in  classes.  Feeble  health, 
shattered  nerves,  natural  weakness  of  intellect  lay  one  peculiarly 


6i8  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  14-21. 

liable  to  those  states  of  uncertainity  which  give  the  adversary  a 
peculiar  advantage.  Scrupulosity  is  no  friend  to  grace.  When 
men  are  ready  to  lay  an  undue  stress  upon  things  indifferent, 
making  some  things  sinful,  which  God  has  pronounced  lawful, 
and  some  things  obligatory  concerning  which  God  has  not  ex- 
pressed his  will,  they  are  in  a  condition  peculiarly  favorable  to 
the  devices  of  the  wicked  one. 

6.  For  it  cannot  be  denied  and  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that 
one's  conscience  may  make  to  himself  a  thing  sinful  which  is  not 
so  in  itself,  vs.  14,  20.  It  is  therefore  a  great  duty,  binding  on  all 
Christians,  not  to  rush  on  in  the  dark,  not  caring  whether  their 
course  is  right  or  wrong,  but  to  seek  light  from  God  continually  ; 
and  that  with  a  willingness  to  learn  and  receive  the  whole  truth. 

7.  It  is  a  great  attainment,  not  made  by  all,  rightly  to  use  their 
talents  and  their  liberty.  One  question  which  every  man  ought 
to  ask  himself  concerning  his  course  of  conduct  is.  Is  it  right  and 
lawful  ?  If  this  question  is  answered  in  the  negative,  he  need  go 
no  further.  But  if  in  the  affirmative,  then  let  him  ask,  Is  it  edif)^- 
ing?  is  it  charitable  ?  does  it  promote  peace  ?  vs.  15,  19-21.  Com- 
pare I  Cor.  10:23.  Calvin:  "Let  no  cause  of  falling,  no,  nor  of 
stumbling,  no,  nor  of  weakening  be  given  to  the  brethren." 

8.  It  is  not  therefore  enough  to  do  right,  we  must  seem  to  do 
right,  V.  16  The  motives  to  this  course  are  of  the  strongest  kind. 
Stuart :  "  Christ  died  for  sinners,  and  you  are  under  obligation  to 
show  the  spirit  of  similar  benevolence  to  your  fellow-men."  The 
great  object  in  this  course  of  conduct  is  n"ot  to  build  up  our  own 
fame  in  the  church,  but  to  adorn  our  Christian  profession  and 
honor  our  blessed  Master. 

9.  Let  us  never  forget  that  our  great  business  on  earth  is  the 
cultivation  of  the  Christian  graces — even  all  of  them,  vs.  17,  18. 
The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  us,  not  without  us.  Stuart : 
"  Spiritual  life  consists  in  holy  conformity  to  God,  peaceful  and 
gentle  demeanor,  and  joy  such  as  is  imparted  by  the  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit."  When  some  one  expressed  admiration  of  Leigh- 
ton's  library,  he  properly  said,  "  One  devout  thought  is  worth 
more  than  all  my  books."  When  will  mankind  learn  and  practise 
on  the  spirit  of  such  a  remark?  Even  many,  whose  consciences 
approve  the  decisions  of  scripture  in  placing  warm,  living  piety, 
full  of  kindness  and  charity,  above  all  notions,  rites  and  ceremonies, 
do  yet  seem  to  practise  no  better  than  others.  How  many  talk 
much  about  the  church,  her  rites,  her  doctrines  and  her  worship, 
who  yet  have  no  joy  in  the  Holy  ()li-)st. 

10.  Let  us  carefull}'^  set  an  example  of  seeking  the  peace  and 
edification  of  the  whole  church  of  God.     No  work  is  more  im- 


Ch.  XIV.,  vs.  I9-22.J     THE  ROMANS,  619 

portant,  v.  19.  Pool :  "  Christians  must  not  only  live  peaceably, 
but  profitably  with  one  another."  Brown:  "In  a  time  when 
offences  do  much  abound  ^thro'  the  practice  of  indifferent  things, 
there  useth  to  be  much  unrest,  disquietness,  divisions,  debates, 
quarrels  and  endless,  intricate,  doubtful  disputes,  and  everything 
tending  to  foster  jealousies,  controversies,  strife  and  contention." 

11.  It  is  no  small  part  of  our  duty  to  inquire  into  the  nature 
and  tendency  of  our  conduct,  as  this  whole  chapter  teaches  us. 
We  have  no  right  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  consequences  of  our 
own  acts.  Oftentimes  the  fruit  of  our  own  doings  is  so  obvious 
that  we  need  no  other  rule  to  indicate  to  us  that  they  are  right  or 
wrong.  Men  have  scattered  arrows,  firebrands  and  death  around 
them,  and  have  refused  to  look  upon  the  mischief  they  had 
wrought,  vindicating  their  own  acts  of  wrong  or  recklessness. 

12.  Have  you  a  strong,  clear  mind?  Are  your  thoughts  in  ad- 
vance of  your  generation  ?  Do  you  see  what  is  best  with  clearer 
eyes  than  other  people  ?  Are  you  one  of  the  strong  brethren  ? 
Are  you  certain  that  others  will  yet  come  to  embrace  your  views? 
Or  are  you  weak  in  faith,  thinking  some  things  binding,  where 
others  as  conscientious  as  yourself  see  no  moral  obligation?  In 
short,  hast  thou  faith,  or  a  full  persuasion,  where  others  have  not  ? 
Then  pester  not  the  church  and  people  of  God  with  your  notions, 
V.  22.  Torment  not  others  because  they  cannot  see  with  your 
eyes.  Speak  not  as  though  wisdom  would  die  with  you.  Even 
if  your  views  are  correct,  perhaps  this  is  not  the  best  time  to 
adopt  them.  Every  thing  is  beautiful  in  its  season.  Rain  is  good, 
but  we  do  not  want  it  in  harvest.  Snow  is  useful,  but  w'e  do 
not  wish  it  in  July. 

13.  A  good  conscience  is  a  great  happiness,  v.  22.  It  is  above 
all  price.  Spare  no  pains  to  secure  and  maintain  it.  It  is  worth 
more  than  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them. 
Paul  says,  "  Herein  do  I  exercise  myself  to  have  always  a  con- 
science void  of  offence  toward  God  and  toward  men."  Never 
venture  on  a  course  of  doubtful  propriety.  Avoid  tortuous 
courses.  Cultivate  a  continual  sense  of  your  own  weakness  and 
dependence.  Above  all  see  that  your  conscience  is  often  sprin- 
kled with  the  blood  of  Jesus.  Scott :  "  Few  are  so  happy,  as  to  be 
quite  free  from  self-condemnation  in  everything  which  they  allow  : 
a  sound  judgment,  a  simple  heart,  a  tender  conscience,  and  habitual 
self-denial  are  necessary  for  the  enjoyment  of  this  comfort:  and 
most  of  us  see  frequent  cause  to  condemn  ourselves  in  this  re- 
spect, and,  by  daily  repentance,  faith  and  prayer,  to  deprecate  the 
merited  condemnation  of  our  God." 

14.  Carefully  regard  your  doubts  as  long  as  they  exist.     This 


620  EPIS  TL  E .  [Ch.  XIV.,  v.  23. 

is  a  principle  in  morals  so  clear  that  even  Cicero  states  it :  "  If 
thou  doubtest  whether  a  thing  be  lawful  or  not  lawful,  thou  shalt 
not  do  it."  Paley  also  correctly  says:  "  In  every  question  of  con- 
duct, where  one  side  is  doubtful  and  the  other  safe,  we  are  bound 
to  take  the  safe  side.  The  action  concerning  which  we  doubt, 
whatever  it  may  be  in  itself  or  to  another,  would  in  us,  while  this 
doubt  remains  upon  our  minds,  be  certainly  sinful."  Pool : 
"  What  a  man  doth  doubtfully,  he  doth  sinfully."  Brown  :  "  Folks 
may  be  doing  that  which  is  lawful  in  itself,  and  yet  in  the  doing 
thereof  hazard  their  own  salvation,  in  not  heeding  the  right  man- 
ner of  going  about  the  same."  Chrysostom  :  "  Let  us  then  watch 
our  own  conduct  on  all  sides,  and  afford  to  no  one  ever  so  little 
handle.  For  this  life  present  is  a  race-course,  and  we  ought  to 
have  thousands  of  eyes  on  every  side,  and  not  even  to  fancy  that 
ignorance  will  be  an  adequate  excuse.  For  there  is  such  a  thing, 
there  certainly  is,  as  being  punished  for  ignorance,  when  the  ig- 
norance is  inexcusable." 

15.  Mildly  but  determinedly  maintain  your  Christian  liberty. 
When  Paul  thought  that  circumcising  Timothy  might  remove 
some  prejudice  and  increase  his  usefulness,  he  circumcised  him. 
Afterwards  when  certain  demanded  that  Titus  should  be  circum- 
cised, he  gave  place  to  them  by  subjection,  no,  not  for  an  hour. 
All  attempts  to  diminish  our  freedom  from  the  doctrines  and  com- 
mandments of  men  in  matters  of  moral  obligation  are  mischievous 
and  should  be  resisted. 

16.  Chalmers:  "There  is  another  and  we  think  a  most  legiti- 
mate inference,  to  be  drawn  from  this  passage.  It  is  that  Chris- 
tians should  either  cease  to  differ — or  if  this  be  impossible,  that 
then  they  should  agree  to  differ.  We  of  course  exclude  such 
differences,  as,  relating  to  what  is  vital  and  essential,  imply  that 
either  one  or  other  of  the  parties  is  not  Christian,  disowning,  as 
they  do,  some  weightier  matters,  whether  of  doctrine  or  of  the 
law."  Let  us  adopt  the  old  rule :  "  In  things  necessary,  unity  ;  in 
things  indifferent,  liberty  ;  in  all  things,  charity." 


CHAPTER    XV. 

VERSES  1-13. 

EXHORTATIONS   AND    PRAYERS    FOR    MUTUAL 
LOVE  AND   CONCORD. 


We  then  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to 
please  ourselves. 

2  Let  every  one  of  us  please  his  neighbour  for  his  gt)od  to  edification. 

3  For  even  Christ  pleased  not  himself;  but,  as  it  is  written,  The  reproaches  of 
them  that  reproached  thee  fell  on  me, 

4  For  whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning, 
that  we  through  patience  and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures  might  have  hope. 

5  Now  the  God  of  patience  and  consolation  grant  you  to  be  likeminded  one 
toward  another  according  to  Christ  Jesus: 

6  That  ye  may  with  one  mind  and  one  mouth  glorify  God,  even  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

7  Wherefore   receive  ye  one  another,  as  Christ   also  received  us,  to  the  glory 
of  God. 

8  Now  I  say  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  for  the  truth 
of  God,  to  confirm  the  promises  made  unlo  the  fathers  : 

9  And  that  the  Gentiles  might  glorify  God  for  his  mercy ;  as  it  is  written.  For 
this  cause  I  will  confess  to  thee  among  the  Gentiles,  and  sing  unto  thy  name. 

10  And  again  he  saith.  Rejoice,  ye  Gentiles,  with  his  people. 

1 1  And  again.  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  Gentiles ;  and  laud  him,  all  ye  people. 

12  And  again,  Esaias  saith,  There  shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse,  and  he  that  shall  rise 
to  reign  over  the  Gentiles ;  in  him  shall  the  Gentiles  trust. 

1 3  Now  the  God  of  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  that  ye 
may  abound  in  hope,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

1WE  then  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak, 
«  and  not  to  please  ourselves.  This  is  a  summing  up  of  the  argu- 
ment of  the  preceding  chapter.  Bear,  as  in  Rom.  11  :  18,  and  still 
more  like  its  use  in  Gal.  6  :  2.  It  means  more  than  to  tolerate. 
We  must  help  the  weak  to  carry  his  burdens.  Please,  the  word 
commonly  so  rendered  in  the  New  Testament.  See  above  on 
Rom.  8:8.  It  occurs  again  in  verses  2,  3  of  this  chapter  in  the 
same   sense.     We  live  under  the   law  of  self-denial.      Both  the 

(621) 


622  EPISTLE    TO  [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  2-4. 

word  of  God  and  the  example  of  the  Saviour  have  placed  us 
there.  This  is  the  road  to  honor,  glory  and  immortality.  All 
holy  characters  among  men  are  formed  in  the  school  of  self-de- 
•  nial.  We  were  not  made  for  our  own  glory,  nor  to  please  our- 
selves. 

2.  Let  every  one  of  us  please  his  neighbour,  for  his  good  to  edifica- 
tion. Please,  as  in  v.  i.  We  may  and  we  must  be  courteous, 
gentle,  condescending,  obliging,  giving  no  needless  offence,  so 
that  our  neighbour,  if  well  disposed,  may  find  it  easy  to  love  us, 
and  that  we  may  do  him  good.  Thus  we  shall  show  true  charity, 
meekness  and  zeal.  We  must  not  envy  his  good  qualities,  nor  are 
we  at  liberty  to  lay  down  rules  for  his  conscience.  All  this  is  to 
be  done  not  as  courting  popularity,  but  as  seeking  the  edification 
of  our  neighbour.  Christians  are  often  called  God's  building, 
I  Cor.  3  :9;  2  Cor.  5:1;  Eph.  2  :  21.  In  carrying  out  the  same 
figure  their  edification  is  often  spoken  of  See  Rom.  14  :  19  ;  i 
Cor.  14 :  12  ;  2  Cor.  10  :  8  ;  Eph.  4:12.  It  is  delightful  to  see  the 
church  of  God  built  up  in  faith,  in  knowledge,  and  in  holiness. 
God  is  thereby  so  much  glorified  that  we  can  do  nothing  more 
important. 

3.  For  even  Christ  pleased  not  himself ;  but  as  it  is  written,  the 
reproaches  of  them  that  reproached  thee  fell  on  me.  To  a  pious  heart, 
no  argument  is  more  cogent  than  that  drawn  from  the  example  of 
Christ.  It  cuts  off"  all  debate,  and  is  an  end  of  all  strife.  The  con- 
nection of  the  last  clause  with  the  first  is  better  understood  by 
quoting  the  whole  of  the  verse  from  which  it  is  taken  :  "  The  zeal 
of  thine  house  hath  eaten  me  up  :  and  the  reproaches  of  them  that 
reproached  thee  are  fallen  upon  me,"  Ps.  69 :  9.  The  meaning  is, 
that  such  was  Christ's  holy  zeal  for  God  that  he  pleased  not  him- 
self, nor  courted  popularity,  but  willingly  submitted  to  contumely 
for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  good  of  his  people.  That  the  ode 
thus  cited  is  Messianic,  see  the  Author's  "  Studies  on  the  Book  of 
Psalms." 

4.  For  whatever  things  were  written  aforetime  were  written  for  our 
learjting,  that  we  tliroiigh  patience  and  coinfort  of  the  Scriptures  might 
have  hope.  The  object  of  this  verse  is  to  declare  that  the  quotation 
from  the  69th  Psalm,  like  all  other  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, has  its  use  and  application  in  our  day.  Learning,  every- 
where else  rendered  doctrine,  except  in  Rom.  12:7,  where  it  is 
teaching.  Here  it  means  sound  instruction.  Patience,  endurance, 
patient  continuance,  constancy.  Comfort,  cognate  to  the  noun 
rendered  comforter ;  several  times  rendered  exhortation  ;  in  the 
next  verse  rendered  consolation.  Here  it  means  the  consolation 
derived  from  the  word  of  God.     Some  connect  both  comfort  and 


Ch.  XV.,  vs.  5-9.]         THE  ROMANS.  623 

patience  with  the  Scriptures ;  nor  is  there  any  objection  to  doing 
so.  Hope  is  first  graciously  implanted  in  the  soul  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  is  nourished  by  his  influences,  taking  the  promises,  his- 
tories and  examples  of  Scripture,  and  thus  strengthening  the 
principle  of  holy  desire  and  expectation.  This  is  done  that  we 
may  have  hope  in  the  darkest  hour,  in  the  most  trying  and  per- 
plexing circumstances. 

5.  Nozc  the  God  of  patieiice  and  consolation  grant  yon  to  be  like- 
minded  our  toward  anotJier  according  to  Christ  Jesus.  This  verse  is 
a  prayer  that  the  Romans  might  be  able,  through  God,  who  is  the 
author  of  all  constancy  and  comfort,  to  follow  the  example  of  Jesus 
Christ  above  stated.  'Those  things,  which  in  verse  4  are  said  to 
be  produced  by  means  of  the  Scripture,  are  here  ascribed  to  the 
power  of  God. 

6.  That  ye  may  with  one  7nind  and  one  mouth  glorify  God,  even  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  word  rendered  with  one 
mind  is  everywhere  else  rendered  with  one  accord.  Glorify,  in 
Rom.  II  :  13,  magnify  ;  but  commonly  as  here.  We  are  to  glo- 
rify God  as  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  no  less  than  as 
the  Creator  of  the  world. 

7.  Wherefore  receive  ye  one  another,  as  Christ  also  received  us,  to 
the  glory  of  God.  Receive,  the  same  word  so  rendered  in  Rom.  14: 
I,  on  which  see  above.  Such  reception  is  to  the  glory  of  God,  be- 
cause it  shows  the  power  of  his  grace  and  evinces  the  divine  origin 
of  Christianity,  John  17:  21.  And  nothing  lies  nearer  the  heart  of 
Christ  and  of  his  people  than  God's  glory. 

8.  Noiv  I  say  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  minister  of  the  circumcision 
for  the  truth  of  God,  to  confirm  the  promises  made  unto  the  fathers. 

9.  And  that  the  Gentiles  might  glorify  God  for  his  mercy  ;  as  it  is 
written.  For  this  cause  I  will  confess  to  thee  among  the  Getitiles,  and 
sing  unto  thy  name.  Our  Saviour  was  a  Jew,  was  circumcised,  con- 
formed in  all  things  to  the  law  of  Moses,  fulfilled  all  the  righteous- 
ness required  by  the  old  dispensation  and  by  the  ministry  of  John  ; 
and  by  his  personal  ministry  brought  the  truth  of  God  before  the 
minds  of  the  Jewish  people,  and  c^;z;fr;«^^,  or  established  the  prom- 
ises made  to  the  fathers,  which  promises  related  to  salvation,  and 
not  merely  to  temporal  blessings,  and  were  by  the  Old  Testament 
scriptures  declared  to  be  alike  applicable  to  Jews  and  Gentiles. 
All  Christians  agree  that  Christ  was  the  King  of  the  Jews,  prom- 
ised to  their  ancestors.  All  should  alike  agree  that  his  salvation 
was  no  less  designed  for  other  nations,  though  it  was  first  offered 
to  the  Jews.  On  this  latter  point  the  Jewish  scriptures  are  them- 
selves decisive.  The  verse  here  cited  is  literally  from  the  Septu- 
agint  version  of  Ps.  18  :  49.     The  manifest  object  of  the  apostle  in 


624  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  10-13. 

citing  this  and  other  verses  is  to  show  from  the  writings  of  the 
prophets  that  the  Gentiles  were  always  contemplated  as  a  compo- 
nent part  of  Messiah's  kingdom. 

10.  And  again  he  saith,  Rejoice,  ye  Gentiles,  with  his  people.  Some 
regard  this  verse  as  a  quotation  from  Deut.  32 :  43,  being  an  exact 
rendering  of  the  Septuagint  version  of  that  place.  This  is  better 
than  to  find  it  in  Ps.  6"] '.  3,  5,  where  the  same  thing  is  substan- 
tially expressed  in  other  words. 

11.  And  again,  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  Gentiles  :  ajid  laud  him,  all 
ye  people.  A  literal  quotation  from  the  Septuagint  version  of  Ps. 
117:  I,  or,  as  that  version  numbers  them,  Ps.  116:  i. 

12.  And  again,  Esaias  saith,  There  shall  ke  a  root  of  Jesse,  and  he 
that  shall  rise  to  reign  over  the  Gejitiles  ;  in  him  shall  the  Gentiles  trust. 
It  is  a  literal  quotation  from  the  Septuagint  version  of  Isa.  11:  10  ; 
a  clear  ^nd  remarkable  prediction  of  the  certainty  that  the  Saviour 
should  reign  over  Gentiles  as  over  Jews.  Jesse  was  the  father  of 
David  and  to  David  it  was  promised  that  his  seed  should  reign 
forever.  The  quotation  is  not  literal  from  the  Hebrew,  but  it  suf- 
ficiently gives  the  sense. 

13.  Now  the  God  of  hope,  Jill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing, 
that  ye  may  abound  in  hope,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  v. 
5,  God  is  called  the  God  of  patience  and  consolation;  but  here  he 
is  called  the  God  of  hope,  not  because  he  is  the  object,  but  because 
he  is  the  author  of  hope.  He  alone  can  fill  any  heart  with  joy  and 
peace  in  believing,  or  cause  any  to  abound  in  hope ;  and  he  can 
do  all  these  things,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  be- 
nevolent prayer  relates  alike  to  Jews  and  Gentiles  ;  to  strong  and 
to  weak  Christians.  Often  in  this  epistle  do  the  kind  wishes  of 
the  apostle  well  up.  His  heart  seems  to  be  gushing  with  tender 
emotions  towards  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  The  same  truths  must  often  be  stated  over  and  over  again, 
as  Paul  here  repeats  what  he  had  as  clearly  stated  belore,  vs.  i,  7. 
It  is  an  old  Bible  rule,  Line  upon  line ;  precept  upon  precept. 
The  great  secret  of  instructing  the  young  and  the  ignorant  is,  a 
little  at  a  time  and  often  repeated. 

2.  It  is  a  great  duty  of  the  strong  to  help  the  weak,  v.  i.  It  is 
so  in  families,  it  is  so  in  armies,  it  is  so  in  churches.  Indeed  in 
churches  the  obligations  are  very  strong  and  tender;  nor  can 
there  be  any  exemption.  Yet  we  often  see  things  quite  otherwise. 
Scott :  "  The  powerful  of  this  world  often  domineer  over  the 
weak  ;  but  it  ought  not  to  be  so  in  the  church  of  Christ."     Brown  : 


Ch.  XV.,  vs.  1-5.]  THE  ROMANS.  625 

"  Whoever  is  tenacious  of  his  own  opinion,  and  is  bewitched  with 
self-love  and  a  self-pleasing  humor,  will  walk  most  unchristianly 
when  offences  abound." 

3.  Instead  of  pleasing  ourselves  we  should  remember  that  we 
have  far  other  work  to  do,  vs.  1-3.  We  must  please  our  neighbor 
to  his  edification,  and  please  God  to  the  glory  of  his  name. 
Hodge  :  "  The  desire  to  please  others  should  be  wisely  directed 
and  spring  from  right  motives."  The  desire  to  please  God  must 
be  directed  by  the  law  of  God  itself. 

4.  It  is  our  great  business  on  earth  to  believe  in.Christ,  and  then 
to  follow  his  blessed  example,  vs.  3,  5.  Scott :  "  He  is  the  most 
advanced  Christian,  who  is  most  conformed  to  Christ,  and  most 
willing  to  renounce  his  own  ease  or  indulgence,  and  to  endure  re- 
proach and  suffering,  after  his  example,  and  in  prosecution  of  that 
great  design  for  which  he  shed  his  blood."  He,  who  is  not  at  all 
conformed  to  Christ,  is  none  of  his. 

5.  If  you  are  reproached  for  the  name  of  Christ,  and  in  the 
cause  of  God,  you  are  a  happy  man,  v.  3.  Compare  Matt.  5:10- 
12  ;  I  Pet.  4  :  12-15.  Reproach  is  a  favorite  weapon  with  the  un- 
godly. It  has  been  so  in  every  age.  It  will  be  so  as  long  as  wick- 
edness is  left  in  the  world.     Heed  it  not. 

6.  If  the  Scriptures  are  for  our  learning,  they  can  become  pro- 
fitable to  us  only  by  our  studying  them,  meditating  on  them  and 
practising  them,  with  hearty  pra3'^er  for  the  teaching  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  V.  4.  Jerome  :  "  Love  the  Scriptures  and  wisdom  will  love 
thee."  Chrysostom  :  "  Is  it  not  absurd,  that,  in  money  matters, 
men  will  not  trust  to  others,  but  the  counters  are  produced  and 
the  sum  cast  up  ;  yet,  in  their  souls'  affairs,  men  are  led  and  drawn 
away  by  the  opinions  of  others,  and  this  when  they  have  an  exact 
scale  and  an  exact  rule,  viz :  the  declaration  of  the  divine  laws  ? 
Therefore,  I  entreat  and  beseech  you  all,  that,  not  minding  what 
this  or  that  man  may  say  about  these  things,  you  would  consult 
the  Holy  Scriptures  concerning  them."  Justin  Martyr :  "  We 
must  know,  by  all  means,  that  it  is  not  lawful  or  possible  to  learn 
any  thing  of  God  or  of  right  piety,  save  out  of  the  prophets,  who 
teach  us  by  divine  inspiration."  Selden  :  "  There  is  no  book  in 
the  universe  upon  which  we  can  rest  our  souls,  in  a  dying  moment 
but  the  Bible."  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  be  allowed  to  read  God's 
word  in  the  original,  but  if  we  are  not  able  to  do  that,  the  author- 
ized Engflish  version  is  an  excellent  translation.  South  :  "  The 
vulgar  translation  of  the  Bible  is  the  best  standard  of  our  lan- 
guage." Fisher  Ames  :  "  In  no  book  is  there  so  good  Enghsh,  so 
pure  and  so  elegant.  The  Bible  will  justly  remain  the  standard 
of  language  as  well  as  of  faith."     "  Buy  the  truth  and  sell  it  not."" 

40 


626  EPIS  TLE.  [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  4-13. 

Constantly  cr)^,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold  won- 
drous things  out  of  thy  law."  In  this  life  God's  people  have  the 
best  reason  for  expecting  troubles  and  sorrows  :  nor  is  there  any 
adequate  provision  for  sustaining  the  pious  except  that  which  is 
made  known  in  the  word  of  God  ;  and  everything  there  revealed 
may  be  useful  to  this  end.  Calvin  :  "  There  is  nothing  in  Scripture 
which  is  not  useful  for  your  instruction,  and  for  the  direction  of 
your  life." 

7.  We  cannot  live  without  hope,  vs.  4,  13.  The  reason  is  that 
in  the  present  life,  our  burdens  are  so  heavy  and  our  strength  so 
weak  that  if  there  is  no  bright  prospect  beyond  the  tomb,  believers 
must  sink  into  despondency  ;  nay,  they  must  be  of  all  men  most 
miserable.  It  is  chiefly  in  this  way  that  Christians  acquire  con- 
stancy and  have  comfort  in  their  course. 

8.  Let  all  glorify  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  v. 
6.  He  who  can  do  that  lives  not  in  vain  ;  and  he,  who  falls  short 
of  that,  falls  short  of  the  great  end  of  his  existence.  He  may  be 
learned,  he  may  be  famous,  he  may  accurnulate  vast  wealth,  he 
may  be  upright  according  to  the  standard  of  men,  and  yet  if  he 
fails  to  glorify  God,  his  Saviour,  it  had  been  good  for  him  if  he 
had  never  been  born. 

9.  Those  do  sadly  mistake  the  intent  of  Christ's  mission,  who 
limit  it  to  objects  narrower  than  those  stated  in  Scripture,  vs.  9-12. 
When  the  Jews  forbade  the  primitive  preachers  to  proclaim  the 
Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  it  was  a  sign  that  the  wrath  had  come  upon 
them  to  the  uttermost. 

10.  All  excellences  of  moral  character,  though  enjoined  by 
God's  Word,  are  never  effectually  wrought  in  us,  but  by  the  power 
of  the  Most  High,  vs.  5,  13.  His  grace  can  transform  the  worst 
moral  character  into  the  image  of  the  heavenly  Adam.  We  can 
hope  for  no  effectual  renovation  except  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Hal- 
dane :  "  The  inward  joy  and  peace  of  the  Christian  are  the  gifts  of 
God,  and  not  the  natural  effects  of  anything  in  the  mind  of  man. 
All  the  promises  and  declarations  of  Scripture  would  fail  in  pro- 
ducing joy  and  peace  in  the  mind  of  a  sinner,  were  it  not  for  the 
agency  of  the  Spirit  of  God."  Nor  is  it  any  kindness,  but  real 
cruelty,  on  the  part  of  preachers  to  call  on  the  people  to  work  the 
works  of  God  in  their  own  strength.  In  so  doing  they  act  like 
the  Egyptian  task-masters,  who  required  brick,  but  gave  no 
straw. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

VERSES   14-33. 

THE  CONCLUSION  OF  HIS  ARGUMENT  AND  EX- 
HORTATION, WITH  FRIENDLY  REMARKS,  AND 
SOME  HINTS  RESPECTING  HIS  PLANS  FOR  THE 
FUTURE. 


14  And  I  myself  also  am  persuaded  of  you,  my  brethren,  that  ye  also  are  full 
of  goodness,  filled  with  all  knowledge,  able  also  to  admonish  one  another. 

15  Nevertheless,  brethren,  I  have  written  the  more  boldly  unto  you  in  some 
sort,  as  putting  you  in  mind,  because  of  the  grace  that  is  given  to  me  of  God. 

16  That  1  should  be  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Gentiles,  ministering 
the  gospel  of  God,  that  the  offering  up  of  the  Gentiles  might  be  acceptable,  being 
sanctified   by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

17  1  have  therefore  whereof  1  may  glory  through  Jesus  Christ  in  those  things 
which  pertain  10  God. 

18  For  I  will  not  dare  to  speak  of  any  of  those  things  which  Christ  hath  not 
wrought  by  me,  to  make  the  Gentiles  obedient,  by  word  and  deed, 

19  Through  mighty  signs  and  wonders,  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  so 
that  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto  Illyricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the 
gospel  of  Christ. 

20  Yea,  so  have  I  strived  to  preach  the  gospel,  not  where  Christ  was  named, 
lest  I  should  build  upon  another  man's  foundation  : 

2  1  But  as  it  is  written.  To  whom  he  was  not  spoken  of,  they  shall  see :  and 
they  that  have  not  heard  shall  understand. 

22  For  which  cause  also  I  have  been  much  hindered  from  coming  to  you. 

23  But  now  having  no  more  place  in  these  parts,  and  having  a  great  desire  these 
many  years  to  come  unto  you  ; 

24  Whensoever  I  take  my  journey  into  Spain,  I  will  come  to  you  :  for  I  trust 
to  see  you  in  my  journey,  and  to  be  brought  on  my  way  thitherward  by  you,  if  first 
I  be  somewhat  filled  with  your  company. 

25  But  now  I  go  unto  Jerusalem  to  minister  unto  the  saints. 

2O  For  it  hath  pleased  them  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia  to  make  a  certain  contri- 
bution for  the  poor  saints  which  are  at  Jerusalem. 

27  It  hath  pleased  them  verily  ;  and  their  debtors  they  are.  For  if  the  Gen- 
tiles have  been  made  partakers  of  their  spiritual  things,  their  duty  is  also  to  minister 
unto  them  in  carnal  things. 

(627) 


628  EPIS  TLE'  TO         [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  14-17- 

28  When  therefore  I  have  performed  this,  and  have  sealed  to  them  this  fruit,  I 
will  come  by  you  into  Spain. 

29  And  I  am  sure  that,  when  I  come  unto  you,  I  shall  come  in  the  fulness  of 
the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

30  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the 
love  of  the  Spirit,  that  ye  strive  together  with  me  in  your  prayers  to  God  for 
me ; 

3 1  That  I  may  be  delivered  from  them  that  do  not  believe  in  Judea  ;  and  that 
my  service  which  I  have  for  Jerusalem  may  be  accepted  of  the  saints; 

32  That  I  may  come  unto  you  with  joy  by  the  will  of  God,  and  may  with  you 
be  refreshed. 

33  Now  the  God  of  peace  be  with  you  all.      Amen. 

MAND  I  myself  am  persuaded  of  you,  my  bretlireji,  that  ye  also 
•  are  full  of  goodness,  filled  with  all  knowledge,  able  also  to 
admonish  one  another.  Paul's  charity  towards  his  brethren  led  him 
to  hope  and  believe  the  best  things  possible  concerning  them, 
whether  they  were  at  Rome  or  elsewhere.  He  did  not  write  as 
he  had  done,  because  he  was  filled  with  suspicion,  but  because  he 
confided  in  them.  Goodness,  a  word  uniformly  rendered.  AdmonisJi, 
sometimes  rendered  warn,  Acts  20:  31  ;  Col.  i  :  28  ;  i  Thess.  5  :  14, 
but  always  in  the  sense  of  admonish.  Nor  was  the  church  at  Rome 
ignorant,  for  she  was  filled  with  all  knowledge,  that  is,  all  knowl- 
edge necessary  to  mutual  edification. 

1 5 .  Nevertheless,  brethren,  I  have  written  the  more  boldly  unto  you 
in  some  sort,  as  putting  you  in  mind,  because  of  the  grace  that  is  given 
to  me  of  God. 

16.  That  I  should  be  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Gentiles, 
ministering  the  gospel  of  God,  that  the  offering  up  of  the  Gentiles 
m,ight  be  acceptable,  being  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  phrase 
in  some  sort  may  be  rendered  in  part  or  in  particular.  It  may  qualify 
boldly,  i.  e.  some  things  I  have  written  are  indeed  bold ;  or  it  may 
apply  to  all  this  epistle,  as  if  in  the  whole  of  it  there  was  an  air 
of  confidence.  He  had  not  disguised  anything.  This  latter  is 
perhaps  the  better  interpretation,  as  the  context  shows.  Grace 
had  been  given  him  of  God  to  do  this  very  thing.  Besides  he 
was  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Gentiles,  and  it  was  his 
solemn  duty  to  do  all  that  he  could  for  their  edification.  The 
word  rendered  offering  up  is  everywhere  else  rendered  offering, 
and  it  here  means  the  offering  which  they  made  to  God  of  them- 
selves through  faith,  an  offering  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Some  however  think  that  the  offering  refers  to  the  presenting  of 
the  Gentiles  to  God  by  the  apostle.  The  former  is  the  better  in- 
terpretation, though  the  latter  is  admissible. 

17.  /  have    therefore  whereof  I  may  glory  through  Jesus  Christ 


Ch.  XV.,  vs.  18-22.]       THE  ROMANS.  629 

in  those  tilings  which  pertain  to  God.  That  whereof  the  apostle 
might  glory  was  nothing  meritorious  in  himself,  but  grace  that 
had  been  bestowed  upon  him  in  things  pertaining  to  God ;  and  in 
particular,  the  grace  of  the  apostleship.  But  all  this  was  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

18.  For  I  zvill  not  dare  to  speak  of  any  of  those  things  wJiich 
Christ  hath  not  wrought  by  me,  to  make  the  Gentiles  obedient,  by 
word  and  deed, 

19.  TJirongh  mighty  signs  and  wonders,  by  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  of  God ;  so  that  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto  Illy- 
ricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ.  The  Apostle 
steadfastly  and  uniformly  declines  to  claim  for  himself  any  credit 
for  the  work  of  God  done  by  others.  Compare  2  Cor.  10:  14-16. 
His  sense  of  honor  was  quite  too  nice  to  allow  him  to  do  any  such 
thing.  But  God  had  so  blessed  his  labors  among  the  Gentiles 
through  mighty  signs  and  zvondcrs,  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
that  it  would  have  been  falsehood,  not  modesty  in  him  to  deny  his 
divine  commission.  Two  things  he  notices  respecting  his  ministry, 
first,  his  faithfulness  in  preaching  the  whole  truth — /  have  fully 
preached  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  secondly,  the  extent  of  his  labors — 
front  .Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto  Illyricum.  Illyricum  (or 
lUyria)  was  not  always  of  the  same  size,  but  in  Paul's  days  em- 
braced a  large  region.  It  lay  on  the  east  of  the  gulf  of  Venice, 
and  was  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  width,  and  four 
hundred  and  eighty  miles  in  length.  Of  course  the  countries  in- 
tervening are  included  in  Paul's  statement,  embracing  all  Asia 
Minor,  Greece,  etc. 

20.  Yea,  so  have  I  strived  to  preach  the  Gospel,  7tot  where  Christ 
•was  named,  lest  I  should  build  upon  ajiother  mans  foundation ; 

21.  But  as  it  is  written.  To  zvliom  he  was  not  spoken  of,  they 
shall  see :  and  they  that  have  not  heard  shall  understand.  This  course 
of  the  apostle  was  not  dictated  by  pride,  nor  ambition,  but  by  the 
charge  he  had  received  of  the  Lord,  and  by  the  independent  char- 
acter of  his  apostleship,  Gal.  i  :  12-20.  When  he  says.  As  it  is 
written,  he  does  not  intend  to  state  that  the  words  cited  receive 
their  complete  fulfilment  in  his  ministry  alone,  but  that  his  minis- 
try was  in  accordance  with  the  predictions  thus  uttered.  The 
quotation  made  coincides  with  the  sense  of  predictions  found  in 
Isa.  52  :  15  ;  65  :  i.  But  this  is  taken  more  from  the  former  than 
the  latter ;  indeed  almost  exactly  from  the  Septuagint  rendering 
of  the  former. 

22.  Fo.'  which  cause  also  I  have  been  much  hindered  from  coming  to 
you.  Th  may  mean  either  that  he  had  been  so  much  occupied 
in  evangelizing  other  places  more  benighted,  that  he  had  not  had 


630  ^  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  23-27. 

time  to  go  to  Rome  ;  or,  it  may  mean  that  he  knew  others  had 
been  before  him  at  Rome  (and  this  was  a  fact),  and  so  he  would  not 
interfere  with  the  labors  of  others.  Among  the  converts,  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  were  'strangers  of  Rome,'  Acts  2  :  10.  It  is 
probable  these  were  the  first  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  imperial 
city. 

23.  But  710W  having  710  more  place  in  these  parts,  and  having  a 
great  desire  these  many  years  to  come  unto  you  ; 

24.  Whensoever  I  take  my  journey  into  Spain,  I  will  come  to  you  : 
for  I  trust  to  see  you  in  my  journey,  a?id  to  be  brought  on  my  way 
thitherward  by  you,  if  Jirst  I  be  somewhat  filled  zvith  your  company. 
The  word  place  may  mean  liberty  to  preach,  the  same  word  being 
rendered  license  in  Acts  25  :  16  ;  or,  it  may  mean  that  there  was 
no  place  in  the  region  whence  this  epistle  was  written  where  the 
Gospel  had  not  been  fully  made  known.  The  latter  best  agrees 
with  the  context.  The  desire  which  Paul  had  long  had  of  visiting 
Rome  arose  not  only  from  the  fact  that  he  wished  to  do  them  good, 
but  that  he  hoped  to  derive  benefit  from  them,  as  they  were  famous 
for  their  faith,  Rom.  i  :  8-15.  There  is  no  scriptural  account  that 
Paul  ever  visited  Spain,  but  there  is  nothing  in  Scripture 
against  it.  Early  ecclesiastical  writers  speak  confidently  of  his 
having  done  so,  and  some  moderns  contend  that  he  came  as  far  as 
Britain.  It  may  be  so.  Yet  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that 
Paul's  first  visit  to  Rome  was  as  a  prisoner,  though  a  prisoner  hav- 
ing considerable  liberty,  dwelling  in  his  own  hired  house. 

25.  But  now  I  go  unto  'Jerusalem  to  minister  unto  the  saints. 

26.  For  it  hath  pleased  them  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia  to  make  a 
certain  contribution  for  the  poor  saints  which  are  at  Jerusalem. 

27.  It  hath  pleased  them  verily :  and  their  debtors  they  are.  For 
if  the  Gentiles  have  been  made  partakers  of  their  spiritual  things, 
their  duty  is  also  to  minister  to  them  in  carnal  things.  To  minister 
unto  the  saints  was  to  supply  their  temporal  necessities.  From 
the  day  of  Pentecost  nearly  to  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the 
holy  city  there  seems  to  have  been  a  constant  influx  into  Jerusa- 
lem of  converted  Jews.  Many  of  these  were  poor  and  for  thirty 
or  forty  years  there  seems  to  have  been  no  time  when  special  kind- 
ness to  t\\Q  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  was  not  called  for.  Paul  S2iys 
that  contributions  from  other  churches  were  most  reasonably 
called  for.  The  word  of  the  Lord  had  gone  forth  from  Jerusalem. 
This  Avas  the  mother  church.  Through  her  the  gospel  had  been 
spread  abroad.  If  the  Gentiles  had  received  the  gospel,  it  was  a 
small  thing  that  they  should  contribute  subsistence  to  their  poor 
brethren,  who,  for  Qhrist's  sake,  were  hated  of  their  kindred  the 
Jews,  and  sadly  persecuted  even  at  Jerusalem.     The  statement 


Ch.  XV.,  vs.  28-32.]        THE  ROMANS.  ,  631 

that  the  churches  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia  had  done  no  more 
than  their  duty,  though  they  had  done  it  very  heartily,  is  not 
designed  so  much  for  the  churches  named  as  it  is  for  a  suggestion 
to  the  church  at  Rome.  Tholuck :  "  Macedonia  and  Achaia  were 
the  two  provinces  into  which  the  Romans  divided  the  whole  of 
Greece." 

28.  When  therefore  I  have  performed  this,  and  have  sealed  unto 
them  this  fruit,  I  will  come  by  you  into  Spain.  The  fruit  was  the 
bounty  of  the  above-named  churches,  and  the  sealing  of  it  was  the 
safe  delivery  of  it  in  person,  to  those  who  had  charge  of  this  mat- 
ter in  the  mother  church.  It  is  probable  that  the  sum  sent  was 
large ;  compare  2  Cor.  8  :  1-4 ;  9  :  2  ;  and  that  Paul  had  means  of 
safely  transmitting  it  not  granted  to  every  one ;  for  when  other 
persons  could  render  like  service  just  as  well  as  the  apostles,  they 
declined  it.  Acts  6  :  1-6. 

29.  And  I  am  sure  that,  ivhen  I  come  unto  you,  I  shall  come  in  the 
fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Some  manuscripts 
and  editors  omit  the  words  of  the  gospel.  This  may  be  done  with- 
out materially  changing  the  sense.  What  a  blessing  the  visit  of 
such  an  one  as  Paul  the  aged  must  have  been  to  a  church  ever 
so  well  established. 

30.  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake, 
and  for  the  love  of  the  Spirit,  that  ye  strive  together  with  me  in  your 
prayers  to  God  for  me  : 

31.  That  I  may  be  delivered  from  them  that  do  not  believe  in 
Judca  ;  and  that  my  service  which  I  have  for  Jerusalem  may  be  ac- 
cepted of  the  saints  ; 

32.  That  I  may  come  unto  you  with  joy  by  the  tvill  of  God,  and 
may  with  you  be  refreshed.  Paul  knew  too  well  the  malic6  of  the 
unconverted  Jews  against  Christians,  and  against  himself  in  par- 
ticular, to  suppose  that  he  could  go  to  Jerusalem  on  any  errand 
whatever,  without  being  an  object  of  relentless  persecution.  He 
therefore  beseeches  the  Romans  that  they  would  unite  their 
prayers  with  his  for  his  deliverance  from  ungodly  men,  and  that 
he  might  be  allowed  to  carry  to  the  suffering  poor  the  service  or 
contributions  of  the  churches,  and  so,  having  accomplished  that 
object,  to  proceed  speedily  to  Rome.  His  beseeching  assumes 
the  form  of  the  most  solemn  obtestation.  In  Rom.  12:  i  he  appeals 
to  them  by  the  mercies  of  God.  Here  he  begs  them  "for  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the  love  of  the  Spirit ;"  q.  d.  if 
you  have  any  regard  to  Christ,  or  if  the  Holy  Ghost  has  wrought 
in  your  heart  any  love  to  Christ  or  his  people,  I  beseech  you  to 
pray  for  me.  Accepted,  in  v.  16,  and  in  i  Pet.  2 : 5  rendered  ac- 
ceptable.    It  means  more  than  that  merely  it  might  be  received, 


632  ,  EPISTLE    TO        [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  14-19. 

even  that  it  might  so  reach  them  as  to  be  useful,  refreshing  and 
pleasing.  How  the  tender  heart  of  Paul  loved  to  receive  as  well 
as  give  refreshment  is  declared  in  several  epistles,  i  Cor.  16:  18; 
2  Cor.  7:13;  Philem.  7,  20.  Here,  as  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
epistle,  he  expresses  a  desire  that  the  refreshment  might  be 
mutual. 

33.  Now  the  God  of  peace  be  with  you  all.  Amen.  On  Amen  see 
above  on  Rom.  i  :  25  ;  9  :  5  ;  1 1  :  36.  The  form  of  benediction 
used  in  this  verse  is  the  same  as  that  found  in  Phil.  4:23;  2  Thess. 
3:18.  It  is  Paul's  pronunciation  of  a  blessing  upon  the  Romans 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

1.  Whenever  truth  will  allow,  and  a  fit  occasion  shall  offer,  we 
should  express  favorable  opinions  of  our  Christian  brethren,  v.  14. 
Good  men  need  encouragement  as  well  as  warning. 

2.  Yet  the  messengers  of  God  should  not  speak  timidly,  but 
should  use  great  plainness  and  freedom  of  speech,  v.  15.  They 
are  not  sent  to  deliver  their  own  lucubrations  or  conceits.  They 
have  a  message  from  God  to  men.  It  is  very  solemn,  weighty, 
and  full  of  urgency.     Let  them  speak  accordingly. 

3.  In  worshipping  God  we  can  make  no  offering  so  pleasing, 
as  when  we  heartily  and  wholly  offer  ourselves.  It  is  sure  to  be 
acceptable  through  Jesus  Christ,  v.  16.  We  may  bring  to  God  all 
else  but  our  hearts  and  ourselves,  and  it  will  be  an  offence  to  him, 
a  smoke  in  his  nose. 

4.  Ministers  must  so  live  and  act  that  men  cannot  despise 
their  'youth  or  age,  their  life  or  their  doctrine,  v.  17.  Compare 
I  Tim.  4:  12  ;  Tit.  2:15.  When  called  thereto,  they  may  vindicate 
their  office  and  calling ;  they  may  modestly  show  how  God  has 
honored  them  and  ble'ssed  their  labors.  Nor  should  people  be 
offended  when  ministers  deal  much  in  old  and  familiar  truths. 
Of  all  branches  of  knowledge  men  are  best  informed  respecting 
their  duty  ;  yet  of  no  part  of  truth  are  they  so  forgetful.  The 
higher  estimate  an  humble  minister  puts  on  his  office,  the  deeper 
will  be  his  sense  of  responsibility  to  God.  Nor  will  he  hesitate 
to  let  the  people  know  that  he  is  influenced  by  a  constant  re- 
membrance of  his  accountability  to  the  Judge  of  all. 

5.  What  a  rousing  ministry  was  Paul's !  His  soul  was  stirred 
to  its  depths  !  And  it  stirred  the  souls  of  others!  vs.  18,  19.  He 
would  spend  and  be  spent.  He  would  wear  out,  but  not  rust  out. 
He  set  the  world  on  fire.  He  knew  that  men,  unreconciled  to 
God,  must  eternally  perish.      We  may  not  expect  his  miraculous 


Ch.  XV.,  vs.  18-20.]        THE  ROMANS.  633 

gifts ;  we  may  not  have  his  great  talents,  but  why  may  not  the 
humblest  man  pray  to  be  fired  with  his  zeal,  and  animated  with 
his  spirit?  Perhaps  in  nothing  is  the  ministry  more  deficient 
than  in  untiring  devotion  to  the  work  of  saving  men's  souls. 

6.  The  gospel  conveys  to  men  no  saving  good,  until  they  are 
obedient,  v.  18.  They  must  receive  the  faith  it  teaches;  they  must 
practice  the  precepts  it  inculcates.  Knowledge  will  save  no  man, 
unless  it  is  knowledge  sanctified.  Professions  are  right,  but  they 
must  be  sincere,  and  no  profession  is  sincere  unless  the  truth  of 
God  controls  the  life.  Until  the  truth  makes  us  bow  down  our 
necks,  and  take  Christ's  yoke  upon  us,  it  wholly  fails  of  its  great 
design.  Nor  will  any  man  ever  thus  submit  to  the  truth  until  God 
puts  his  Spirit  within  him,  and  gives  him  a  new  heart  and  a  right 
temper. 

7.  The  gospel  needs  no  more  evidence  than  has  from  the  first 
accompanied  it.  It  has  been  attested  by  mighty  signs  and  wonders, 
V.  19.  It  has  withstood  the  rage  of  man  and  the  wrath  of  hell. 
It  still  works  as  great  transformations  of  character  as  it  ever 
did.  The  wicked  sometimes  say,  if  one  would  rise  from  the  dead, 
we  would  believe.  Why,  the  very  author  of  Christianity  rose 
from  the  dead  ;  yet  the  wicked  still  refuse  to  give  their  hearts  to 
Christ.  Men  know  that  they  should  on  proper  evidence  receive 
all  truth.  Accordingly,  they  generally  profess  their  readiness  to 
yield  to  it.  The  very  murderers  of  Christ  did  so  :  "  If  thou  be 
the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe  on 
thee."  If  he  had  come  down  from  the  cross  he  would  have 
brought  down  with  him  the  unatoned  sins  of  the  world.  But  he 
did  more.  He  died,  and  then  burst  the  bars  of  death ;  and  they 
gave  large  money  to  the  soldiers  to  say  that  his  disciples  had  stolen 
his  dead  body.  No  evidence  will  satisfy  a  wicked  and  perverse 
heart.  , 

8.  It  is  a  great  shame  when  one  enters  into  the  labors  of 
another,  and  claims  for  himself  the  honor  of  all  the  good  done  in  a 
community,  where  the  gospel  has  been  long  and  faithfully  preached 
before  he  came.  Yet  such  odious  exhibitions  are  not  very  rare. 
Paul  was  careful  that  such  folly  and  vanity  should  not  be  charged 
to  him,  vs.  19,  20.  In  an  established  state  of  the  church  one  is 
constantly  sowing  and  another  reaping.  It  is  not  seemly  to  be 
contending  who  was  the  instrument  of  the  good  done.  All  efforts 
would  be  alike  fruitless  but  for  the  power  and  grace  of  God. 

9.  The  great  matter  of  preaching  is  the  gospel  of  Christ,  vs.  19, 
20.  It  alone  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  It  is  sad  indeed 
when  men  put  in  its  place  their  philosophy,  their  politics  or  any 
thing  whatever.     It  is  the  deliberate  judgment  of  a  large  body  of 


634  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XV.,  vs.  20-22. 

excellent  men  that  more  harm  has  been  done  to  the  cause  of  Christ 
by  introducing  into  the  pulpit  matters  foreign  from  the  great  com- 
mission than  it  is  possible  for  the  authors  of  such  mischief  ever 
to  undo.  Brown :  "  The  main  thing  which  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  ought  to  be  ever  driving  at,  in  all  their  deportment  in  the 
office  of  the  ministry,  is  the  salvation  and  reconciliation  of  their 
people  unto  God." 

10.  The  further  people  are  from  God  and  righteousness,  the 
more  ignorant  and  destitute  they  are,  the  greater  is  the  need  of 
giving  them  the  gospel,  vs.  20,  21.  This  was  evidently  Paul's 
plan.  And  it  well  coincided  with  the  plan  of  our  Saviour,  who 
commenced  his  ministry  in  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles  among  a  peo- 
ple, which  sat  in  darkness,  and  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death, 
Matt.  4:  15,  16. 

11.  It  is  a  blessed  employment,  greatly  ministering  to  the 
personal  comfort  of  godly  preachers,  to  be  allowed  to  engage  in 
the  work  of  planting  churches,  v.  20.  Their  trials  are  indeed 
great,  but  their  comforts  are  greater.  Talk  with  God's  aged  ser- 
vants, who  have  spent  at  least  a  portion  of  their  liv^es  in  such 
work,  and  see  with  what  zest,  even  down  to  old  age,  they  recount 
the  trials  and  triumphs  of  their  evangelistic  labors.  Brown  :  "  As 
it  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  get  a  people  brought  under  the 
gospel,  who  were  living  in  atheism  and  idolatry  before ;  so  is 
it  a  matter  of  great  honor  to  be  blessed  of  God  in  laying  the  foun- 
dation of  any  good  in  a  place."  Scott:  "It  is  honorable,  when 
ministers,  who  have  the  opportunity,  boldly  face  opposition  and 
hardship  in  carrying  the  gospel  to  those  places,  where  '  Christ 
hath  not  yet  been  named ;'  and  when  they  would  rather  make 
irruptions  into  the  uninvacled  provinces  of  Satan's  dark  domain, 
than  more  securely  garrison  such  as  have  alr'eady  been  torn  from 
hira  ...  In  this  the  genuine  missionary  far  more  resembles  the 
apostle,  than  any  stated  pastor  or  ruler  of  the  church  can  do."  So 
blessed  is  this  work,  even  in  the  midst  of  trials  and  hardships, 
perils  and  persecutions,  that  the  author  has  never  yet  received  a 
melancholy  letter  from  one  engaged  in  making  known  Christ  to 
the  heathen,  although  he  has  been  corresponding  with  such  men 
for  more  than  forty-five  years. 

12.  It  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps,  v.  22.  Man 
proposes,  God  disposes.  Let  not  the  ministers  of  Christ  despond 
because  their  course  in  life  is  directed  so  very  differently  from 
what  they  had  planned.  It  is  the  pi-erogative  of  God  not  only  to 
call  whom  he  will  into  the  ministry,  but  to  send  them  whither  he 
will.  Blessed  be  his  name.  While  the  under-shepherds  oversee 
the  flock,  the  chief  Shepherd  oversees  the  pastors. 


Ch.  XV.,  vs.  23-32.]        THE  ROMANS.  635 

13.  When  God  shuts  one  door,  let  us  see  if  another  is  not 
open,  V.  23.  When  one  is  sure  that  his  work  is  done  in  a  given 
field,  why  should  he  longer  tarry  there,  and  waste  his  strength  ? 

14.  It  is  probable  that  as  long  as  the  world  stands,  there  will 
be  calls  for  charitable  contributions,  vs.  25-28.  If  those,  who 
complain  of  such  demands  upon  their  liberality,  would  but  consider 
what  an  honor  and  blessing  it  is  to  be  allowed  to  bear  some  part 
in  spreading  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  in  administering  to  the 
comfort  of  afflicted  saints,  they  would  surely  express  themselves 
far  otherwise.  It  was  a  mark  of  an  ignoble  spirit  in  one,  who  was 
thrifty  in  worldly  affairs,  to  boast  that  his  membership  in  the 
church  of  Christ  for  twelve  months  had  cost  him  but  twenty- 
five  cents.  It  is  greatly  to  be  lamented  that  the  church  is  so 
afflicted  with  members  who  are  narrow-minded  and  close-fisted, 
if  not  hard-hearted. 

15.  Of  how  little  value  are  carnal  (or  temporal)  things  com- 
pared with  spiritual,  v.  27.  The  former  are  so  transitory,  the  lat- 
ter abide  for  ever,  taking  fast  hold  on  eternity.  Paul  could  not 
have  argued  more  cogently  than,  when  pleading  for  the  support 
of  the  ministry,  he  said,  "  If  we  have  sown  unto  you  spiritual 
things,  is  it  a  great  thing  if  we  shall  reap  your  carnal  things  ?"  i 
Cor.  9:11,  Some  one  says,  "  Mankind  are  divided  into  two  great 
sects,  the  timists  and  eternists."  Reader,  to  which  sect  do  you 
belong  ? 

16.  Wherever  ministers  go  they  ought  to  seek  to  go  in  the  ful- 
ness of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  v.  29.  In  the  same 
spirit  the  people  ought  to  desire  them  to  come.  The  best  news 
that  ministers  can  carry  is  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy,  made 
known  in  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

17.  Prayer  for  ministers  of  the  gospel  is  on  many  accounts  a 
most  reasonable  duty,  often  enjoined  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  vs. 
30-32.  Compare  i  Thess.  5:  25;  2  Thess.  3:  i.  Prayer  has  lost 
none  of  its  efficacy.  The  ablest  ministers  the  world  has  ever  seen 
have  greatly  desired  in  their  behalf  the  prayers  of  the  godly. 
Brown :  "  The  more  of  God's  grace  be  in  a  soul,  the  more  will 
one  value  that  enriching  trade  of  prayer ;  and  the  more  earnest 
will  he  be  to  have  the  concurrence  even  of  the  weakest  Christians 
in  prayer." 

18.  It  is  an  unspeakable  mercy  to  be  delivered  from  wicked 
and  unreasonable  men,  whether  by  our  own  prayers  or  the  pray- 
ers of  others,  v.  31.  Compare  2  Thess.  3:2.  It  is  a  great  per- 
sonal affliction  and  a  great  hindrance  to  usefulness  to  be  left  in  the 
power  of  the  enemies  of  God  even  for  a  short  time. 

19.  No  journey  is  successful  but  by  the  will  of  God,  v.  32. 


636  ^   EPISTLE.  [Ch.  XV.,  V.  33. 

Compare  Rom.  i  :  10.  In  the  commonest  affairs  of  life  we  need 
the  constant  and  kindly  interposition  of  the  Most  High.  Without 
it  nothing  can  prosper. 

20.  The  benedictions  of  Scripture  are  among  its  most  precious 
teachings  and  encouragements,  v.  33.  See  above  on  Rom.  i  :  7. 
The  tranquility  which  God  alone  can  give  is  worth  more  than  all 
the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  earth.  Evans :  "  The  Lord  of  hosts, 
the  God  of  battle,  is  the  God  of  peace,  the  Author  and  Lover  of 
peace."  When  he  giveth  peace,  who  can  make  disquiet  ?  His 
voice  calms  the  violence  of  the  sea  as  well  as  the  tumult  of  the 
people. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

VERSES  1-27. 

SALUTATIONS    TO     MANY.       WARNINGS    AGAINST 
DIVISIONS.     BENEDICTIONS  AND  DOXOLOGIES. 

1  COMMEND  unto  you  Phebe  our  sister,  which  is  a  servant  of  the  church  which  is 
at  Cenchrea. 

2  That  ye  receive  her  in  the  Lord,  as  becometh  saints,  and  that  ye  assist  her 
in  whatsoever  business  she  hath  need  of  you :  for  she  hath  been  a  succourer  of  many 
and  of  myself  also. 

3  Greet  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  my  helpers  in  Christ  Jesus : 

4  Who  have  for  my  life  laid  down  their  own  necks :  unto  whom  not  only  I 
give  thanks,  but  also  all  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles. 

5  Likewise  greet  the  church  that  is  in  their  house.  Salute  my  well  beloved 
Epenetus,  who  is  the  first  fruits  of  Achaia  unto  Christ. 

6  Greet  Mary,  who  bestowed  much  labour  on  us. 

7  Salute  Andronicus  and  Junia,  my  kinsmen,  and  my  fellow-prisoners,  who  are 
of  note  among  the  apostles,  who  also  were  in  Christ  before  me, 

8  Greet  Amplias,  my  beloved  in  the  Lord. 

9  Salute  Urbane,  our  helper  in  Christ,  and  Stachys,  my  beloved. 

10  Salute  Apelles  approved  in  Christ.  Salute  them  which  are  of  Aristobulus' 
household. 

1 1  Salute  Herodion  my  kinsman.  Greet  them  that  be  of  the  household  of  Nar- 
cissus, which  are  in  the  Lord. 

12  Sal\ite  Tryphena  and  Tryphosa,  who  labour  in  the  Lord.  Salute  the  be- 
loved Persis,  which  laboured  much  in  the  Lord. 

13  Salute  Rufus  chosen  in  the  Lord,  and  his  mother  and  mine. 

14  Salute  Asyncritus,  Phlegon,  Hermas,  Patrobas,  Hermes,  and  the  brethren 
which  are  with  them. 

15  Salute  Philologus,  and  Julia,  Nereus,  and  his  sister,  and  Olympas,  and  all 
the  saints  which  are  with  them. 

16  Salute  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss.      The  churches  of  Christ  salute  you. 

17  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  mark  them  which  cause  divisions  and  oiFences 
contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  have  learned;   and  avoid  them. 

18  For  they  that  are  such  serve  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  their  own 
belly;  and  by  good  words  and  fair  speeches  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  simple. 

19  For  your  obedience  is  come  abroad   unto  all   men.     1  am  glad  therefore  on 

637 


638  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XVI.,  vs.  1-4. 

your  behalf:   but  yet  I  would  have  you  wise  unto    that  which  is  good,  and  simple 
concerning  evil. 

20  And  the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet  shortly.  The 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you.      Amen. 

21  Timotheus  my  workfeilow,  and  Lucius,  and  Jason,  and  Sosipater,  my  kins- 
men, salute  you. 

22  I  Tertius,  who  wrote  this  epistle,  salute  you  in  the  Lord. 

23  Gaius  mine  host,  and  of  the  whole  church,  saluteth  you.  Erastus  the 
chamberlain  of  the  city  saluteth  you,  and  Quartus  a  brother. 

24  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  he  with  you  all.     Amen. 

25  Now  to  him  that  is  of  power  to  stablish  you  according  to  my  gospel,  and 
the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  revelation  of  the  mystery,  which 
was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began. 

26  But  now  is  made  manifest,  and  by  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets,  according 
to  the  commandment  of  the  everlasting  God,  made  known  to  all  nations  for  the 
obedience  of  faith  : 

27  To  God  only  wise,  he  glory  through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever.     Amen. 

II  COMMEND  unto  you  PJiebe  our  sister,  which  is  a  servant  of 
,     the  church  ivhich  is  at  Cenchrea. 

2.  That  ye  receive  her  in  the  Lord,  as  becometh  saints,  and  that  ye  as- 
sist her  in  whatsoever  business  she  hath  need  of  you  :  for  site  hath  been  a 
succour er  of  many,  and  of  myself  also.  Phebe,  a  name  not  found  else- 
where in  Scripture.  It  signifies  pure ;  a  name  in  this  case  well 
bestowed.  She  is  called  a  sister  and  servant  of  the  church.  Some 
have  attempted  to  show  that  she  held  the  office  of  deaconess. 
This  can  hardly  be  proven.  But  she  rendered  eminent  services 
to  the  church.  Her  membership  was  in  the  church  of  Cenchrea, 
which  was  the  port  of  Corinth  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  that  city. 
From  this  port  Paul  sailed  for  Syria  with  Priscilla  and  Aquila, 
Acts  18:  18.  It  is  mentioned  in  no  other  place  in  the  Bible.  It 
bears  the  modern  name  of  Kikries.  The  port  on  the  western  side 
of  Corinth  was  called  Lechaeum.  Some  think  Phebe  was  engaged, 
as  Lydia  was,  in  some  branch  of  trade,  and  that  in  the  prosecution 
of  her  business,  she  went  to  Rome.  The  word  rendered  business 
would  authorize  this  construction.  But  it  also  means  a  matter, 
or  thing  of  any  kind  whatever.  The  probability  is  that  she  was  a 
person  of  considerable  worldly  possessions,  and  had  very  much 
given  herself  up  to  doing  good  ;  for  Paul  says  she  was  a  succourer, 
helper  or  benefactress  of  many  and  of  himself  also.  Under  these 
circumstances  he  asks  that  her  reception  may  be  of  the  kindest 
sort,  such  as  Christians  only  know  how  to  give. 

3.  Greet  Priscilla  and  Aquila  my  helpers  in  Christ  Jesus  ; 

4.  Who  have  for  my  life  laid  dozvn  their  ozvn  necks  :  unto  zvhom, 
not  only  I  give  thanks,  but  also  alltJie  churches  of  the  Gentiles.     Priscilla 


Ch.  XVL,  vs.  5-8.]         THE  ROMANS.  639 

(or  Prisca)  was  the  wife  of  Aquila.  They  are  always  mentioned 
together  and  with  great  respect.  They  were  tent-makers  by 
trade,  Acts  18:3.  They  were  very  useful  to  Apollos  in  his  early 
ministry  'expounding  unto  him  the  way  of  God  more  perfectly,' 
Acts  18:26.  They  are  also  mentioned  in  i  Cor.  16:  19;  2  Tim.  4: 
19.  At  what  time  they  risked  every  thing  for  the  life  of  Paul  is 
not  stated  in  Scripture,  but  Paul  and  many  Gentile  churches  ac- 
knowledged great  obligations  to  them. 

5.  Likewise  greet  the  church  that  is  in  their  house.  The  church 
that  is  in  their  house,  is  a  phrase  that  occurs  in  i  Cor.  16  :  19.  Two 
meanings  have  commonly  been  given  it:  one,  the  pious  members 
of  their  own  household ;  the  other,  the  church  which  habitually 
assembled  in  their  house.  The  latter  is  more  probably  correct. 
Salute  my  well  beloved  Epenetus,  who  is  the  first  fruits  of  Achaia  unto 
Christ.  Epenetus  is  mentioned  in  no  other  place.  There  is  an  ap- 
parent contradiction  between  this  verse  and  i  Cor.  16  :  15,  where 
the  house  of  Stephanas  is  said  to  be  "  the  first  fruits  of  Achaia  unto 
God."  Three  solutions  are  offered,  i.  One  is  that  Epenetus 
may  have  been  of  the  family  of  Stephanas.  2.  Stephanas  and 
Epenetus  may  have  been  converted  at  the  same  time  and  so  were 
alike  first  fruits.  3.  The  third  is,  that  some  Greek  manuscripts 
instead  of  Achaia  read  Asia,  and  so  Epenetus  may  have  been  the 
first  convert  under  Paul's  ministry  in  Asia  Minor.  The  second 
explanation  is  probably  the  better. 

6.  Greet  Mary,  who  bestowed  much  labour  on  us.  We  have  no 
means  of  determining  who  this  Mary  was.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  it  was  not  one  of  the  Marys  mentioned  in  the  gospels. 
History  pretty  distinctly  states  that  two  of  them  lived  and  died 
in  the  family  of  John,  But  this  Mary  was  known  unto  God  and 
her  name  is  here,  and  doubtless  in  the  book  of  life  also. 

7.  Salute  Andronicus  and  Junia,  my  kinsmen,  and  my  fellozv  pris- 
oners, who  are  of  note  among  the  apostles,  who  also  were  in  Christ  be- 
fore me.  Andronicus  and  Jiuiia  are  nowhere  else  mentioned  in 
Scripture.  The  Greek  does  not  determine  whether  Junia  was 
the  name  of  a  man  or  woman.  The  word  rendered  kinsmen 
occurs  also  in  vs.  11,  21,  and  is  rendered  as  here,  but  in  Luke 
I  :  36,  58  the  same  word  is  rendered  cousin  or  in  the  plural 
cousins.  Of  note,  in  Matt.  16  :  27,  notable,  that  is,  well  known. 
At  what  time  and  place  they  were  fellow  prisoners  of  Paul  we  are 
not  informed  ;  for  Paul  had  been  "  in  prisons  more  frequent  "  than 
the  Scripture  expressly  states.  They  were  also  aged  believers, 
having  been  in  Christ  before  Paul. 

8.  Greet  Amplias,  my  beloved  in  the  Lord.  Amplias  is  nowhere 
else  mentioned  in  the  Bible.     But  the  affection  of  Paul  towards 


640  .     EPIS  TL  E    TO        [Ch.  XVI.,  vs.  9-17. 

him  was  strong;  the  word  rendered  beloved  being  also  rendered 
well-beloved  and  dearly  beloved. 

9.  Salute  Urbane,  our  helper  in  Christ,  and  Stachys,  my  beloved. 
The  Greek  determines  that  these  were  both  men  and  not  women, 
as  the  English  Bible  would  indicate.  Helper,  work-fellow,  fellow- 
helper,  companion  in  labor  or  fellow-laborer  as  the  word  is  else- 
where rendered.     Beloved,  as  in  v.  8. 

10.  Salute  Apelles  approved  in  Christ.  Salute  them  zvhich  are  of 
Aristobulus  household.  Apelles,  not  elsewhere  found.  Approved 
in  Christ,  that  is,  approved  after  trial  as  a  Christian.  Aristobulus, 
not  elsewhere  mentioned. 

1 1 .  Salute  Herodion  my  kijtsman.  Greet  them  that  be  of  the  house- 
hold of  Narcissus,  which  are  in  the  Lord.  Herodion,  not  elsewhere 
mentioned.  Kinsman,  as  in  v.  7.  Of  Narcissus  we  know  no  more 
than  we  learn  here. 

12.  Salute  Tryphena  and  Tryphosa,  who  labour  in  the  Lord.  Sa- 
lute the  beloved  Persis,  wJiich  laboured  much  in  the  Lord.  All  the  per- 
sons mentioned  in  this  verse  are  females.  They  are  not  spoken  of 
in  any  other  part  of  Scripture.  Beloved,  as  in  v.  7.  Labour  and 
laboured,  commonly  rendered  as  here ;  once  or  twice  toil. 

13.  Salute  Rufus,  chosen  in  the  Lord,  and  his  mother  and  mine.    If 
*this  Rufus  is  the  same  mentioned  in  Mark  15  :  21,  he  was  the  son 

of  the  Simon  who  helped  to  bear  our  Saviour's  cross.  The  woman 
mentioned  here  was  probably  the  mother  of  Rufus  according  to 
the  flesh,  and  of  Paul  spiritually,  that  is,  she  had  been  as  a  mother 
to  him.     Chosen  in  the  Lord,  by  the  Lord  chosen  unto  salvation. 

14.  Salute  Asyncritus,  Phlegon,  Hermas,  Patrobas,  Hermes,  and  the 
brethren  ivhich  are  with  them. 

15.  Salute  Philologus,  and  Julia,  Nereus,  and  his  sister,  and  Olym- 
pas  and  all  the  saints  which  arc  zvith  them.  All  the  names  here 
given  are  of  men  except  that  of  Julia. 

16.  Salute  one  another  zvith  a  holy  kiss.  The  churches  of  Christ 
salute  you.  Greeting  with  a  kiss  is  mentioned  in  i  Cor.  16  :  20; 
2  Cor.  13  :  12  ;  i  Thess.  5  :  26;  i  Pet.  5  :  14.  The  word  in  this 
chapter  rendered  greet  and  salute  means  literally  to  embrace.  So 
expressive  is  this  custom  of  embracing  and  kissing  that  it  is  uni- 
formly resorted  to  not  only  in  many  parts  of  the  East  but  also  in 
some  Western  nations  on  a  reconciliation  of  a  difficulty  between 
gentlemen.     It  is  a  very  suitable  token  of  friendly  regard. 

17.  Now  L  beseech  you,  brethren,  mark  them  which  cause  divisions 
and  offences  contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  have  learned ;  and 
avoid  them.  Mark,  that  is  look  after,  consider,  keep  your  eye 
upon,  not  in  a  malignant  way,  but  in  the  way  of  precaution. 
Divisions  so  rendered  in  reference  to  the  church ;  but  in  reference 


Ch.  XVL,  vs.  18-23.]     THE  ROMANS.  '  •     641 

to  the  state,  seditions.  Offences,  as  in  Rom.  9  :  33  ;  11:9;  14  :  13, 
literally  scandals.  Avoid,  go  out  of  their  way,  or  eschew  them. 
See  Rom.  3:12;  i  Pet.  3:11. 

18.  For  they  that  are  such  serve  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but 
their  own  belly  ;  and  by  good  words  and  fair  speeches  deceive  the  hearts 
of  the  simple  :  that  is,  they  are  selfish  and  sensual  men.  These 
things  have  marked  the  progress  of  corrupt  religious  opinions  in 
all  ages:  i.  Errorists  propose  to  give  great  relief  concerning  the 
theories  of  religion,  affecting  great  simplicity.  2.  Almost  uni- 
formly lewd  practices  come  in  among  them.  3.  They  are  n-ever 
candid,  but  deceitful  and  fond  oi  nsViV^  good  words  and  fair  speeches. 
Arius  swore  to  an  orthodox  creed  before  the  emperor. 

19.  For  your  obedience  has  come  abroad  unto  all  mtn.  I  am  glad 
therefore  on  your  behalf ;  but  yet  I  would  have  you  wise  unto  that  which 
is  good,  and  simple  concerning  evil.  The  obedience  here  spoken 
of  is  the  obedience  of  faith.  The  clause  is  parallel  to  Rom.  i  :  8. 
Paul  rejoices  in  the  good  name  of  that  church ;  but  he  begs  them 
not  to  be  deceived  by  plausible  speeches.  He  would  have  them 
wise,  shrewd,  discriminating  concerning  that  which  is  good,  but 
simple  or  harmless  as  to  that  which  is  evil.  See  Matt.  10  :  16 ; 
Phil.  2:15. 

20.  And  the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet 
shortly.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christh^  with  you.  Amen.  The 
meaning  is,  avoid  bad  men,  give  not  ear  to  their  flatteries,  keep 
out  of  their  way  and  out  of  their  power,  and  so  God  shall  destroy 
the  work  of  the  wicked  one  among  you.  Bruising  Satan  was  a 
figure  first  used  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  The  benediction  here 
used  is  found  also  in  i  Tim.  and  in  i  Cor. 

21.  Timotheus  my  work-fellow,  and' Lucius  and  Jason,  and  Sosi- 
pater,  my  kinsmen,  salute  you.  The  history  of  TimotJiy  is  well 
known  for  his  sufferings  and  labors  in  the  gospel.  Lucius  is  prob- 
ably the  same  mentioned  in  Acts  13  :  i  as  «  teacher  at  Antioch,  and 
said  to  be  of  Cyrene.  Sosipater,  in  Acts  20 :  4  called  Sopater, 
not  elsewhere  mentioned.  Kinsmen,  as  in  v.  7.  Jason,  see  Acts 
17  :  5-7. 

22.  /  Tertius,  who  wrote  this  epistle,  salute  you  in  the  Lord.  We 
are  not  certain  that  Paul  wrote  with  his  own  hand  more  than  one 
of  his  epistles.  Gal.  6:11,  though  he  seems  always  to  have  written 
the  salutation,  or  something  near  the  close,  i  Cor.  16  :  21  ;  Col. 
4  :  18  ;  2  Thess.  2:17. 

23.  Gaius,  mine  host,  and  of  the  whole  church,  saluteth  you,  etc. 
Gaius  was  probably  a  very  common  name  throughout  the  Roman 
empire.  The  brother  here  named  seems  to  have  kept  open  house 
for  all  saints.     Learned  men  are  undecided  whether  there  is  but 

41 


642  EPISTLE    TO      [Ch.  XVI.,  vs.  24-27. 

one.  person  mentioned  in  Scripture  bearing  that  name,  or  whether 
there  are  not  several,  i".  There  was  Gaius  mentioned  in  Acts 
19  :  29.  He  was  a  Macedonian,  a  companion  of  Paul  in  his 
journeys,  and  seems  at  one  time  to  have  been  in  great  peril. 
2.  There  was  Gaius  of  Derbe  mentioned  in  Acts  20  :  4.  He 
travelled  at  least  a  part  of  the  way  with  Paul  in  his  last  journey 
to  Jerusalem.  3.  There  was  a  Gaius  at  Corinth,  whom  Paul  bap- 
tized, I  Cor.  I  :  14,  and  in  whose  house  he  was  a  guest  when  he 
wrote  this  epistle.  4.  Whether  the  "  well-beloved  Gaius,"  to  whom 
John  addressed  his  third  epistle,  was  the  same  as  either  of  the  above 
we  cannot  certainly  tell.  The  character  given  is  much  the  same 
as  that  of  the  man  here  spoken  of.  It  is  impossible  to  determine 
this  matter.  Erastus  the  cJiamberlain  of  the  city  salutcth  you,  and 
Quartus  a  brother.  Erastus  is  probably  the  same  man  mentioned 
in  Acts  19  :  22,  as  accompanying  Timothy  into  Macedonia,  and  in 

2  Tim.  4  :  20,  as  remaining  at  Corinth.  It  is  not  probable  that 
more  than  one  person  mentioned  in  Scripture  bears  that  name. 
The  fact  that  he  was  quaestor,  or  treasurer  of  Corinth  would  pro- 
bably indicate  permanent  residence  in  that  city.  Quartus  is  men- 
tioned no  where  else.  His  name  would  indicate  that  he  was  a 
Roman. 

24.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all.  Amen. 
The  same  as  in  v.  20,  with  the  addition  of  the  word  all.  For  the 
import  of  this  benediction  see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  7. 

25.  Now  to  him  that  is  of  power  to  stablish  you  according  tq  my 
gospel,  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  revelation 
of  the  mystery,  which  was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began. 

26.  But  is  now  made  manifest,  and  by  the  Scripttires  of  the  prophets, 
according  to  the  commandment  of  the  everlasting  God,  made  known  to 
all  nations  for  the  obedie?ice  of  faith :     • 

27.  To  God  only  wise,  be  glory  through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever. 
Amen.  This  is  one  of  the  longest  doxologies  given  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. With  it  is  united  a  commendation  of  the  gospel  and  a 
declaration  of  the  object  of  publishing  it.  Stablish,  also  rendered 
strengthen,  fix,  set  steadfastly,  Luke  9:51;  16  :  26 ;  22  :  32  ;  Rev. 

3  :  2.  Paul  calls  the  Gospel  his  own,  because  he  had  embraced  it 
heartily,  because  he  had  it  by  special  revelation  and  because  he 
had  made  it  known  to  many.  Mystery,  see  above  on  Rom.  11  :  25. 
The  gospel  was  a  mystery  in  this  sense:  that  it  was  not  known 
except  by  revelation.  It  was  hid  for  ages,  kept  secret  since  the  world 
began,  until  the  time  came  when  God  would  have  it  made  known  to 
all  flesh.  Commandment,  arrangement  or  ordination.  Jehovah  is  the 
everlasting  God,  not  like  many  of  the  gods  of  the  heathen,  who  were 
but  dead  men,  known  to  have  lived  on  earth  at  certain  periods  of 


Ch.  XVI.,  vs.  1^13.]      THE  ROMANS.  .       643 

the  world,  and  then  to  have  passed  away.  To  God  only  zuisc,  that 
is,  possessing  original,  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable  wisdom. 
This  God  is  ever  to  be  approached,  whether  in  prayer  or  praise, 
in  thanksgiving  or  supplication,  through  Jesus  Christ,  On  Amen, 
see  above  on  Rom.  i  :  25  ;  9:5;  11  :  36. 

On  the  subscription  to  this  epistle  see  Introduction  §  VI. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL  REMARKS. 

I.  There  is  a  lasting  and  indispensable  obligation  on  Christians 
to  be  kind  to  one  another,  and  that  to  an  unusual  degree,  vs.  i,  2. 
Such  conduct  becometh  saints.  God's  people  have  very  much  been 
cast  off  by  the  world,  and,  by  renouncing  it,  have  incurred  the 
hatred  of  the  wicked.  This  love  to  the  brethren  is  called  for  both 
by  the  precepts  and  example  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  the  poor,  the 
persecuted,  and  the  stranger  among  believers  our  attentions 
should  be  very  marked,  receiving  them  "  in  a  holy  Christian 
fashion."  Such  obligation  rises  very  high,  when  those  who  noAV 
need  our  aid,  have  in  other  days  and  circumstances  been  the 
friends  and  succour ers  of  the  people  of  God.  Cobbin  :  "  Religion 
teaches  us  to  be  courteous  and  grateful.  Past  kindnesses  should 
especially  not  be  forgotten.  .  .  It  is  delightful  to  peruse  this 
chapter,  and  see  the  unity  and  fidelity  of  Christians  so  exemplified, 
and  their  kindness  and  affection  towards  each  other.  If  such  is 
their  state  on  earth,  when  their  graces  are  in  active  exercise,  what 
will  it  be  in  heaven  !  One  golden  chain  will  bind  them  to  each 
other,  and  all  to  Christ ;  while  one  song  will  proceed  from  every 
tongue."  This  kindness  should  proceed  from  pure  motives,  and 
be  strong  and  lasting. 

2.  It  is  often  well  for  Christians  to  give  or  obtain,  as  the  case 
may  be,  letters  of  introduction  and  commendation,  vs.  i,  2.  Such 
notes  have  often  been  great  blessings  to  those  who  bore  them,  and 
to  those  to  whom  they  were  presented.  That  this  useful  custom 
should  not  degenerate  into  mischief,  it  is  very  important  that  we 
guard  it  against  abuse,  and  be  careful  never  to  give  letters  that 
are  not  known  to  be  deserved. 

3.  In  the  commonwealth,  in  the  family  and  in  the  church  there 
is  a  fine  sphere  of  usefulness  for  woman  without  her  overstepping 
the  bounds  of  modesty  and  propriety.  Of  the  truth  of  this  in  the 
church  of  God,  see  vs.  1-3,  6,  12,  13.  Some  moderns  have  com- 
plained that  even  in  Christian  countries  woman's  sphere  was  too 
narrow.  But  is  this  so  ?  How  often  does  she  put  to  shame  by 
her  zeal  and  success  the  indolence  of  man.  Chrysostom  : 
*'  Whence  is  their  adorning  ?     Let  both  men  and  women  listen. 


644       .  EPISTLE    TO         [Ch.  XVL,  vs.  3-23. 

It  is  not  from  bracelets  or  from  necklaces,  nor  from  eunuchs 
either,  and  their  maid-servants,  and  gold^roidered  dresses,  but 
from  their  toils  in  behalf  of  the^ruth."  Conybeare  and  Howson  • 
"  In  the  case  of  Priscilla  and  Aquila  it  is  curious  to  observe  the 
vidfe  mentioned  first,  contrary  to  ancient  usage.  Throughout  this 
chapter,  we  observe  instances  of  courtesy  towards  women  suffi- 
cient to  refute  the  calumnies  of  a  recent  infidel  writer,  who  ac- 
cuses St.  Paul  of  speaking  and  feeling  coarsely  in  reference  to 
women."  Strike  out  of  sacred  history  all  the  instances  of  eminent 
service  rendered  to  the  church  by  her  female  members,  and  what 
a  gap  there  would  be  ! 

4.  Confessors,  who  did  not  suffer  martyrdon,  but  who  hazarded 
their  lives  in  their  bold  avowal  of  love  to  Christ,  his  truth  and  his 
people,  will  receive  a  reward  as  glorious  as  if  they  had  shed  their 
blood,  vs.  3,  4.  Such  were  justly  and  greatly  honored  in  the 
primitive  church.  ■  They  fully  embraced  the  doctrine  of  the  be- 
loved disciple  :  "  We  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren," 
I  John  3  :  i6.  Chrysostom :  "  What  an  honor  to  have  been  a  suc- 
courer  of  Paul !  at  her  own  peril  to  have  saved  the  teacher  of  the 
world !  Consider  how  many  empresses  there  are  that  no  one 
speaks  of.  But  the  wife  of  the  tent-maker  is  everywhere  reported 
of  with  the  tent-maker.  .  .  Persians,  Scythians,  and  Thracians, 
and  they  too  who  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  sing 
of  the  Christian  spirit  of  this  woman  and  bless  it."  Brown  :  "  It 
is  a  great  thing  to  see  a  husband  and  wife  linked  together  in  the 
bond  of  the  gospel,  and  both  giving  up  themselves  unto  the  ser- 
vice of  Christ." 

5.  Suitable  forms  and  modes  of  Christian  salutation,  according 
to  the  most  approved  standard  of  morals,  ought  to  be  adopted 
and  encouraged  among  us,  vs.  3-23.  Chalmers :  "  This  whole 
chapter  filled  with  the  salutations  of  respect  and  cordiality — not 
only  from  Paul  direct  to  his  correspondents  but  from  the  friends 
and  companions,  who  were  with  Paul,  to  those  whom  he  was  ad- 
dressing— evinces  how  much  Christianity  is  fitted  to  promote  the 
interchange  of  such  feelings  between  man  and  man."  Brown  : 
"  Christianity  taketh  not  away  civility,  humanity,  and  gentle 
courteousness,  but  rather  helpeth  it  forward  by  making  it  run  in 
a  clear  Christian  channel :  it  is  humanity  and  civility  to  be  send- 
ing our  respects  unto  our  beloved  friends  and  good  willers,  and 
Christianity  putteth  a  noble  and  heavenly  dye  upon  this." 

6.  It  seems  to  be  the  plan  of  God  that  great  changes  for  the 
better  should  commonly  begin  among  the  lower  classes  and  so 
work  their  way  up.  Fishermen,  tent-makers,  publicans  and  others 
of  like  humble  occupation  were  greatly  honored  in  the  early  pro- 


Ch.  XVI.,  vs.  5-20.]       THE  ROMANS,  645 

pagation  of  the  gospel.  Three  centuries  before  Cesar  bowed  to 
the  cross,  they  of  his  household  sent  salutations  to  the  churches. 
Aristobulus  mentioned  in  v.  10  may  have  been  an  ungodly  man. 
Many  think  he  was  a  distinguished  courtier  and  politician  of  that 
day,  but  some  at  least  of  his  household  believed.  So  palaces  and 
spacious*  public  rooms  were  long  closed  against  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel ;  then  it  was  preached  in  the  house  of  a  tent-maker  and 
his  wife  and  of  others  like  minded,  v.  5. 

7.  Some  ask  why  the  holy  kiss  is  not  retained  in  the  church  as 
it  was  once  certainly  practised,  v.  16.  Answer,  i.  It  was  not 
commanded  by  Jesus  Christ.  2.  It  was  expressive  at  the  time, 
according  to  Eastern  ideas,  and  therefore  suitable  in  many  places 
as  a  token  of  affectionate  regard.  3.  But  though  prudently 
managed  by  pious  people,  yet  it  was  liable  to  abuse  and  did  at 
times  become  the  '  occasion  of  false  and  scandalous  reports,'  and 
so  has  fallen  into  general  disuse. 

8.  There  have  always  been  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  churches, 
v.  17.  In  one  place  Paul  intimates  that  there  is  a  necessity  for 
such  things,  i  Cor.  11  :  19.  So  corrupt  is  human  nature,  so  given 
to  deceive  and  to  be  deceived,  that  it  would  be  marvellous  indeed 
if  any  church  should  escape  such  a  trial.  Not  an  apostle  was  able 
to  live  and  die  without  confronting  deceitful  men.  Let  none  there- 
fore be  cast  down  as  though  something  strange  had  befallen  them, 
if  they  are  greatly  annoyed  by  such  pests. 

9.  How  shall  we  treat  false  teachers  and  mischief-makers  in 
the  church?  Avoid  them,  v.  17.  Evans:  "Shun  all  unnecessary 
communion  and  communication  with  them,  lest  you  be  leavened 
and  infected  by  them.  Do  not  strike  in  with  any  dividing  interest, 
nor  embrace  any  of  those  principles  or  practices  which  are  de- 
structive to  Christian  love  and  charity,  or  to  the  truth  which 
is  according  to  godliness.  Their  word  will  eat  as  doth  a  canker." 
Other  parts  of  this  work  show  that  the  same  line  of  conduct  is 
prescribed  by  many  Scriptures. 

10.  Let  churches  and  Christians  ever  carefully  guard  them- 
selves against  sensual  men ;  against  men  who  flatter,  cajole,  deceive 
and  are  ambitious,  v.  18. 

1 1 .  Let  all  Christians  be  harmless  as  doves — simple  concerning 
evil,  V.  19 ;  'so  wise  as  not  to  be  deceived  and  yet  so  simple  as  not 
to  be  deceivers.'  In  malice  be  ye  children,  but  in  understanding 
be  men,  i  Cor.  14 :  20. 

12.  What  a  blessing  it  is  that  our  God  is  the  God  of  peace, 
y.  20.  He  can  give  a  peace  which  earth  and  hell  cannot  destroy, 
as  stable  as  the  everlasting  mountains.     Oh  that  men,  who  are 


646  EPIS  TL  E.  [Ch.  XVI.,  vs.  20-27. 

like  the  troubled  sea,  would  but  come  to  him  for  rest.  The  peace 
of  God  passeth  all  understanding. 

13.  Let  us  study  and  receive  in  faith  the  great  blessings  inti- 
mated to  us  in  the  benedictions  of  Scripture,  vs.  20,  24. 

14.  It  is  an  unspeakable  mercy  that  the  gospel,  which  was  so 
long  hidden  from  the  mass  of  mankind,  is  now  so  clearly  made 
known  to  us.  Doddridge  :  "  Let  us  be  humbly  thankful,  that  it  is 
now  made  manifest ;  and  that  we  are  among  the  nations  who  are 
called  to  the  obedience  of  faith.  Let  us  be  soHcitous  to  answer 
that  call."  "  When  thou  said'st,  Seek  ye  my  face,  my  heart  said, 
Thy  face  Lord  will  I  seek." 

15.  We  never  preach  the  gospel  aright,  nor  understand  its  true 
intent  till  we  see  that  it  is  made  known  to  us  for  the  obedience 
which  faith  alone  can  render.  Chrysostom  :  "  Faith  requires 
obedience,  and  not  curiosity.  And  when  God  commands,  one 
ought  to  be  obedient,  and  not  curious." 

16.  Would  it  not  greatly  add  to  the  profit  and  solemnity  of 
•public  worship  if  the  ministrations  of  the  pulpit  more  abounded 

in  doxologies,  vs.  25-27.  They  are  often  found  in  the  Scriptures. 
They  are  exceedingly  becoming.  They  are  always  due  to  God. 
He  alone  is  great.  He  alone  is  wise.  He  alone  is  Almighty.  He 
alone  is  infinite.     He  alone  is  eternal  and  unchangeable. 

Glory  be  to  God  in  the  highest;  and  let  every  crea- 
ture SAY,  Amen. 


\ 


THE  END 


BS2665 .P734 

Commentary  on  Paul's  Epistle  to  the 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00030  1541 


